The world's a stage

Working Title’s latest project Dirty Talk, that takes a novel look at censorship, is a product of an international collaborative project

Theatre stalwart Jaimini Pathak’s and Nayantara Roy’s company Working Title has been involved with alternative offbeat work, with fresh voices and talent, over the last 10 years. They have strived to reach out to diverse audiences through their productions. Their latest project Dirty Talk takes this initiative further, albeit in a different way. Their new play is a product born out of Contacting The World festival, a biennial collaborative project for young people across the globe. As part of this project, six European theatre companies are chosen and teamed with six international companies. It creates a platform where artistes from different cultures interact and learn about each other.

After an exhaustive application process, followed by a theatre essay and a portfolio of work including a physical alternative device, Working Title was selected to be a part of the programme. They were then asked to work with a twin company, in this case, the Manchester-based theatre group 10pMix up to create a devised play that is born out of original script and expression.

Consequently, the writer-director of both the groups visited their twin company’s country to experience the difference in culture, life and theatre practice. Both the companies were given new processes on the basis of their twin’s work. While 10pMix up is producing a fantasy play on the royal Bengal tiger, Working Title came up with Dirty Talk that deals with censorship. “It’s a fun, young take on what voting and politics mean to the youth of today. Censorship is the biggest difference in terms of art between the east and west. As artistes, all of us feel very strongly about censorship. The whole motive of the experience was to break new ground,” says writer-director Nayantara.

Two artiste facilitators were provided to all the companies who contributed and gave their insights into the productions. “Our facilitator was Andre Pink, a Brazilian, who lent an intimacy and rawness to our play,” adds Nayantara.

Jaimini says the whole process comprising intensive theatre sessions and exchange of ideas was an eye-opener for the entire cast. “It promoted cross-cultural interaction. The whole theme of Dirty Talk is a humorous analysis of the freedom of expression. Since all the actors are below 25 years, the play provides a platform to young voices to express their feelings about various issues through the medium of theatre,” he explains.

The play also fits in with the ideology of Working Title that aims to entertain people with their plays and also create awareness about several issues. “For us, theatre is an act of communication that is memorable to the audience. We strive to entertain the public through productions that stays with them long after the play is over and compels them to think,” says Jaimini, who is also acting in Dirty Talk.

Theatre actor Anshuman Jha, who made his film debut with the Dibakar Banerjee-directed Love, Sex Aur Dhokha, will also be seen in this play. The actor, who has been working on stage since the age of 13, wants to divide time between theatre and films judiciously to do justice to both the avenues. “I love doing films but theatre helps me evolve as an actor. Moreover, as a performer, you always need to tap on new grounds,” says Anshuman.

The 25-year-old was enthused to act in this project as the whole play is devised through workshops. “It’s an enriching experience that promotes a healthy exchange of ideas between all the artistes.” Ask him how different is it from acting in a script-driven play and he says, “When you have the script, you have a clear idea about your character and you can study its graph on the basis of the lines provided to you. But it can be restrictive since you have do justice to someone else (the writer’s ) vision. In a devised play, since the characters are born out of the process, it is difficult to sketch out the character’s graph. But that’s where the challenge lies.”

Dirty Talk will premiere on June 22 at Prithvi Theatre, Mumbai.