Non-verbal play, ‘Silent Resonances’ to be staged in Bengaluru on December 1

Ekalavya Performing Arts and Picture Wicture Productions (PWP) stage their non-verbal play, Silent Resonances in Bengaluru. The play is a part of Kalakriti 2024, an annual event presented by Ekalavya.

“Kalakriti was started in January 2020 by Eklavya Performing Arts, which was formed in 2016,” says Bodhisatta Sarkar, the writer and director of Silent Resonances and the founder of Eklavya Performing Arts.. “We staged shows, mime and Bengali theatre and decided to dedicate one day to combining mime and theatre and call it Kalakriti. This is the fourth edition of Kalakriti and we decided to make it a complete mime show.”

Picture Wicture Productions concentrates on making short films in Bengali, says Bodhisatta. “Last year we decided to join the two groups.”

Silent Resonances, revolves around daily life — from household chores to paying bills, things that make us happy, excited, sad or disturbed. “Sometimes we convey our thoughts vocally and react to situations and at times, we don’t. We express ourselves through the tacit tunes of our lonely words, cells, tissues, skins, bones, most importantly our expressions. Silent Resonances portrays similar melodies of life, vocally, through unspoken words.”

Bodhisatta, a theatre practitioner and mime artist says, “Mime is not a popular genre in India, and doing a 90-minute mime show is a challenge. I took to mime when I was nine and always wondered why it was not popular here. We have workshops for every other form, but not for mime. We do not see many mime shows nor is there training for people to hone their skill.”

Silent Resonances, Bodhisatta says, will have no verbal dialogues but will be enacted to music and narration. “Apart from the traditional mime we have also added some body movement like dance and contemporary movement.”

The play is divided into two parts — the first is about water while the second is about life. ‘Water’ has three acts, and is a narration about humans and their connection to water, explains the director. “The second half is dominated by body movement and is about LGBTQ, puppets and depression.”

Popularly mime is enacted solo, and rarely by a small group, but Silent Resonances will have around 10 artistes. “It is preferred as a solo act as coordination with one’s body in a vacuum is impossible in a synchronised act,” says Bodhisatta, who learnt mime from his father, Bibek Sarkar, who was also a mime artist.

Later, he learnt mime from Jogesh Dutta. “As Jogeshji lived far away from my home in Kolkata, I also learnt by watching his videos and studying his work virtually too,” reveals the 45-year-old Bengaluru-based mime artist, who also trains children and adults in theatre and mime.

“We work every weekend, irrespective of whether we have a show or not, we train intensely and work on body language, theatre and mime.” 

On December 1, Jagriti Theatre, Whitefield, 3.30pm and 7.30pm. Tickets on BooKyShow.