cast of Edgar and Annabel
, Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
A group of friends gather for karaoke night – the familiar tunes of ‘Just a Small Town Girl’ fill the air as the friends sing out loud; Just another fun soiree. However, their faces tell a different story.
They seem preoccupied, almost upset. anyone listening? At the far end of the room, there are canisters of chemicals, tangled wires, and medical gloves; A spread that screams danger. Everything seems fine, but clearly isn’t.
This clear dichotomy that runs through most narratives is characteristic of Edgar and Annabel,
Written by British playwright Sam Holcroft, the play is a dystopian tale of freedom fighters or political dissidents who are under constant surveillance by the Orwellian establishment they are fighting against. Under the captaincy of Sunanda Raghunathan of Gudguduppukari, Edgar and Annabel Opens in Chennai later this week. It is presented by Chennai Art Theater and Guduguduppukari.
This writer was a fly on the wall in his first part – tight, with some commendable performances. After rehearsals, Sunanda sits down with some of the cast to discuss the choice of the play.
“It made my heart skip a beat,” says Sunanda. After discussions with Nitin Ram, who plays Edgar/Nick, they began work in October. “My first impression was that it was going to be an incredibly challenging acting exercise,” says Nitin.
Annabel is played by National Award winner Lakshmipriya Chandramouli, who is part of an impressive cast that includes Venkataraghavan Subha Srinivasan, Namitha Krishnamurthy, Yeshwant Sathu, Darshan and Sneha.
The first few weeks were spent in workshops: “I wanted to bring everyone into the world of drama. So that everyone knows the tone,” says Sunanda.
The director asked all his actors to associate each of their characters with an animal: this interpretation affects the way they walk or react. For example, Nitin’s Nick is a salmon – one that swims against the stream and ends up where it started.
Sunanda says, “It is a wretched, domestic drama. We were going through each line of the play to identify where it is set. It’s still hard to say, because it could be set in the near future, past, or even now. He continues, “I just set it up.” For two weeks, they worked with the actors on approach, a creative device for dance and device theater that helped them set the stagescape.
Sunanda Raghunathan | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
When dealing with Western content, relevance often goes for a toss, especially from the perspective of local audiences. For the director, this was of no concern. “When you do a work with brown bodies in India written by a Western playwright for a Western audience, it already sounds like an adaptation. We don’t look like Edgar, Annabel or Miller, we look like them.” It’s an explanation in itself,” says Sunanda, who likes to have inconsequential details when working on Western pieces, almost as a statement of subversion.
Interestingly, a Belgian playwright is translating the play into Flemish for performance in Belgium. The text has already gone through many adaptations and interpretations.
Finally, Sunanda asks, “Do you think this is a revolutionary story wrapped in a love story, or a love story wrapped in a revolutionary story?” That’s for the audience to find out.
Edgar and Annabel will be staged at Medai – The Stage, Alwarpet on 3rd December at 4 PM and 7 PM. Tickets are on Book My Show.