For eight years now, Koushik Bose’s Theatreworms Production has been presenting plays that revolve around strong, bold stories. Their most recent work, “Flesh”, was based on Devdutt Pattanaik’s “The Pregnant King”. Now, with their upcoming production, this non-profit theatre organisation is trying to push the envelope further.
“Compunction”, written and directed by Bose, is a psychological thriller, and Bose says that the genre was a conscious decision. “We basically see very few thrillers on the stage. We see comedy, satire, many genres, but unless it’s an adaptation of a whodunit by writers like Agatha Christie, there are few original plays out there of this genre,” Bose says, adding that it is precisely the challenge of presenting a thriller that attracted him. “We have been doing a lot of plays which are social dramas. We also like to do plays that are a bit different and we take up challenging subjects. Our last play was also a big challenge. It’s not easy to adapt a 200 plus page book to a two hour play.”
This time, Bose says that they face a different challenge. “Compunction” uses no gimmicks and scare tactics, he confirms, relying completely on the story instead. “We don’t have special or sound effects, and anyway, on stage they don’t work the way they do on screen. Sometimes they are used on stage, and used well, like in Broadway, but our budget is not that big. So instead, our idea is to tell a story in a way that can creep the audience out, not scare them exactly, but make them start questioning the protagonists, doubting them.”
Bose was inspired by Amrita Tripathi’s “The Sibius Knot”. “From there, the story took its own shape.” “Compunction” explores the idea of guilt and violence. The protagonist, Deepa Thomas is a renowned psychologist who stumbles upon the forgotten cases of brutal murders back in the late 60s. She follows leads, uncovers disturbing information, and the web around the truth tightens as she discovers chilling secrets. He says the story is dark, and promises that it will draw the audience from the first scene. “The whole idea is to stay ahead of the audience, keep them guessing.It was incredibly difficult to bring the old world charm of the thriller on stage, but I think it has come out well.”
(LTG Auditorium, Copernicus Marg, November 28 (7 p.m.), November 29 (4 p.m. and 7 p.m.)
