Aaina, the theatrical club of MIT, held an aptly titled play – ‘The Black Comedy’ at the Library Auditorium. The promotional posters, and vague idea of the theme had grabbed eyeballs for weeks, and much anticipation had been built. It was a house full turnout as enthusiastic students turned up in large numbers on a leisurely and lazy Sunday evening and gathered outside. The minute the door was opened, one would have thought he was in a Chennai theatre on day one of a Rajinikanth film, as students hustled and jostled to get the best possible view of the drama. The play lived up to the hype, and overshot expectations, with the audience cheering and clapping at every antic on stage.
The play began with a brief scene on how in the dark, anything and everything can go wrong – impersonations, robberies, secret affairs, misassumptions and what not! The director of the play then gave the audience a brief introduction to the theme – how most mistakes and goof-ups happen when the lights are off. The Aaina crew shunned the vintage types of Drama, and made a commendable attempt to explore the realms of an altogether new genre, i.e a comedy where none of the actors could see anything and the story was entirely in the dark, but well-lit to the audience.
The concept of contrasting the stage lighting to the actual lighting in the plot was revolutionary and unique. When the actual scene was supposed to be dark, the stage was brightly lit, but when a little light was introduced in any part of the story (using matchsticks, torches), the stage lights were dimmed. The lights and sound team was quick on their reflexes to produce this visual effect to perfection.
Vishal Kulkarni, a sculptor and artist, and his fiancée Ayesha, prop up his flat by stealing Parvinder Singh a.k.a Pinky’s (Vishal’s neighbor) exotic furniture and decors, as he is out for the weekend. Why so? – To impress Ayesha’s father, Colonel Thadani, a strict taskmaster of partisan values and obsessed with the ways of the army, and Mr Pillai, a rich billionaire who might be a prospective buyer for Vishal’s sculptures. The main fuse goes off and the building is blacked out with no one having matches. Enter Sweety Aunty, a middle-aged orthodox woman, and then Colonel Thadani leading upto a few humorous encounters – the latter trying to impose discipline at every instance, and the former as a typical prying next-door aunty. All hell lets loose as Pinky makes a dramatic entry, and the young couple is scared out of its wits that he may discover the stolen furniture if any light comes on. More chaos prevails as Vishal tries to sneak the furniture back to Pinky’s flat in the dark. As if Murphy’s law hadn’t hounded the couple enough for the day, yet another blow strikes when from the blue when Vishal’s ex Ria walks in.
The characterization was top-notch, with each of the lead characters having a distinctive and excellently portrayed personality, each signifying a unique aspect of human emotion and thoughts, be it the homosexual Sardar, Pinky who was the audience favorite with his witty dialogues and gay antics, the innocent and old-fashioned Sweety Aunty who gets drunk for the first time, the playboy Vishal who just doesn’t give up on mending a situation that was long out of hand, the bubbly, charming and childlike Ayesha who enchants viewers with her oodles of cuteness and school-girl ways, the scorching hot Ria who leaves the crowd spellbound with her dominating stage presence, or the upright and assertive Colonel who literally marches and orders commands on stage. Practically every other second of the drama elicited peals of laughter.
As mentioned earlier, the actors in the story were in the dark and so could not see. Their adaptation to the storyline, although the stage was lit, was seamless and one was led to think they really were in the dark. Their eye movements and postures blended in perfectly with the theme to create a scintillating display. Having such impeccable eye control while rendering dialogues and acting at the same time, is no child’s play. It was akin to the likes of film actors who acting blind and won acclaim for it. After the play concluded, the crew was introduced to the audience, who gave them a well-deserved standing ovation.
All in all, The Black Comedy was a laughter riot that shouldn’t have been missed. Kudos to Aaina for their efforts in stepping into unfamiliar waters, and putting up an astounding spectacle that defined our Sunday evening leading up to the solemn Monday blues.
Girish Kumar
Photos: Minesh Wadhwa
Manipal The Talk.Net 