The 11th annual Short+Sweet South India Theatre Festival, a collaborative effort by the Prakriti Foundation, Alliance Française, and Blu Lotus Foundation, truly delivered a memorable experience. Featuring a diverse lineup of ten concise plays, the festival offered a refreshing mix of serious introspection and light-hearted comedy. These productions beautifully demonstrated that compelling theatre doesn’t require elaborate sets, reinforcing the idea that “short can indeed be sweet.” The rapid transitions between themes kept the audience captivated from start to finish.
A poignant scene from the play Mother.
The festival opened with Mother, a powerful play that delved into the profound anxieties of Meera, a new mother struggling with the overwhelming demands of parenthood. Her battle with depression began to manifest as a distressing dislike for her own child. Through a comforting conversation with Raji, a seasoned single mother, Meera learns that such challenging emotions are a natural response to the pressures of motherhood. The play thoughtfully conveyed a crucial message: society must embrace infant parenting as a shared responsibility to alleviate the stress on new mothers.
Another evocative scene from Mother, highlighting the intense emotional burden of new parenthood.
Next up was Oru Sunflower Story, a charming comedy where the protagonist grapples with finding the perfect gift for his uniquely idiosyncratic girlfriend. Her quirky preferences, like choosing a grey dress simply because it’s often overlooked, left him utterly bewildered. A particularly standout performance came from Shubh Mukerjee, who hilariously embodied ChatGPT, contorting his body and face to portray the AI’s frantic attempts to solve the hero’s predicament.
A colourful moment captured from Oru Sunflower Story.
The Drift explored a woman’s profound journey from feeling discarded and used to ultimately discovering self-realization. Meanwhile, Manda Bathiram took a fantastical turn, following three siblings on a quest to find their elusive father, affectionately dubbed ‘Running Ravi’ due to his aversion to responsibility. The narrative became even more whimsical as his head and torso, separated by a sorceress’s enchantment, were magically reunited through a counter-spell. The production was skillfully staged, featuring a convincingly headless torso moving around while the disembodied head sat eerily swiveling on a table.
The captivating ensemble of Dabba Nadagam, featuring their remarkable synchronized boat-rowing choreography.
Dabba Nadagam impressed with its exceptionally synchronized movements, vividly simulating a boat being rowed and its gentle rocking on the water. Following this, ‘Mother, May I?’ presented a poignant tale of Nila, who attempts to communicate with her deceased mother through a tree, interpreting falling leaves and crow droppings as messages of approval or disapproval. Ultimately, Nila finds clarity and chooses to embrace independence, symbolically ‘cutting the apron strings.’
A delightful moment from A Memorable One, a play that entertained with its witty two-person cast.
The two-person play, A Memorable One, was absolutely side-splitting. Balaji (portrayed by Sadasivam) devises a wonderfully unique proposal plan, hiding the engagement ring inside a lobster for Dolly (played by Mrittika) to discover. To his dismay, she devours the lobster without noticing a thing! A panicked Balaji then tries to reassure his alarmed sweetheart that a ‘stomach pump’ is merely like a vacuum cleaner, completely safe. The real comedic genius, however, lies in how Dolly cunningly turns the tables on him. Their playful banter made for an incredibly enjoyable performance.
A Song on Online Dating tackled modern romance with humor and heart. Preethi, single and thirty, views this combination as rather unfortunate and ventures into online dating, only to face unexpected consequences that lead her to a therapist’s couch. The story unfolded beautifully through folksy melodies, as Preethi ultimately comes to understand that romance is, and always has been, a serious affair. A standout musical moment was a consoling song, cleverly set to the tune of an MGR classic, singing, “Andru vandadum adhe trauma, indru vandadum adhe trauma” (The trauma of then is the same as the trauma of now).
Overall, the festival was a vibrant showcase of incredible creativity from scriptwriters, directors, and actors, with each play offering a fresh and unique perspective. However, a recurring issue was the noticeably poor voice projection from many performers. To ensure the audience can fully appreciate the storytelling, actors should consider using microphones if their natural voices cannot adequately fill the space. It’s unfair for attendees to struggle to piece together the narrative from indistinct dialogue. Despite this, the performers were fortunate to have a highly engaged and supportive audience, whose enthusiastic cheers acknowledged both the comedic brilliance and the profound messages delivered on stage.