Right! After getting the ‘print’ version for City Buzz out of the way, this is the blog version about Evam’s ‘chasing my Mamet duck’!

This show is utter yeay-ness! It begins with interesting walk through Zone A – Four golden bags with balls of different textures, a gift box where you can take what you want as long as you replace it with something else, a voice recorder to which you ‘lend a note’, pinwheels dancing to a tune and a wish tree than holds our wishes for the world.

Feeding curiosity the show begins with everybody listening to silence (well, almost). The short film about excess baggage is a classic reminder of my days in Scotland and every trip home! (Okay, I am not missing the metaphor about life here). Then came TMK and Yudi with their ‘duck tales’. This is the part  that I will watch the play again for. With so much interaction in between these scenes and a head rush of memories, these parts get lost in the background. The metaphors and the layers in these conversations are worth watching the play again (and again).

TMK is veteran actor and all. You know he is going to do a good job. Yudi was pretty good. After watching his Stand Up at Urban Turban, this was a pleasant surprise!

My favourite in the whole show are the two satirical sequences. The first one that is called ‘meaning is a chameleon’ is a narration by Karthik Kumar about a painting on display. He spontaneously (well rehearsed, I am sure) changes his ‘meaning’ to every change in the credits of the painting leaving the audience in splits. The Youtube sequence (where people from the future learn about humans through ‘records’ on Youtube) is a killer ride. The interpretation of each video – from one child being bitten by another to the old man singing MJ’s beat it – was the mother of all satire I have seen on stage!

Me, having gone alone, though the sweetest thing in the play was the session where they asked all of us to type the names of our first love and send it as a text to a mobile number. Without having to think for a moment, I wrote ‘Thilak’ and sent the text away. The mammoth duck outside was stuck with names of many such ‘first loves’ made me wonder which other theatre group takes their audiences so seriously?! And then they went on to make the audience share a good recommendation. With nobody sitting on the seats to the either side of me, I was slightly embarrassed before I went ahead and spoke to the lady in the seat after next. Hah! Now I know I need to try a Paneer dish at Barbeque Nation!

The short film with children in school was the ‘awwww’ part of the show. Children wanting to become doctors and cure patients for 70 bucks were a delight to listen to. 8-10 year olds talking about the meaning of life – happy place to be in.

Then there was a rather shameless dancing session for ‘video killed the radio star’! Listening to KK talk about how the song as a metaphor for ‘phazhayana kazhidhalum, pudhiyana pugudhalum’ was a really emotional moment!

‘Auctioning the wish’ was a surprise addition. Auctioning the wishes of people who can not help themselves with the wishes is a fantastic way to find out how many people would come up to help someone in need! The feeling of knowing that there are people willing to help couldn’t have been brought forward in a better way.

In the end, I am not going to talk about the lighting and the sound and the technique of the play. This one was beautiful, emotional and happy. It was a fulfilling experience. Next time, Evam is in town with chasing my Mamet duck, do watch! And don’t forget to take your friends and family along!

P.S: Thilak is a crush from when I was in third standard. I still haven’t told him about it. After this post, I just might! 🙂