CHENNAI: All of us use a number of gestures each day to convey something to others, emote and reciprocate.Using these gestures and infusing dramatics with mime is The Looter’s Looty, a play that will be staged in the city on December 4. The first theatre production from Unarviyam Media, the play will centre around the life and times of a wayward thief, who steals not to make a living or get rich, but because he loves and is fascinated by the art of thievery.Though Chennai has not had many mime acts staged before, the city has constantly been evolving as an audience. Director of the play, Vatsan Natarajan, feels that the French art of mime is generally difficult to perceive. “Mimes have serious and scattered concepts.This complicates understanding. But we have tried to incorporate a single story into mime,” he explains.Vatsan has also tried to simplify the process of understanding the play by trying to connect with the audience at a more direct level. “These are characters with which the public is familiar and therefore, building a mime around such familiar characters helps it reach the audience faster. Apart from this, we also have a play (dramatics) interleaved with the mime to help first time mime watchers understand the play better,” he says.Since mime heavily depends on gestures and actions, the actors might have a tough time getting their facial expressions right. But for a play that is touted to have the audience in splits throughout, expressions must have been an important element while directing it. “As different actors are handling the mime and dramatic portions, each is aware of the kind of actions required to convey the story in the best possible manner in its respective unique style,” says Vatsan.But he is quick to point out that, “The only point being taken care of is that the actions by the dramatics and mime actors would be such that the audience would feel the two different styles of theatre that are being used to convey one single story!” Music will definitely be an important aspect and will make the silence less awkward.“Muthukumar Anil has breathed life into the mime’s actions and has justified the story to the fullest with his background score,” says Vatsan.For details, call 9600110714.
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