Toe the Line

Earlier this month,the cast of the Mumbai-based Le Chayim Theatre Productions was rehearsing for a play,titled An Incident at the Border,when an existential question popped up — “what if a border suddenly came up between you and everything familiar to you?” By next morning,as a new state of Telangana came into being,the question became more relevant.

“I’ve always been fascinated by borders,and how they are demarcated. Who decides which part of land belongs to which side? With the Telangana issue,we suddenly got a very local and real connection to our play,” says Himanshu Sitlani,who is making his directorial debut with the play. Based on London-based Kieran Lynn’s play of the same name,An Incident at the Border revolves around a couple who find themselves on either side of the country’s new border. A strict guard makes sure that no-one violates this line,creating a “situation and absurdist comedy”.

Sitlani recalls a recent visit to Canada. “There’s a park with a bench through which the US-Canada border passes. Technically,the person sitting on the other side of the bench is from a different country. During the time that I was there,nobody from the US or Canada side even smiled or shook hands,” he says. So,when he came across Lynn’s play a few days later,Sitlani decided that this story couldn’t be ignored.

An Incident at the Border will premiere on August 22 at Prithvi Theatre,Mumbai,and comprises Divyang Thakkar,Divya Unny and Dhruv Louhmi in the cast.