TRUNK TALES, a 50-minute solo act performed by Vansh Bhardwaj and directed by Neelam Mansingh Chowdhry, is described by the makers as a work of 'faction' -- derived by mixing fact and fiction. It talks about the politics of water, sexual abuse, class inequality and gender identity in four episodes within the act. These are tales long forgotten that have been brought out from a grandmother's trunk, tales that are over a century old but still relevant, tales of which, we see only fractions and would have loved to see more.
As the act progresses Bhardwaj pushes his trunks around a set of square steel frames filled with water, like salt pans, in the shape of a game of stapoo. In the background, there's a reflection of the night sky, with a moon and twinkling stars, a spotlight follows the actor around the stage, it is all very surreal with Bhardwaj flitting between the roles of the narrator and the various characters.
Every time the act transitions to a new episode, Bhardwaj goes around the game of stapoo with a trunk and changes into the clothes for that character -- a labourer who toils away, while the zamindar gets richer, a woman who experiences sexual abuse, a teenager discovering his identity and more. It is a very physical performance: Bhardwaj lugs around the heavy trunks, jumps and crawls in water, changes into and out of clothes, breaks the fourth wall, eats food, even applies make-up with a plastic bag covering his face.
It is not easy to do all of these things while saying long lines in two languages without a break. But he does it, and that's commendable.
There is one sequence in particular in the third episode entitled Justice of Eating that is done with great genius. Bhardwaj puts on a suit and takes out a thali filled with delicacies from one of the trunks and begins eating, seated on a makeshift chair with the manners of a saheb. He then takes off the suit and tie, takes the simpler items from the thali, transfers them into a small plate and eats the food -- this time as a middle-class everyman. The food dwindles with each transfer and the clothes come off each time Bhardwaj climbs down a rung of the social ladder, with the homeless poor finally only getting leftovers.
Each episode touches on a subject of great social significance. But maybe because of this very gravity, each issue deserved more time to unfold. There were wonderful ideas there. If they had been explored in more depth, they would have -- to continue with the food theme -- turned into a great feast. Perhaps if only two issues were focused on, each one could have blossomed into something of beauty, the characters would have had more room to develop and the audience would have felt more deeply for these characters.
Instead, the act served four episodes in quick succession that were over before the viewer could finish appreciating them, with the result that each episode felt like a tasty appetizer that whetted our appetite at the beginning of a grand, seven-course meal. But time ran out before the main course was served.
*Neha Shende is an avid theatre-goer and enjoys watching old Bollywood movies in her free time.
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