Three teenagers, one apartment & a night to spare. This sums up the base for this youth play - ‘Lose Control’. In a very hilarious, quick-witted comedy, this play depicts the emotional & physical cravings of teenage lads. Growing up, out of the teens, these guys just want to freak out & enjoy. And what’s more! They have the means to fulfill their desires. All in all, you will lose control!
Playwrite :
Hemant Dhome
Director :
Nipun Dharmadhikari
Cast :
Amey Wagh
Nipun Dharmadhikari
Hemant Dhome
Aparna Ketkar
Music Design :
Rochan Ganu
Light and Set Design :
Ashutosh Parandkar
Snapshots :
Review :
How do you talk about sex in front of a live audience, without resorting to clichés, textbook biology, or lewd jokes? More specifically, how do you handle, on stage, teen sexual fantasies and frustrations, when they are simply not acknowledged in our society (‘that’s unIndian, something only those immoral Americans indulge in’…you know the old line of our moral brigade!)? And how do you depict the urges and imaginative excesses of virginal nineteen-point-some things honestly and realistically?These were questions that I went with to see the Marathi play ‘Lose Control’, written, directed, and performed by a group of young theatrewallahs. I had been mentally prepared to either (1) feel uncomfortable by a radical handling of the issue OR (2) feel superior while more ‘conservative’ members of the audience squirmed in their seats OR (3) feel bored by actors who were uncomfortable handling the material themselves. Instead, I found myself guffawing and grinning like an idiot from ear to ear…like everyone else around me! In fact, the reactions were similar across the audience, cutting across gender and age barriers as twenty-year-olds and seventy-year-olds laughed almost on cue. So I found myself asking different questions…How did ‘Lose Control’ manage to tackle a conventionally taboo issue with such seeming ease? Directed by Nipun Dharmadhikari, the play follows the sexual musings and antics of three nineteen-point-something-year-old guys (who fall slightly short of that crucial 19.8 years which, according to a statistic they found, is the average age at which Indian men are supposed to lose their virginity) who find themselves at a lose end late one Saturday evening. Denied the opportunity to ogle at the sexual activities of their neighbour who usually leaves the window open, their frustration becomes so acute that they venture to call a prostitute over. After going through the awkward preparations of first-timers, their discomfort takes a different turn when instead of a ‘call girl’, a much older ‘call bai’ lands up at the door.
While the situation itself is not novel, airing it on a public platform certainly is (though there may have been other plays dealing with the same issue, no plays in the recent past come immediately to mind). So, in some way, ‘Lose Control’ becomes more than a play dealing with the issue of sex; to some extent it becomes a gesture of defiance as well. And given our public attitude toward the issue, the way in which this play has been received led me to wonder what in the production induced such a great level of comfort that the actors literally had the audience eating out of their hands. Would the reactions have been different if instead of a bunch of boys it was a bunch of girls talking about their sexual fantasies and experiences? Was the play truly subversive or was it playing safe; or did the comedy allow the subversiveness of the enterprise to slip through unnoticed? Or is it simply that theatre has become such a niche and insular activity that plays like this one end up reaching out only to a like-minded audience rather than the general public, so that theatre has little chance of making an impact and challenging perceptions?I don’t have the answers to these questions, and I’m not sure a regular review would do justice to the initiative that this play undertakes (though I must say that at the level of sheer entertainment it works brilliantly). And plays like this sorely beg the growth of a culture where we think, talk about and engage more fully with theatre, and bridge the gap between those who practice and those who watch theatre.
- Scherazade Kaikobad
(The above review first appeared in the August 2006 issue of ‘The Script’, a monthly e-bulletin of theatre in Mumbai.)Point of view :
[Resposnses to Scherazade Kaikobad's review of Lose Control (August 2006 Issue)].
When I came to see 'Lose Control', I had no clue what it was about. When I came out, I was thoroughly impressed with the courage with which the 'sensitive' issue (in our somewhat conservative country), that of 'sexual desires of the youth', was put forth. Along with the boldness, came with it, arrays of jokes that had people bouncing off their chairs in laughter. A commendable play, one that the entire audience obviously seemed to enjoy!-Sahil SapreI thoroughly enjoyed watching the play. It celebrates the sexual fantasies of the youth and its theme is such that young and old people can relate to it. The humour is rib-tickling and is a result of both the subject at hand and of the situation that the play's three adolescent characters find themselves in. One can immediately identify with these characters and that leads me to say that there is a basic honesty to the play which is very much evident in its action and dialogues. Interestingly enough the young writer of the play, Hemant Dhome acts in it. Even the director, Nipun Dharmadhikari who is young himself is acting in it. Hence there is a wonderful rapport that the actors bring to the stage and as a result you can almost feel the line between the stage and the audience being blurred. The result is pure masti and the laughter infectious.The play is also remarkable in the sense of being a very spunky and a worthwhile (for lack of a better word) effort by young people. It is heartening to see young people explore such hitherto taboo subjects in the true spirit of the theatre. Were we to see more varied plays of this quality, we can safely say with regards to the theatre that the future is young; the future is bright.
- Deepa Punjabi
Archive:
Awards and Achievements :
Maharashtra Cultural Centre, Pune's Competition-
Best Play
Best Actor-Consolation and 2nd place
Best Director
Nominated for Zee Gaurav Awards, 2007 for best Actor and Best Playwright.
Kaladarpan awards 2007, Best Actor, Best Director also Nominated for Best Writer, Best Light Design, Best Set design, Best Actress.
Nominated for P.L.Deshpande Yuva Sanman 2007, Best Playwright.
Invited at many national-level festivals.
Schedule :
12th April 7.30pm ( Marathi ) Maharastra Mandal, London (http://www.mmlondon.co.uk/)
(Contact: Mrs. Yamini Sathe on 020 8952
9394 /Hrishi Lonkar on 0208 357 6169)
19th April 6.00pm ( Hindi ) Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan, London (http://www.bhavan.net/)
20th April 5.00pm ( Marathi ) Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan, London
(Contact: Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan 020 7381 3086/020 7381 4608 )
26th April 6.00pm ( Hindi ) Swansea, Cardiff (http://www.neath-porttalbot.gov.uk/princessroyaltheatre/)
(Contact: Amit Chandratreya 02920618369 / Ninad Thackare 07789276944)
Ticket rate : 2 plays for £10 only ( £10 & £12 at Cardiff )
... a Samanvay, Pune presentation.
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