A play within a play in this street play

Name of the play: Mareech, The Legend
Duration: 60 minutes, approx
Director: Dr David Wesley
Cast: A 22-member cast
Vathiyar must get all the members of his troupe to agree to conclude the play on Mareech that they have all been trying to stage
Street play, as a genre, looks deceptively easy. After all, you just have to get a few people together, improvise, and get a message across, right? Well, not really.It’s a complex format that needs perfect execution skills, good timing, and more than that, the proper narrative – as these bunch of theatre people from the Women’s Christian College, who are back with the college’s annual play, will tell you. This time, they bring to Chennai the famous Bengali play by Arun Mukherjee, which has been translated into English. The play has a 22 member cast and is backed by a 78 member crew.
This English version is set in the street play format, and shows a group of wandering actors who are attempting to stage the legend of Mareech. However, what can be easily figured out in a movie, for instance, that easy in-and-out between the past and the present, becomes a little tough when performing live on a stage, as there are no obvious ‘flashback’ indications. And this play, which mostly deals with the life and times of two contemporary characters placed in similar situations in life - a transformed henchman and an American pacifist – does a lot of time travelling. The narration is non-linear, and so, the actors have done a great job of jumping between the past and the present, also, a few regional nuances have been lost in translation. However, the play within a play format is interesting on the stage.
There is also a ‘Bigg Boss’ kind of personality weaving in and out of the play – the Vathiyar. Sometimes he butts in, and explains the situations to the audience, clarifying some past-present movements, among others. However, just like in the reality show, there are times when the actors of his troupe go against his directions, as they ‘find’ themselves during the course of attempting to play Mareech. The Vathiyar must now bring them all together so that the play can reach a conclusion. Quite interesting, and a hitherto unattempted format this, the play is definitely an attempt to up the theatre scenario in the city.
Mareech will be staged at 6.30 pm at the WCC auditorium today and tomorrow. It is a ticketed event.