CHENNAI: Exposing an audience to a romantic couple seated on a bench could sound rather cliche, until you stir up the conversation to revolve around not one, but two sex-change operations. No doubt, every ear would then pay close attention. In He and She, directed by V Balakrishnan of Theatre Nisha, a man and woman are ready to marry after their first date, only to find two years prior that he was a she, and she was a he. Over some rather hilarious ‘Q and A’ ranging from ‘are these supposed to feel so heavy?’ to ‘do you wash your chest hair?’ one realises that switching genders does take some getting used to.Also covering gender issues, homosexuality in this case, was the delightfully authentic Unarranged Marriage, staged in Tamil. With all the stereotypes in place, director Gnani Sankaran does a wonderful job and even adds the homely whistle of a pressure cooker blowing in the background.Perhaps the best short play of the evening was one simply titled, Outsourced. Katherine, (Shaan Katari Libby) with the help of her assistant, shows that even occasions such as a wedding anniversary can be handled ‘with the proper representation’ if one is too busy with office matters—one of which was to hire an escort in her place, much to the shock of her conservative PA. Witty exchanges peppered with corporate terms on unlikely topics had the audience quite hooked. Workplace humour seems to be the most relatable laughter therapy these days.Noah’s ark has always been a delightfully decadent tale, but it was refreshingly revisited in Because the World Needs Unicorns, directed by Freddy Koikaran. In the play, a hopeful unicorn (Naren Weiss, complete with white kurta and a horn on his head) tries to convince Noah to let him on the boat, despite his lack of a mate. Also a must mention, is The Lost Audition, with some brilliant acting from Mathivanan Rajendran, who loses his big chance of playing Osama Bin Laden in a fictional movie because, unfortunately for the actor, he gets killed the day before. A rather disappointing turn in the evening arrived with The Devil’s Aftershave, directed by Annamalai. Although it was well scripted, Sambamoorthy Sundaresan’s tedious monologue about a man with a heightened sense of smell, that ends abruptly, could have used some more clarity and less speech.All in all, it was a memorable evening with much versatility put together on a single stage. It seems a taste of ‘Short and Sweet’ leaves one hoping for just one more, every time.The Short and Sweet festival will continue to be staged at the Alliance Francaise, 7pm till July 23, with a gala final of the top ten plays on July 24.
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