GUWAHATI: Acclaimed actress Shabana Azmi has said that her solo acting in the English play ‘Broken Images’ in which she plays two roles simultaneously, has been one of the most challenging for her on stage.
The play – a psychological thriller is written by Jnanpith award winning playwright Girish Karnad and directed by theatre personality and adman Alaque Padamsee.
The highlight in the play is the use of technology on stage and Azmi essays two roles in it simultaneously – one live and the other recorded, which is seen on a large television screen.
“Playing two roles simultaneously on stage with no other actors to support has been a challenging task. Though at times it makes me tense, it is a role that I have enjoyed thoroughly,” Azmi said last night after the play was staged here as part of the five-day Second Guwahati Theatre Festival.
‘Broken Images’ explores the relationship between a mediocre Hindi short story writer – Manjula and her invalid sister Malini who comes to live with her and her husband following their parents’ deaths.
The short story writer goes on to write a best seller in English and the play unfolds from there to unravel the relationship between the sisters and climaxes to a thrilling end.
“The play is perhaps the first in the country in which there is use of such technology on stage and the flow of dialogue between the two characters is played by the same person. This was another area of challenge for me”, she said.
The characters portrayed on the television screen are the alter egos of the two sisters, which she had shot in a single take.
Azmi recounted that once while entering the stage for performing the play she had tripped on the wires and the image did not appear on the television screen.
“I went behind the screen while continuing to deliver my dialogue and fixed the wires, making it appear as if it was a part of the play and not a technical glitch,” the veteran actress quipped.
The play was originally written by Karnad in Kannada and then translated into Hindi. Both versions were played by Arundhati Nag.
The opening day of the theatre festival saw Nag performing ‘Mother Courage and Her Children’, a play directed by Padmasee’s son Quasar Thakore Padamsee. (AGENCIES)
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