A NEED FOR BELONGING: DU DRAMSOCS PLAY ON SOCIAL ISOLATION

Dramatics societies across the varsity are aiming to provide creative succour for loneliness and lack of connection, inthe fest season

One often talks about how, in the digital age, the world has become smaller as we can e-meet anyone in the world from the comfort of our homes. But as technology makes us connect in the ether, there’s also an increasing need and pressure to stay social and available. It has now caught the fancy of many a dramatics society in Delhi University, who are bringing concerns such as loneliness and isolation to their original theatrical productions for the fest season.

A DISCONNECTED PRESENCE

“Our generation faces heightened social pressure to maintain numerous connections amid the chaos of life — to the extent that we often find ourselves disconnected. It could be anywhere, be it a group setting, with your family or peers, or even while you’re in solitude,” says Chinmay Juyal, general secretary, Ibtida, Hindu College’s dram soc, whose play Ekaki intends to spread the message that come what may, one is never completely alone. “We propound the mud theory — meaning, respond to those struggling with empathy and tell them that we’re sitting in the same mud as them and that we are there for them and hence they are never alone,” he adds.

A SENSE OF NOT FITTING IN

An ever-growing dependence on and involvement with technology causing relationships to get fraught is explored in Virasat, a production by Hansraj Dramatics Society. “There is something universal about the struggle to find belonging and understanding. It is strangely isolating and adds to the emotional toll of feeling disconnected from one’s own family, even,” says president Armaan Batra. In the play, the wedges in relationships are given the context of technological advancement, differences in political and socio-economic ideologies and the resulting disputes and estrangement between individuals.

THE LONELINESS OF MEN

For students of Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), loneliness is also a result of systemic discrimination and prejudice. Raunak Chandra, general secretary of The Dramatics Society, elaborates, “Our production, The Men-ace, portrays the isolation, marginalisation and stereotyping of men. They may or may not want to choose being alone but are forced into feeling the gap of company and empathy and end up being lonely. The loneliness manifests not only in the physical or mental aspects of their lives, but also in terms of how it affects their social standing and sense of belonging. This is the feeling that characters in our play experience — they become exhausted, tired and hopeless as time goes by.”

A WEB OF ISOLATION

Calling the contemporary times the proponent of the loneliness epidemic are members of Natuve, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College’s theatre society. Nav Malik, team head, shares, “With dating apps and social media becoming an escape and real-life interactions too difficult... Our play is an effort to show how people suffering from loneliness... isolate themselves from others or experience social exclusion. People don’t even acknowledge others or look them in the eye as they walk past. All these factors and the lack of quality and quantity of meaningful relationships have resulted in this loneliness epidemic, that we portray in our play — Main Aur ...... ” It explores the “far-reaching consequences of mental health and the urgent need for collective solutions” he adds.