Selective Amnesia

Barefoot in the park

Finally managed to catch the play version of the movie version of the play “Barefoot in the park” – By Evam.
Many words have been written of the play, of the group and the production of the play. I shall add a few more words.

#1 – It’s brilliantly stage managed. Those of you who’ve managed to catch the film version of it, I can safely tell you that Evam’s version on stage was a lot, lot better – and funnier. They (as in Evam) have managed to create a very small New York apartment on the stage, with functioning doors and lights and all, that, if you overlook the people in the audience, you feel like you live in the room shown on stage.

#2 – They’ve managed to take a film, added half a dozen layers to it, and still retained the film’s pace, and place. Difficult, I tell you. To those who’ve seen the movie, and come expecting to see something watered down, (I watched the film first, and was wondering how they’ll manage to keep my attention), the play came as a revelation. All the scenes (the important ones) from the movie are in it, and they’ve added a few dialogues to make it funnier and to compensate for the stage.

#3 – Evam seem to be masters in the art of marketing plays – and in the art of packaging it, and keeping the audiences guessing. The play moves from stage to the portico to the stage to a LCD projector.
I am also impressed with the way the scenes and the props were moved. The play depends heavily on heavy props and was wondering how it would be managed. In school and college, I was a part of many plays and stuff, helping out on stage and back, and had to move stuff around. The propensity to bump into each other and inanimate stuff is pretty huge. Especially in the dark. But the Evam people not only managed to move props around, with the lights on, but got the audience’s attention away from the moving. Two dancers come on stage, and do a little number, while the stage team does its job, in full view. Nobody seems to notice them. A friend was actually surprised when he suddenly saw the stage was changed.

Oh I could go on, but it just wouldn’t match up to the real thing. So I suggest you people who read me, and who are in Madras, catch the play. It’s running at the hotel Savera on the 19th and the 20th of February.