A story of love and loss

BANGALORE: A theatre act production An Arrangement of shoes directed and produced by Vivek V  Narayan and written by Abhishek Majumdar is to be staged at Ranga Shankara on November 15 and 16.An Arrangement of Shoes is the story of one family told by Rukhsar, a young small town girl who has moved to Delhi. The production sets this story of one family against the backdrop of the history of modern India, and the Gulf War. The play asks searching questions about the condition of minority communities in modern India. Our production contextualises the story of Rukhsar’s family within the depiction of Muslims in mainstream cinema using video projections of Bollywood songs that form a part of Rukhsar’s mental and emotional landscape, blending in to her story and commenting upon it.If An Arrangement of Shoes is a story of a family’s love and loss, it is also the story of the shrinking spaces for alternate identities in modern India, one with grave consequences. The play is structured as a non-linear narrative, weaving together ‘flashbacks’ and ‘intercuts’ and ‘closeups’ in the cinematic style so loved by Rukhsar’s family. The same performer plays all the roles in An Arrangement of Shoes, presenting an enormous challenge to the performer and a theatrical event with enormous possibilities.