It’s cool. It’s chic. It’s sexy. It rocks. It shocks. It mocks. But it’s not PROJECT S.T.R.I.P. So much for its promising title. Sigh… I am genuinely sorry for this early disappointment. You see, I had a lot of hope myself. I can almost feel the battered expectations of the more serious theatregoer, now doubly magnified by logistical facts that encumber the production company- Q Theatre Productions (QTP) from having more shows of the play. Yet all in all it seemed to be a good run of straight 17 shows, starting 16th June to 5th July 2009 at three venues- Prithvi, Sathye College and at the NCPA Experimental.
Writer Ram Ganesh Kamatham who won the outstanding original script award at Thespo III (2001) for his play THE DEAD METAPHOR, was amongst the young writers to be noticed in 2007 at the second edition of the Writers’ Bloc Festival. His relationship play called CRAB, which had also been produced by QTP, was abled by Arghya Lahiri’s direction against a sombre background. A reflective line here and there but the play as I recall it, was largely a meandearing of pop philosophy juxtaposed with youthful angst. Remember, we were all there. And some of us wrote. But Ram’s ability to craft a play script was clearly in evidence.
With PROJECT S.T.R.I.P. Ram emerges as a more competent writer (as against mature), who takes on the gnawing issue of environmental degradation and the systematic wiping out of peoples and cultures because of corporate greed. A man-woman relationship is still at the heart of the play but is now very neatly complemented by an issue based theme that serves as the plot.
Ex-navy man Roy (Harssh Singh) finds himself commissioned for ‘Project S.T.R.I.P.’ , a deep sea mining project by a ‘big’ company interested in ‘big’ profits. His partner in work and unrequited love is anthropologist-activist Aarti (Dilnaz Irani), who is quite expectedly also the conscience keeper of the play. The company’s CEO (Tariq Vasudeva) and his secretary in command (Shruti Shridharan) are cast as caricatures; their speech and movement exaggerated to ridicule blinkered and self driven interests. In the course of the play their positions, including those of Roy’s are subjected to the machinations of the corporate machinery.
The exploited people is an indigenous tribe called the ‘Oolongongalong’, whose imagined presence is highlighted against a background score of sounds and rhythms by the actors in the play. Resulting acronyms such as OOPS (Oolongongalong Organised People's Society), ABBA (Alliance of Abu Ben Adham) and HIP HOP (Humanist Independant Party for the Happiness of the Oolong People) are not without their humour as are Neil Bhoopalam’s series of cameos.
From the very beginning of the play, Ram makes ample use of satire to underscore one of the most pressing and global issues of our times. But while this satire has its moments, it remains sadly obvious; its outbursts of moral posturing not quite helpful. As such the play’s wit and humour, however maximized by the competent performances of the actors, does not offer any compelling or even a different perspective.
Quasar Thakore Padamsee who returns as director after a hiatus, is clearly in command though. The fish tank, which is the most prominent part of the minimalist set design works very well as a metaphor for the environment spoken of and its subsequent and repeated abuse. The pace of the play is taut and never flagging, no doubt aided by the performances of the actors. If Tariq Vasudeva’s brief might have been to fittingly play over the top, Harssh Singh’s Roy is the apt hero. But these are altogether familiar characters playing out a known scenario made popular. If there is any irony to it, it is sadly lost.
*The writer is Editor of this site, a theatre critic and an academic keenly interested in Theatre and Performance Studies.
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