Park-ing problems

A scene from the play

The political distress between India and Pa­kistan, North and South Korea, and Is­r­ael and Palestine are indicative of the harsh and tragic real­i­ty of conflicts over sp­ace and ownership of territory in today's world. If one could gauge the extent of trauma, destruction and multigenerational damage res­ulting from them, we would realise that these are fabricated issues that are avoidable, if only people choose to coexist in harmony. Park, a play written and directed by renowned playwright, actor and author Manav Kaul, addresses these issues of migration and loss of identity and belonging, which stem from being displaced from home.

Presented by The Five Senses Theatre Group, the play features popular TV actress Wasna Ahmed, Mannu Pandey, Rahul Rathore and Prateek Kumar.

In a light-hearted tonality, the political satire teaches us how most of our problems can be resolved or better, avoided, by simply learning to be tolerant and adjust in life. The story is set in a park, where although there are three benches, three strangers squabble over their preferred choice of seats.

Subsequently, the discussion leads to one of the protagonist's family history of being uprooted from their place of origin and the inevitable questions that haunt him till date: Where do I truly belong? What if things would have turned out differently? Will I ever be able to go back? Kaul, being a Kashmiri Pandit, is likely to have felt an instinctive need to tell this story. He has hinted at how all the macro-issues facing the world today once started with something as trivial as a quarrel over a seat in a park.

On November 9, 8 pm
At Five Senses Theatre Studio, Tarapur Chowk, New Link Road, Adarsh Nagar, Andheri West.
Log on to bookmyshow.com
Cost Rs 150

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