A play with an urban ‘slice of life’

Gurvinder Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 13

A play titled, ‘Boiled Beans on Toast’, was staged today at Guru Nanak Bhawan here this evening. “This play is not a sequence of events or a story as such, but is rather a ‘slice of life’ from any urban city that is growing and expanding,” said Lillete Dubey, director and producer of the play.

Actors, including Joy Sengupta, Deepika Amin, Meenal Patel, Avantika Akerkar, Maneesh Verma, Swati Das and Gilliant Pinto were also there for the play.

Set in Bengaluru, the play presents glimpses of life of the different classes of society, including middle class, upper middle class, rich, migrants from villages, maids, etc and how their lives intertwine at a point, and how theyall look at things fromdifferent perspectives, Lillete said. “The playhas 21 characters played by nine actors. This was the 20th show of the play,” she added.

“This is the newest play written by Girish Karnad. He has been writing plays about legends and history but of late he has turned towards modern andcontemporary themes,” Lillete said.

The name of the play comes from how the traditional life of Bengaluru has now gelled with the newer set ups such asIT sector. So, the title depicts the coming together of traditional boiled beans of the place and ‘western’ toasts.

It presents different aspects, including urbanisation and its effect on environment. She said: “The play doesn’t give any message or draw any conclusion, but just presents life as it is. Some 10 to 20 years down the line, the play will be considered as an important record of the city life, and its transformation.”

The Bollywood actress said it was going to be her 80th play in the city and feels a connection with the city audience.