It was a production that required minimal input from professional scriptwriters and directors affiliated to the Nireeksha Women’s Theatre group. While they provided a skeletal form for a play, it was the amateur actors they were training who had the most say in how this special theatre production should turn out.
These actors – residents of the Cheshire Home – may not have performed before in front of a large audience but they appreciate art and the significance of the message the play seeks to convey.
Eleven of them are preoccupied with last-minute rehearsals for an hour-long play scheduled to be performed at the Kanakakunnu Palace on August 13. It will be part of the 16th anniversary celebrations of the State Kudumbasree Mission.
The theme chosen by the Mission this year is ‘Resistance’, a subject that most differently-abled people in the State can relate to. The story follows the struggles of Akash, who was incapacitated following an accident.
Sudhi Devayani of Nireeksha, who is directing the play titled ‘Agni Chirak’, said she did ponder over how she would get the most out of the actors – all of them wheelchair bound. It turned out there really was no difference. The wheelchair support has become as an extension of themselves, and the way an actor may place their feet on stage was how the Cheshire Home residents positioned their chairs, said Ms. Devyani.
Annamma has trouble manoeuvring her wheelchair as expertly as the rest and so she sat out during the rehearsal of a particular scene that involved the actors moving in a circle. She said that the play touches upon ways the physically challenged are sidelined.