International Theatre Festival of Kerala (ITFOK) 2014: A state sponsored experiment with hits and misses

Deepa Punjani

BURNING FLOWERS - 7 DREAMS OF A WOMAN (Poland/India)

Director: Pawel Szkotak


	BURNING FLOWERS - 7 DREAMS OF A WOMAN

This play is a collaborative theatre project by the Kerala Sangeetha Natak Akademi in association with the Polish Institute in New Delhi and Adam Mickiewicz Institute in Warsaw. Scripted and coordinated by Teatr Biuro Podrozy from Poland, the play brought into focus Gender, one of ITFOK's thematic concerns this year. Playing on the familiar and predictable in its orientation given the obsessed outpourings following the Delhi rape case, the production however emerges over its simplistic narratives to be captivating. Pawel Szkotak uses larger than life effigies outlining a woman's body and with each scene as they are torched one after the other, the burning effigies create a dramatic as well as disturbing vision.

There is a certain raw energy without any artifice, enhanced by the soundscape, the movement of the actors and the simple yet stirring words. It is the combination of these factors that makes the production communicate more tellingly and rise above what otherwise might have devolved into a cliched exercise. Pawel Szkotak has his finger on the choreography of the piece and the ability to harness the energy of his actors in a big, open-air space. The issues - all targeted at abuse of women in different settings play on the surface of things but the emotional connection goes deeper and can resonate with the most common man and woman. So much that one can excuse the indulgence with a popular Bollywood number in a scene of gay abandon. At times BURNING FLOWERS- 7 DREAMS OF A WOMAN appears as a refined outcome of a theatre workshop. It tends to be superfluous but never dishonest. And, that is its strength.

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International Theatre Festival of Kerala (ITFOK) 2014: A state sponsored experiment with hits and misses

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