STAGING MODERN LOVE
A new play, set to premiere this week, looks at how relationships have changed in the dating app era
There is no denying that modern love has drastically changed with the advent of dating apps and social media. The questions that always crop up are — do they work in the quest for love? Can they help get rid of loneliness? A new play that is set to premiere in the city examines these questions and showcases how our relationships have changed in the app era. Directed and written by Amitosh Nagpal, Talli Tuesday is a montage of five blind dates where each couple meets under the influence of alcohol. Interestingly, the couples have connected through an app, which sends notifications on Tuesday.
Nagpal, who is a graduate of the National School of Drama, Delhi, believes that technology has distracted us from human connection and changed the way we approach relationships. “When I hear about people’s weird and hilarious experiences of different kind of relationships in the world of Facebook, Tinder, WhatsApp etc., I find a kind of humour and satire in it. People write about their relationships on Facebook, commenting, abusing or showing affection for each other. I’ve tried to capture that in Talli Tuesday. The show is an overall comment on relationships today. I’ve also tried to cover various nuances of relationships, for example what happens when a man meets a prostitute or when a man meets his ex-lover, etc.”
The play features cast members from theatre and other fields of arts. “Talli Tuesday is based on blind dating, where people from different worlds meet.
SHOW TIME
Talli Tuesday will be staged on May 30 and May 31, at 7.30pm and 9.30pm, at Prithvi Theatre, Juhu. Keeping that in mind, we selected actors from various domains besides theatre. We chose stand-up comedians like Ankita Srivastav, seasoned theatre actors such as Maneesh Varma and Rahul Bagga, dancers and singers. Actor Nora Fatehi is also making her theatre debut in this play. The cast members also include Vishwas Kini, Nilima Sharma, Punanand, Anuradha Mukherjee, Vipin Heero and Jahnavi Dave,” says Nagpal, who is best known for his work in the play Piya Behrupiya, Gajab Kahani (adaptation) and also has penned the dialogues to the recent film, Hindi Medium.
DIFFERENT ASPECTS
Each short story within the play has been titled ‘first peg’, ‘second peg’, ‘third peg’ and so on to depict the progression of intoxication and to highlight the stages of a relationship between two people. “The last story or fifth peg, corresponding to the final stage in most relationships, is about marriage. The bride runs away and is followed by her groom,” says Nagpal and confesses that the stories are inspired by his own experiences in life. The play also uses stand-up comedy to instill the element of humour.
When asked about introducing the element of inebriation, Nagpal clarifies, “Alcohol doesn’t represent any kind of coolness in my play, but it’s a mask, people wear sometimes, to let their madness come out, without the fear of being judged as one can always say in the end, ‘I’m sorry, I was drunk’.”
CHANGING TIMES
Commenting on the evolution of relationships between couples, Nagpal says, “There are a lot of external elements that have entered the realm of a relationship between two people. Earlier, when two people were together, close friends or family were privy to it. But today everyone’s life is on social media. But using an app, doesn’t solve the problem. Ultimately, everyone needs a human connect, an individual to speak to.”
Emulating this thought, Nagpal shares that in one of the scenes in the play, a man meets a prostitute, despite being active on social media platforms, he ends up simply talking to her all night because he feels lonely. In another story, the protagonist laments that he doesn’t have anyone to talk to despite living in a metropolitan city, hence he takes refuge of the app.
NO MORAL LESSON
Even though dating apps are an increasingly normal way t to look at love, there is often a stigma attached to it. Apps are often known to cause infidelity in relationships. But Nagpal says, “There is no moral comment in this play. It is about the madness in relationships. The play is just a reflection of what’s happening in real life. I’m just trying to paint a picture of what I see around me. It does not take any sides. I am just trying to recreate human behaviour. How the audience wants to interpret it is up to them, I just find the entire affair of apps
funny.”