Do you resent having to watch other people step ahead of you? Do you intend on elbowing them out? Moreover, are your dreams still precious when they’ve been fulfilled? The Line, presented by Theatrecian in association with t2, evoked some such thoughts at GD Birla Sabhagar on April 11.

Director Tathagata Chowdhury has based his play on Line by Israel Horovitz, a dramatist of the absurd. 

Four men and one woman are standing in line for an unknown event. All of them, with the exception of one, want to be first. The young boy uses his exuberance and innovation to oust the others from first place. The elderly gent believes he deserves to be first because he’s been standing in line all night and, essentially, has been chasing the line all his life. The third man deceives people into believing he’s “the nice guy” so he can catch them by surprise and shove them out of his way when they least expect it. The fourth man doesn’t care about being first in line when his wife is sleeping with other men and has even deprived him of his white shirt. 

The wife, who is also present, uses her sexual charms to needle the men out of first place. “None of you had me,” was her adamant stance, a loaded statement in today’s gender battles. 

Horovitz once commented that he would have written the female character differently now than he had almost 50 years ago. However, Chowdhury feels that the character remains universal. “She’s convinced about her empowerment and is comfortable with her sexuality. While men think they’re suppressing a woman, she could very well just be having her way with us,” he said.

The Line explores, via alternative medium, the vagaries of human desire while exposing the repercussions of conformity, greed and herd mentality. At the onset, a bike, a piano (played by Emmanuel Ignatius) and ghungroos engage in a dialogue. No wonder, the bike takes the upper hand eventually, just like the harsher elements of human nature.

♦ Marcia Sekhose and Jacob Sarkar are both students of English literature at Scottish Church College. “I liked how the play portrayed real-life problems. Seeing dancing and miming in a play was a first for me,” said Marcia, who was impressed by Apratim Chatterjee as the cuckold husband. 

“Aaron’s actions were subtle and yet spoke volumes,” said Jacob, who was taken by the interplay of the piano and the ghungroo. 

♦  “The play conveyed its message in an original way. What struck me most was the way everyone was trying to outdo each other,” said Rishi Vidhawan, an entrepreneur.

♦  “I agreed with the play’s message about women in today’s society. I loved Aaron Targain and Apratim Chatterjee in their roles,” said Torsha Ghosh, a Class XII student of Mahadevi Birla World Academy.

Text: Ramona Sen