In the dead of night, a father steals his new-born daughter from his wife and strangles the baby to death, before stuffing her into a ditch. All you hear is the stifled cry of the baby followed by a deafening silence. But then silence speaks a thousand words. At a time when volumes spoken in the hope of changing attitudes towards the girl child seem to be falling on deaf ears (the incorrigibly skewed man-woman ratio being an indication), a simple, 7-minute silent mime show, Murder At Birth (August 31, Muktangan Auditorium) succeeds in driving home the horror of female infanticide.

Conceived and directed by Nilendu Chowdhury, a disciple of veteran mime artist, Jogesh Dutta, the pantomime fuses the traditional macro movement of mime with martial arts, sign language, dance and even yoga. While Chowdhury as father to an imaginary infant skilfully shows off myriad movements, the rest of the group, comprising mostly amateur artists, are used to reinforce the strength and power of the silent force (they kill the father in the end).

Save Me, another play, directed by Chowdhury, uses pantomime to spread awareness about HIV and AIDS. More than any real mime magic, the strength of the dance-drama is in the amateur troupe’s depiction of a sweet love story gone sour, with the help of sign language and martial arts.