Last Sunday, 19th of June,I went to watch a play,'Monkey and the Mobile',staged at the Alliance Française, Chennai. It was being staged by a theatre group called Perch.The name itself intrigued me, to go watch it. As a theatre enthusiast, it has always excited me when people experiment with their plays and storytelling methods. The presentation of this play was experimental and abstract, though the stories told were hard hitting and thought provoking.
The play began with many empty computer CPU cabinets of different sizes and shapes placed randomly, forming , sort of a tower, at the center of the stage, which would go on to be the only major property on stage, which was used in all the scenes in a very creative way. They also used a three level, split white backdrop curtain that gave depth to the stage. The split curtains also made it possible to set the right feel for different scenes during projections on it, especially,during the scene where the old widower is recalling memories of his late wife.The wife's image projected on the free flowing backdrop, gave goosebumps to the audience. The various experiments with the projections, live streaming, live music created on stage and the use of abstract stage properties , worked really well for this play which mainly revolves around technology and the effect it has on us machine humans.
Though the stories enacted ranged between being completely comical to emotional, all of them were equally thought provoking. I loved the casual and fun approach ofthe whole play even though the play talked about sad realities.
The performances in this play are worth watching. Every artist donned multiple characters as the play progressed. The non tech savvy old mallayalee husband , his innocent mallayalee wife , their working daughter, the new to the city village boy, the emojis , the mobile charging sockets, the monkey and the crocodile were some of the many characters that stay back with you even after the show.
I waslost in laughterwhen the character of the innocent mallayalee wife, who wasn't tech savvy tried figuring out how to use a new phone and during the scene when the laughing emoji, with it's hilarious laughter came on stage. The best part is both characters were performed by the same artist.
I would recommend all theatre enthusiasts and theatre students to watch this play 'Monkey and the Moblie', the next time it is staged in Chennai.
