Chennai art theatre to explore erotica on stage with four plays

Chennai Art Theatre (CAT) is back with the third edition of the show Erotica on November 21. This edition will be hosted at their newest performance space in town, Medai (off TTK road). 

The event will have four short plays told by artists from different walks of life and touching bases of different understandings of eroticism. 

B Charles, founder of CAT tells DT Next, “We narrate and discuss a lot of socially relevant topics on stage. People don’t talk about or address topics like sexuality and it is still considered a taboo subject. I wanted to explore those topics and that’s how I started a show called Erotica two years ago. After the success of two editions, we are doing the third season today at Medai. There will not be a centralised theme as such, but I have asked the four directors to explore the theme of eroticism in their own way.” 

The four shows that will be staged today at 4 pm and 7 pm are The Last Song (written & directed by Praveen Kumar), Three And Then Some (written & directed by Ashmita Chhabria and Mrittika Chatterjee), Pen’ In Vilai Enna? (written & directed by Navaneeth and Akilesh) and Tinder Me Not (written by Shruti Parasuraman and directed by Shravan Ramakrishnan).

“Erotica aims at universally communicating the intricacies of sensuality beyond the many ways known to us. These short plays revolve around the intimacy of the mind and body and shape it into one wholesome element. In the last two editions, not just youngsters, but many seniors showed up and supported us. We hope to reach a wide audience through Erotica,” he adds.

The writer and director of the play The Last Song, Praveen Kumar came to know about the show and got in touch with Charles. “I contacted Charles and expressed my interest to write a play. I send an idea and he liked it. I think the reason why not many are taking the theme of erotica in theatre is that performing intimate scenes on stage is quite challenging for actors. They have to act in front of a large audience. But when it comes to films, only the shooting crew will be present. The Last Song is an erotic comedy. It is the story of a blind singer who visits a forbidden bungalow every day which was a brothel in ancient times. He sings a song to awaken the spirits and gets intimate with them but what happens when he crosses the thumb rule of the place and encounters a bloodthirsty vampire forms the rest of the story,” says Praveen Kumar.

Charles continues, “Three And Then Some asks who is the protagonist in the sharing of an intimate moment. To what extent do we investigate our desires, and to what lengths do we go in the process of hiding the truth about what we like — in the privacy of our own bedrooms and minds. This play will be a battle of bodies with minds and minds with society and its normative boundaries. Pen’ In Vilai Enna ventures into what if a pen could come alive and talk about its perspectives about life. Also talking about a pen, how it would look if a pen had a sexual life? The story revolves around a pen being procrastinated because of its size and its perspectives of life. Along with its problems a pen narrates a context of its sexual happenings. Tinder Me Not follows the life of Meera, a 25-year-old who recently broke up with her long-term boyfriend Anand. She always felt there was something missing in her sex life but could not point at it. When Neetu introduces her to Tinder, Meera gets excited to explore her sexuality and eventually her BIG O. Will she finds it, forms the rest of the play.”