Choice matters

A Hyderabad-based theatre group plans to take you on a vacation in their new play where various nuances in relationships will be acted out and explored on stage

Your choice determines the course of your life and you better not grumble about it.

A young gay couple and a heterosexual duo based out of Mumbai are coming this weekend to teach Bangaloreans this simple truth.

Watch these two couples bring on stage the importance of preferences and their implications on life in On Vacation, an English play by a Hyderabad based theatre group Sutradhar.



"We all need to live with choices we make. We make them so we can't crib," Vinay Varma, the director of On Vacation says.

Set in Mumbai, the play revolves around two couples and their experiences in discovering their true identities and needs. Kartik and Uttara have been in a live-in relationship for years.
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Uttara is an ambitious actress while Kartik is a naval chef.

Uttara is Kartik's emotional anchor. However, trouble starts once Uttara starts stepping all over her relationship to achieve professional success and Kartik begins to feel neglected.

Suddenly Cyrus, an old schoolmate, and his boyfriend Vyom come from Canada for a short vacation.

The gay couple plan to marry in San Francisco. Meanwhile, Kartik and Uttara despite being together for a long time have never discussed marriage and children.

The play soon turns into a plot of struggle where, the gay couple strives to find stability for their 'so-called abnormal relationship' and Kartik puts all his effort to restore normalcy in their conventional liaison.

"The play tries to show that no relationship is different be it a man-man or man-woman. The emotion of love is present in the same form in every relationships. We stay in a relationship because we choose to," Verma says.

The play brings out the subtle aspects of human relationships but is not preachy.

The difference between pseudo and true feminism comes out through Uttara's character, where she acts as a commitment phobic man herself and does not want to take any responsibility.

Meanwhile, Vyom becomes the woman in his relationship with Cyrus and expresses the softer emotions and feelings. In fact, Vyom's character is the anchor that binds the others together.
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Vyom believes in giving and receiving love and knows how to spread it.

u00a0"Vyom is the hero of my play. It is because of him that everything around changes," Verma says.

Based on a Marathi play, Chotyashya Suttit, the script of On Vacation presents a sensitive and a bittersweet picture of how relationships suffer due to our choices of how we want to be.
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It does not urge you to take a moral stand rather makes you ponder over your need to follow your heart.

At Ranga Shankara
On May 7 and 8, 7.30 pm
Call 9880 036611 Ticket Price Rs 150