Dark night, stormy thoughts

BENGALURU:  It’s a rainy, dark night and a pregnant woman is visited by an ominous presence. The scene plays out similarly to any horror film but there’s no supernatural being. Instead, the woman is confronted by the ghost of the past, one who represents her repressed memories of her sister getting abused as a child in the hands of a male babysitter.

This is the plot of The Night Visitor, a new digital play written by American playwright Dierdre Girard, and directed by Bengaluru-based filmmaker Prataya Saha. The play was made as part of a special online streaming event of digital plays called ‘Things that go Bump’, organised by OnStage Atlanta, a theatre production house based in Georgia.

“I think the idea of a female protagonist talking to her alter ego on a beautifully written script on the topic of child sexual abuse was enough to get us interested in this project. In these times, it is the need of the hour to talk about this topic and bring forth a conversation with the audiences on this,” says Saha. Everything, from the conceptualisation to execution of the under 15-minute play, took over two weeks, with the actual shooting itself taking just five hours.

The play stars two city-based women – theatre artiste Shatarupa Bhattacharyya plays the alter ego whereas corporate professional Matuli Madhusmita Swain plays the pregnant woman, Andrea. “My character is divorced, emotionally vulnerable and financially struggling, while invested in a relationship which she knows is not right for her and her daughters. She talks herself out of selfintrospection, as it means delving into her troubled childhood.

How she undergoes a self-transformation on a stormy night, when visited by her past – her fear, her trauma, her helplessness and finally acknowledging her resilience forms the crux of the play,” explains Matuli, who adds that the play explores the hidden societal and emotional layers that women carry with them for generations.

Agrees Saha, who adds, “In this very intimate conversation between the protagonist and her alter ego, we not only get to understand how child sexual abuse happens mostly in areas where a child is supposed to be safe but we also understand how denial or lack of help from the victim’s guardians affect the victim negatively even in their later years after they have grown up as fully functioning adults.” The topic did prove to be intense for the team, which also included Abhishekh Saravanan, who looked after the editing and sound design, and assistant director Siddhartha Swain.

Both the actors found different ways to cope. While Matuli found respite in journaling or painting , Bhattacharyya learned that leaving the space for a while allowed her to come back to it with fresh perspective. “It is indeed disturbing. But as an artiste, the purpose with which this play was done was to instigate a conversation around such a topic. To tell people that it is alright to speak up and that one shouldn’t feel guilty about it. If something is wrong, it is wrong. Period,” she says.

(The play can be viewed on Prataya Saha’s social media channels)