Laugh out scared

A scene from Para ab normal

For long, the hybrid genre of horror-comedy was seen as an outsider by the respective worlds of horror and comedy. The field evolved over the years and carved out a niche for itself. We wonder what common side of visual grammar fills the gap between chills and cackles. Isn't it their resolve to stay excessive? When Mike Tyson punches a stag at a stag party in The Hangover for having his pet tiger in a hotel bathroom, you laugh at the deviant plotline wrought with excesses. You'd notice a parallel on closely looking at how or why we react to the ghost claiming young males in the film, Stree. The genre, however, penetrates deeper when performed on stage.

Para ab normal, a genre-blending play, tells the story of a game show. The show hunts for the creepiest person alive on the face of the earth. The host goes on from one contestant to another, as they describe some of the most inhuman and horrendous acts they have committed. "And the audience laughs," says Nishil Kamalan, director of the piece. Kamalan believes that horror and comedy are also similar in the reactions they incite: "Both induce instant responses unlike other fields that may prompt analyses. When viewers laugh at something sinister, we make them conscious of the action that's making them laugh, and often it's met with an ‘Oh'.'"

The play that is part immersive will tap on your sensory faculties; it will have the audience scattered across a performance area as characters in the narrative. "A disclaimer is read out before the scary bits begin. Members in the audience are scared and (sometimes) throw at-hand objects as they are blindfolded. When you can't see what awaits you, your imagination is heightened, and so are your reactions," the director explains.

A Hooted1ce and Ethiros Theatre presentation, the actors are surprised to see tickets sell out faster than they used to in a pre-pandemic world. But immersive sessions, for a genre as niche, do not fetch more than 30 takers. Kamalan reasons that limited audience participation in the process is a bigger win than being able to set up commercial productions.

Did such servings of scary fits ever land them in trouble? To that he says, with a ring of conviction, "For our fully interactive piece called Prison Games, many told me that although they've never been in a prison, they could feel the tension. That's what we aim for."

On: December 25, 5.15 pm
At: Funkaar, Laxmi Industrial Estate, Andheri West.
Log on to: insider.in
Cost: Rs 499