The truth about reality shows

Three teenagers Amaya, Shaila and Rajani, all hailing from different parts of Karnataka, appear for an audition for a role in a lifestyle reality TV show host. How will they fare in the audition? How will the fictional reality of the show affect them? This is the plot of Basav Biradar’s Crazy Girls-Season 1, a play on youth, adapted from German playwright Lutz Hübner’s Creeps. The idea for the play came to Basav from his observations on shows such as MTV Roadies. He wondered about the lives of those young girls and boys who are desperate to be part of this kind of television. Creeps too dealt with reality television and thus Basav decided to adapt the play into Kannada. “Last year, I was asked by Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan to direct a dramatised reading of a play. At the same time, there were controversies in some Kannada reality TV shows.” And so Basav was given a grant by Translation Fund of the Goethe-Institut to adapt Creeps into Kannada.

Basav admits, though, that: “I don’t watch TV, but for research I spoke to people who watch Kannada reality shows, participants in Kannada reality shows, and a director of such a show.” In the play Basav explores the impact of commercial reality TV on teenagers. “I had asked the director what is good material for such shows. He said they call it fictional reality TV because it is a construct of reality. In such shows they resort to exploitation and shaming to get people to react dramatically to situations. He said people want to watch ugliness, there is no such thing as a happy reality show because no one is willing to watch it.”

Basav chose to include only women as central characters: “ In Creeps too the characters are young girls. In Kannada reality shows there is misogyny.”

The play also explores Kannada identity. “I thought I would include regional politics. The girls speak in different Kannada dialects. One character is from Bengaluru, another is from Gulbarga and the third is from Udupi. The play has a conductor who is not seen on stage but whose voice is heard and who directs tasks and uses different kinds of provocations to get a reaction from the girls.”

The cast includes Kiran Sahukar, Nithya Rao, Rashmi S, Yeshaswini C and Pallavi M.D. “I began working on the script last October, and it took me about three to four months to write the play. I researched, then wrote the first draft. I also got someone to take a look at the script. I adapted the play, after which I did a workshop with the actors and through a collaborative process we made further additions to the play.” Crazy Girls Season 1, presented by Samprati Theatre in association with the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan, will be performed on May 5, at 7.30 pm and on May 6, at 7.30 pm at the Bhavan, 716 CMH Road, Indiranagar. Tickets on bookmyshow.com and at the venue.