An Indo-Australian theatre production is taking shape in Thiruvananthapuram

Indo-Australian production which is a multidisciplinary project is a joint venture of India and Australia as funded by Centre for Australia-India Relations

Four artists of Undercurrent Theatre Company in Boorloo-Perth, Australia, are presently in Thiruvananthapuram to collaborate with The Art Workers, a Hyderabad-based theatre group run by two Malayalis.

A work-in-progress presentation of the collaboration will be held in the city this weekend. “The project came about when we got a grant — Maitri Cultural Partnerships Grants — from the Centre for Australia-India Relations. The grant facilitates us to come up with a new work by exchanging our processes and artistic practices,” says Samuel Gordon Bruce, a founder of Undercurrent Theatre Company. Other Company members who are part of the production are Scarlet Rose, Cam Appleby and David Stewart.

The Art Workers has been founded by Prajith K Prasad and Ramith Ramesh, both students of Intercultural Theatre Institute (ITI) in Singapore. “The production can be put under the genre of physical theatre, based on themes such as passports, airports, travel, journey etc. Except for David, the other three have come to our school [ITI] as part of an exchange programme. Our interaction about our work eventually led to this joint venture after they got the grant,” says Prajith.

The multidisciplinary project will see the groups sharing their practices — like Koodiyattam and Kalaripayattu from an Indian context with the contemporary physical theatre style of Undercurrent, he says.

The work-in-progress presentation also intends to understand whether the audience is able to connect with the production.

“Work-in-progress presentations are rare in Kerala. Here, we have an invited audience who can take part in a question-answer session after the performance. Physical theatre involves a lot of images and stories and we want to see if the audience can relate to them,” says Ramith, a Koodiyattam practitioner. He adds, “Instead of just putting it in words, we are physicalising everything and want to see if the audience is on the same page. We are not limiting their imagination as they are also made part of the stories we are presenting.”

Changes and suggestions will be incorporated, if needed, into the work when The Art Workers travels to Australia for a two-week session in January. The final work, probably a one-hour production, will be staged in Perth next year.