Gyan Manch, November 4. The audience sits still as a gun is pointed at them from the stage. There is a pause and a moment of uncertainty that permeates the auditorium. The actor (Tathagata Chowdhury in a cameo role of a deranged man) pulls the trigger. There is a flash of light and a thunderous sound. (Harsh Khurana’s sound and Chowdhury’s lighting).

Theatrecian’s production of the Jeremy Seabrook/Michael ’Neil play Transplant begins powerfully, conveying as it does with its opening scene, the fear and uncertainty that pervades modern life. But unfortunately, this is not sustained and the initial impact gets lost in an overdose of experimentation with form.

The juxtaposition of myriad media — video, puppetry, music, dance — to create a kind of collage, which highlights the fragmentation of modern life would have worked very well if it wasn’t so obtrusive.

It shreds into pieces the otherwise sensitive story of a boy who gets injured in the shootout and needs a kidney transplant and the tale of desperation of his kind mother, who will stop at nothing — even exploiting a poverty-stricken little girl — to get a replacement.