Word War Too

Mystique is all set to present their new play ‘Mirad- Returning to The War’ that will be held at MES Auditorium,Kothrud on August 3. The play,originally written by Dutch playwright Ad de Bont,tells the moving story of a family thrown apart by the Bosnian Civil War. The eponymous lead character,Mirad is a young boy who loses his father and sister to the war and gets separated from his mother,Verica,a role essayed by Neha Lodhiya. While Mirad and Verica search for each other,their struggles give the audience a moving account of the war.

Director Darshan Naik has attempted to stay true to de Bont’s original script to keep the story raw and compelling. “There are many lines and scenes that we could have done without but we have consciously kept the script intact so that it has a greater impact on the audience,” says actor Raje. The script was originally written for documentary theatre,where actors sit on stage and read their lines. However,Mystique has taken the experimentation further and attempted to act out the scenes as well. “This is a serious play on a sensitive topic and we are targeting genuine theatre lovers for this show ,” added Raje.

“Research for this play was quite traumatizing; we read books,news reports,watched movies and videos. We were shocked to learn the truth about that period. Thousands of people were killed everyday and torture and rape were commonplace,” says Raje,adding that the play also has several scenes which depict such disturbing incidents. For instance,when Verica,the mother,is taken to a refugee camp,she discovers that her brother has joined the very army that is keeping them hostage and the brother then attempts to rape her,” he explains.

The five year old group Mystique has also presented other plays such as ‘Mrutya Katha’ and ‘Eka Natatha Mrutyu’ in different cities . They have also presented a different take on Mirad’s story in an older play,’Mirad-A Boy From Bosnia’ earlier. “This is our first show for this play and we hope to have a show in Pune every two weeks thereafter,” ends Raje.