Beyond the stage: When theatre speaks back to the world

The third day of the International Theatre Festival of Kerala (ITFoK) moved decisively beyond performance into reflection, as the ‘Meet the Artist’ sessions at FAOS opened up incisive conversations with theatre-makers behind three compelling productions. These intimate dialogues offered rare insight into how contemporary theatre grapples with some of the most urgent anxieties of our time.

The discussion on Mallpractice and the Show, directed by Atul Pethe, focussed on the politics of surveillance imposed on women’s bodies. Pethe revealed that the play emerged from two real-life incidents: the circulation of morphed images of dancer Gautami on social media and a deeply personal moment when his daughter discovered a hidden camera inside a trial room.

“These experiences forced us to confront how women are constantly watched and controlled,” he said. The creative team chose a dialogue-free dance-theatre form, believing that silence and movement could articulate trauma more powerfully than words. Performer Rujuta Soman described the production as a dream project, recalling her mentor Rohini’s belief that “the body is an instrument and dance is the medium.” Light designer Pradeep Vaidya and music collaborator Umesh Warbhuwan spoke of how light and sound functioned not as embellishments but as narrative forces in their own right.

Under the Mangosteen Tree, directed by Raji Krishnan, approached Vaikom Mohammad Basheer not through mimicry but through deep immersion in his humanist worldview. “We didn’t research Basheer—we lived in his world,” the director noted. Rehearsals conducted in an old motorcycle garage, along with time spent in Kozhikode and Beypore, shaped the play’s sensibility and texture. One of the most significant creative decisions was casting a young girl, Aparna, as the child Basheer—an intervention that disrupted conventional stage representations. The discussion reflected on the need to dismantle outdated theatrical idioms while retaining Basheer’s enduring compassion and universality.

The conversation on The Nether shifted attention to the unsettling ethical terrain of the digital future. Moderator Amit Parameswaran framed the play as a confrontation between imagination and fear. Director Mohit Takalkar warned that technology is no longer merely influencing behaviour but actively redefining what it means to be human. Actors Neil Bhoopalam and Vivek Madan spoke about negotiating the fragile boundary between physical presence and digital identity, while scenographers Sarthak Narula and Saras Kumar explained how AI-generated visuals were employed to evoke the seductive dangers of virtual worlds.

Together, these sessions reaffirmed ITFoK’s role as a vital space where theatre does more than entertain—it interrogates the world it mirrors, challenging audiences to think as deeply as they feel.

Meet the Artist session at the ITFoK on Tuesday