With a refreshing new take on the lives that evolve in urban spaces, this play will hit close home. Remember Remember is a promising look into urban fairytales as writer and director Prashanth Nair inquisitively explores stories only known to cityfolk. “We don’t seem to have stories in our urban settings. I wrote this play keeping in mind that I wanted to bring a sense of mysticism and magic. I was curious what it would be like since it’s not a fairytale in it’s entirety,” he says.
An interesting conversation with his mother a year ago made Prashanth realise that the folk tales he grew up listening to did not have a connection to his urban lifestyle. In a series of six stories, this play began a process of exploring and experimenting for the cast members. Over the past eight months, they have experimented with several interesting, theatrical elements that evolved with the play. Prashanth adds, “The stories are similar in terms of tonality and how they are treated, but what each of them says is different. I remember not wanting to stage the play as it was written. The actors have created a lot with their body movements and the props and music compliments what they have done. The music was specifically learnt by the actors for the play, something which they didn’t know before. Props like the masks that we use in the play especially create a signature visual language that adds grammar and language to the stories.”
All stories are sharp insights into our own lives as Jimmy Xavier, a city-based radio jockey and cast member shares, “My favourite story is about the woman who loses her stories. These tales are something you have come across in some form form or the other. This story stood out purely because of the merit of its idea. Someone losing their stories made me realise that we are a sum of our stories. The years we spend on this planet is a story by itself, and if you lost them it would be like losing your anchor and being robbed of your memories.”
The journey that these guys undertook for over seven months brought them to a different place from where they had started. Nithya Rao, another cast member adds, “There were a lot of interesting aspects to each story but I personally favoured the one with the imaginary friend as it’s something I understand. The process that took place over rehearsals in the past eight-and-a-half months has been an incredible experience for everyone involved. We’re excited by what has been happening.” This stellar cast consists of Jimmy Xavier, Kalyani Kumar, Nithya J Rao, Piyush Agarwal, Ranjitha Sakleshpur, Badarivishal Kinhal, Venkataraghavan Srinivasan and Prashanth Nair himself.
— The play will be staged at Atta Galata on Saturday and Sunday.
