BANGALORE: Even five years after its first show Hegadre Hege?, a comical play — based on five stories of humour writer late T Sunandamma — and written by Dr KY Narayanaswamy, continue to draw packed audience not just in Karnataka but also across the Central Asia and in the US.It is no wonder that the play, directed by Promod Shiggoan with noted stage artiste Laxmi Chandrashekar and actor Sundar, has had its hundredth show to a packed audience at the Ranga Shankara on Tuesday. From the beginning to the end, the play generates waves of laughter with its wit, pun and punching lines, and entertaining action on the stage. In all, a healthy comedy, which has become a rarity in these days.The highlight of the play is the songs that are satirical and reflect the modern day life. The playwright Narayanaswamy says that it was a challenge to connect five stories and add more scenes while drawing a contemporary connect to the audience without missing Sunandamma’s signature style. Also, there is a fear of monotony, if the play is lenghty. So, he added songs in between to break it.Director Pramod Shiggoan walks away with accolades for his sheer perfection and genius ingenuity in making just two artistes to don multiple roles in the play.The plot largely revolves around couple Sarasu — a typical middle class wife with loads of ambition and aspirations — and Mylari — a self contented government employee — and aptly delves on various incidents that happen in any middle class family.The movement of the actors on-stage including additional responsibility of shifting the props demands good physical stamina to sustain the same levels of energy through out the play. Considering the age factor, Laxmi has excelled in it with her swift movements across the stage and delivering lengthy dialogues with ease, while Sundar appears natural when shifts to different roles without any difficulty. Comedy is all about timing, and the duo have excelled in the difficult genre."I never thought it would be such a walk-away success," say both Laxmi and Narayanaswamy. The play had 15 shows in all major cities in the US besides a show in Muscat."The play has created a new set of theatre lovers, who come to a theater for the first time," says Laxmi, acknowledging the role of word-of-mouth publicity, in the first of the play's release five years ago, to the success of the play.Gajanana T Naik’s music is not only soothing but also adds to the flavour of comedy while M D Pallavi and team sing. Muddanna Rattihalli gives added effect through his lighting. The simple and effective stage designed by Sridhar Murthy, and make up by Ramakrishna Kannarpadi only proves that theatre involves team work and no individual is solely responsible for its success.
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