• A whole lot of nothing and comangoes

The writer of this absurd play, Azhar Khan has been humble in naming it. Being considered a meditation on nothing by its creator, while being a representation of the hold mythology, environment, biology and language has not only on our innate sense of self but also on how we perceive what we call “no-being” or “nothing". Too complicated? Let me try again.

“A whole lot of nothing" is a single act play with 2 characters, portrayed by Dev Shah and Kshitij Kapoor, stuck in what is revealed to be a distant post war future / end of humanity, peeping into oblivion and pondering, arguing, caressing the idea of salvation. The props are minimalist — a tree, few lights, a rock, a shoe and a comangoe ever out of reach.

The play could be accused of arm chair intellectualism and being as verbose as it gets. Having Samuel Beckett undertones and borrowed cross cultural symbols. But being multi-lingual, the play establishes a relationship between the ideas being discussed and the language they are discussed in. Azhar, apart from being the writer and director of this play also happens to be an actor, thus allowing moments of purgation of emotions for the audience. A feat difficult to achieve given the context of the play and amidst the sparring of ideas in a fashion of stream of consciousness. But what really appealed to me is that “a whole lot of nothing" has a language of its own. As if Azhar laid everything to rest and out leaped words, though alien yet comprehensive. Yabakk!

The lights are managed by one Manav Patel, guiding the attention just fine and remaining in accordance to atmosphere required by the director.

Dev Shah portrays variation of weariness. Walking a tight rope of rationale and resentment. One finds him out of his element. Maybe he is out of his element. Or maybe he is doing it on purpose. Maybe he is chalking it out to realism on an absurd stage. Whatever it may be, he is the face of the new theatre movement in the city. All he has to do to appear as the character he intends to, is simply walk in.

All praise for Kshitij Kapoor as he invokes a brand of kindness usually reserved for children. It is easy to tuck his contribution as “loud acting” under the stinking carpet of snub, Kapoor with his energy brings the written word out of the paper and makes the play alive (and not 2 dudes having a conversation on a stage). Perhaps, this is because his portrayal stands in direct contrast with what one might assume about him. Curious to know what surprise he might throw at us in the future.

I watched the play to introduce my wife to the theatre of absurd. Why should you bother? It’s a disruption of not only story structures and rules of narration, it’s a disruption of the city’s theatre wireframes and codes. All aboard on the train, it’s a call for new beginnings and the purity that beginnings ensure. Before the new could be born, the old must die. Or it might be that we are looking to disrupt simply for the sake of it. Maybe “a whole lot of nothing" is simply an attempt. This particular group may or may not land on their feet, but it’s worth to witness their trails.