Your story, on stage

The group in performance

Devised in 1975 in the Mid-Hudson Valley in New York, playback theatre is a form of drama that helps build an intimate connection between the audience and the performers through personal stories that the actors perform impromptu.

"Once, a member of the audience told us the story of losing his pet. When we enacted it on stage, he mentioned that it helped him get closure as he wasn't there with his pet when he passed away," says Preeti Birla Nair, founder, Mumbai Playbackers (MP). While catharsis through performances isn't uncommon, playback theatre adds a new dimension to experiencing emotions and recreating memories, painful or happy. If you wish to be a part of this experience, MP will present Slice of Life, an unscripted performance that will portray the stories of the audience on stage.

Founder Preeti Birla Nair (left) interacts with an audience member

"It's based on an improv theatre format. The actors don't come prepared with any script. I usually conduct the evening where I interview the audience, and try to derive themes, conflicts and small instances from them. We start with simple questions such as how was your day, and then move on to conflicts, for example, 'I want to freelance but I am worried about security' or 'My partner wished to come for this performance but we had guests come over'. For the bigger stories, the teller has to step on stage to share the story. We do not evaluate the stories we receive. The idea of this format is to give people a space to speak as they please. We do not preach or judge - if you are angry you are angry, we will play that back," says Nair.

To ensure that actors have some amount of control, the group fixes on different formats of theatre that would help to playback different situations, be it conflict, love or transitioning emotions. How does one rehearse for such a performance, we ask. "Beyond the skeleton of the theatre formats we choose, everything is on the spot. In our rehearsal, we work on our listening skills and empathy as we need to connect with the audience as a human being. We all have similar emotions. And that's what we try to playback. We connect with the emotions of the teller and emote it through the body, mind and other tools of drama. Each performance is different, as we don't know what's the collective mood in the room. The teller is the protagonist here," Nair signs off.

ON September 22, 6 pm and 8.30 pm AT Overact, Andheri West.
Log on to bookmyshow.com
ENTRY Rs 250

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