11 October,2016 08:45 AM IST | | Krutika Behrawala
Watch Kalki Koechlin take the stage in a three-character Caryl Churchill dystopian drama that premieres later this week
Sheeba Chadha with Kalki Koechlin as the adult Joan
Wearingu00c2u0080u00c2u0088 a ruffle-sleeved nightgown and two plaits, Kalki Koechlin, who plays a young Joan wakes up in the middle of the night to a sinister sound of someone screaming. Her aunt, Harper (Sheeba Chadha), dismisses it as an owl screech and tucks her back into bed. However, it isn't an owl and Joan's life is never the same again, not even 15 years later, when she is married to Todd (Vivek Gomber). Intrigued by the chilling puzzle? Then, book your tickets for Far Away, a play directed by Rehaan Engineer, which premieres in the city this Thursday.
Presented by Little Productions in collaboration with Sitara Studio, the 60-minute dystopian drama is based on acclaimed British playwright Caryl Churchill's eponymous play penned in 2000, which weaves a surreal world edging towards a catastrophe, where everything in nature is at war and even the closest are engulfed in distrust.
Chadha with Koechlin as younger Joan at a rehearsal of Far Away
"Though the play may come across as not so relevant at the start, it becomes a personal journey that the audience will relate to. It's not a random foreign script that is being staged but a story that connects with the Indian political and ecological context, too," informs Nikhil Hemrajani, who heads Sitara Studio.
The play will be New Delhi-based Engineer's second Churchill adaptation, after staging her 2009-penned piece, Seven Jewish Children, in the city a few years ago. "We have not changed anything in the original script nor adapted it to an Indian setting," informs assistant director Jyoti Dogra.
Chadha, who has acted in Seven Jewish Children and Hedda Gabler, directed by Engineer, says, "The script is a strong piece of text. Though it starts in a living room, which may not look so ominous, you can feel a low hum of danger through the play and sense that something is not right, which metamorphoses into another kind of danger by the climax. That travel is intriguing for every character." The play uses an intimate setting with vintage-style costumes designed by Isha Ahluwalia.
