Written by Meghna |
I knew something dramatic was cooking for the launch of Maxine’s “Threading Texts within Contexts” and I was quite excited to watch Team Bookworm embark on a story telling journey of a new sort. I had imagined it to be a dramatic reading of excerpts from the book or monologues on…I don’t know, life and celebration and age, maybe. What I didn’t expect was a full blown theatrical production – complete with set, costume, prop, sound and backstage support. What I experienced that evening, was entertaining, innovative and honest and kudos to Team Bookworm for that.
The concept of the theatrical trailer, was a brave one – it entailed engaging with and dramatically interpreting the whole book. The team made a sound creative choice in using the form of still-imaging to create vignettes from Maxine’s life. Each scene was framed and took us back in time as we watched Maxine through her childhood, youth and adulthood. The physical images were created by some truly enthusiastic actors and supported by an energetic voice over. In true Bookworm style, the performance was organic, using actors’ own physical resources to produce sound effects and background music. It was bound together by the charming Aishwarya, the energetic Jewel in her Escanaba Times avatar, the bold Malcolm, the sleek wooden frame and black costumes. Sujata, ofcourse, was perfect as Jane and Niju played a very authentic, ahem, himself.
My favourite part of the show was the end – loud, noisy, fast-paced, alive with humour and self-critical, it captured the spirit of Bookworm and process of realizing the idea of the book. Overall, this theatrical trailer entertained its audience oh-so-well.
I am so happy Team Bookworm chose drama and the performance arts to make “Threading Texts within Contexts” accessible in a whole new way to its readers.
