Portrait of the Audience [short, one-act play]
Portrait of the audience
By Anant gaur
portrait of the audience is essentially a discussion between two wildly different men of peculiar ages. starting off with the depiction of a painting, its details, texture etc.. and moving towards the sour truth behind, putting on-canvas, literally a portrait of the audience.
a romantic tragedy at its core, POA also showcases the contrasting shades of a person's inner & outer psyche and their indifference towards other people's loss.
Part1 Removing the colours.
[A painting exhibition (a gallery)]
Man1 enters from the gate.
(An Intellectual looking man in his late 40’s, wearing black kurta pajama and a Nehru jacket over it, having a mature grizzled beard and nicely combed back hair and tendency of repeating his words.)
He hangs around the gallery looking at a few paintings and finally stops in front of the stage facing the audience.
[Random people walking in the background]
Man2 enters from the gate.
(A smart looking young man around 25-30 of age, lean bodied, wearing bright coloured t-shirt and waist coat, having problem of eye twitching {Blepharospasm}.)
Man2 hurriedly looks through the other painting, and then finally comes stands besides man1 looking at painting.
Man2: excuse me.
[Man1 shifts a little, both silently look at the painting for a while. Minutes later Man2 very silently starts crying and tears flows down his eyes. Man2 notices him.]
Man1: are you alright sir?
Man2: ya ya….yup. (Hiding his tears)
Man1: itni bhaa gayi painting heheh, bahut emotional ho gaye ap to.
Man2: umm…. Na I’m good.
Man1: kafi mehnat kari hai painter ne. good use of colours, textures and amazing oil work. I mean look at this. Nice. Mister J. Mathews (puts on his reading glasses). Shayd koi naya painter hai. Jo bhi hai lekin concept mein shayad thoda maar kha gaye mr. mathews.
Man2: achha. (Smirks)
Man1: tch… (Nods)
Man2: ap.. apko kya lagta hai. Umm..Kya ho rha hai is painting mein, kya soch kar bnayi gayi hai ye painting.
Man1: don’t know. Bahut sare log hain, photographers, and people. Aaa…Jaise kuch dekhne ke liye ekatrit huye hain. Koi play ya fir koi award ceremony. Sort of.
Man2: koi movie bhi to ho sakti hai??
Man1: nahi nahi. Movie nahi hai.
Man2: kyun?
Man1: kyunki popcorn nahi hai na kisi ke hath me. Hahah.. aur andhera bhi nahi hai auditorium me. To movie to…. I don’t think so.
Man2: hmm….
[Silence. Man1 closely observes the painting while man2 calmly watches the painting and the people who are passing by]
Man2: what do you think about this guy?
Man1: this…. This guy? (Points with his finger)
Man2: yup.
Man1: isko dekhkar to aisa lagta hai ki…. He hadn’t got laid in a long time. Dekhiye apne piche bethe couple ko kaise disturb kar rha hai. And this lady in the front row, I don’t think vo yahan kisi kaam se aayi hai. vo sirf aur sirf apne relatives ya apne friends ki photographs lene aayi hai. Dekhiye kaise photos click kar rhi hai.
Man2: hmm…
Man1: aur ye .. ye jo admi yahan betha hai… ye. Ye zarur koi critic hoga. Dekhiye to… he’s a little fat, stout, and look and the expressions. Amazing. Amazing work. Nice. Nice work by the painter, and this person sitting two rows behind him. He is yawning... See. He is totally not interested in anything happening out here. It seems ki kisi dost ne kaha sath chalo to vo aa gya. And that girl, yea she is pretty. She must be a…. art student. Well she is……. Pretty.
An old romancing couple here, and a boy, little boy pointing towards the stage. Ho sakta hai apni mumma se puch rha ho ki kya chal rha hai stage par.
Bahut sare log hai. Har tarah ki audience, photographers, students, couples, hooters. Nice. The most desired audience. Different work, complementing colours, proportion of figures, layering, textures, amazing, amazing. All of a sudden I’ve started to like this concept too. Painter had done a great job. Great job. Apko kya lagta hai is painting ke bare mein?
Man2: uhh… wahi jo apko lagta hai.
Man1: ji vo to thik hai. Pr Mere kehne ka matlab hai ki apke hisab se painter ka perspective kya hoga is painting ko bnane ke piche?
Man2: aaa…well... vivid range of audience. Ummm… diverse, most diverse audience. zarur koi award ceremony hai…..
Man1: play bhi to ho sakta hai?
Man2: heh... nahi. Play nahi hai.
Man1: kyun?
Man2: Kyunki play me bhi auditorium me andhera hota hai to obviously play to nahi hai. Painter ko ek award mila hai, to stage par se jo use nazar ata hai, vo usne is painting me depict kiya hai. Bas ye jo aadmi hai, who hadn’t got laid according to you, jisne sex nahi kia hai kafi samay se. actually he is getting disturbed by the couple sitting behind him. dekhiye.. It’s the couple. They are fighting and this man is turning back to hush them down. Aaa… and this lady here is not a friend or a relative, she is a journalist or something actually. Look at the I-card round her neck. Do you see that?
Man1: yaaaa….
Man2: and this fat stout guy. Not a critic, I believe. He must be a fellow contender for the award or something and he is angry because he didn’t get the award obviously. And He is jealous.
This old romancing couple here. They must…umm…. they ARE actually the parents of the painter. Vo kush hain, apne bachhe ke liye. So…. And baki sab to, vahi sab hain sare... hooters, entertainers, couples, uninterested ones, students etc.
Man1: sahi sahi… Achanak se sare loose ends jud se gaye hain. Matlab…. Now all these dots have joined to make a complete story… hahah… pr apko kaise pta?
Man2: ye painting. Mere husband ne bnayi hai.
[Black out]- END 1 (10 min length)
Part2 The real sketch.
Man1: oh... you mean your wife, you are the husband.
Man2: no… my husband. Mr. jeenu mathews.
Man1: oh okay. Ohhh… (Realising) okkay….
Man2: he was painter… Obviously. Hehh. He painted since his childhood, painted all his life but never got any recognition, as it turns out he went mad and left painting. This was his last painting by the way.
My husband was once a very lively man actually, dreamt about flying and clouds and dragons and nature. Main wahin tha jab ye painting bnayi gayi, isliye I know ki ye sab log kaun hain. Vo hmesha sochte rehte the ki… kya hoga jab unhe ‘the best painter’ ka award milega. So he painted this. Soon after that we broke up and he stopped painting. So…. This is his last work. And you know what, this painting here. It received an award for the best painting last month. This previous month. But he couldn’t be there. The ceremony, he couldn’t be there. Two weeks before the ceremony my husband had a breakdown and was sent to the asylum.
Man1: I am really sorry.
Man2: don’t be.
[Having nothing else to say man1 slowly and awkwardly moves to other painting, while man2 stands there gazing at the audience, blinking briskly in his manner.]
Fade out- END 2 (15 minutes)
21 June 2012, 07:46 pm
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