Watch Badal Sircar's humorous play on capitalism this weekend in Mumbai

The cast rehearses the play for the show

Can society function without money? In a world driven by fervent consumerism, it might sound like a fantasy. Yet, theatre is meant to use fantasy to shake people out of their illusions, director Mahesh Khandare of Goa-based Theatre Flamingo, tells us. Their upcoming production, Hattamalachya Palyad (Beyond The Land of Hattamala), seeks to do just that.

Written by the late Bengali playwright Badal Sircar back in the '60s, the play is a surreal take on consumerist capitalism, with a touch of irony and humour. "Sircar looked at money as the root of evil, and saw society being caught up in the cycle of surplus, profit and greed," Khandare explains. The story follows two likeable thieves in an idyllic village that is ignorant of the concept of money. Through the interactions and misunderstandings that follow, Sircar raises questions on society's treatment of people as products and markets.

Mahesh Khandare

Khandare's production in Marathi and Konkani tackles the concept of 10x20 - a minimalist technique inspired by Polish theatre director Jerzy Grotowski's methods - that eschews elements unnecessary for the narration. "We have three actors playing all the parts," the 24-year-old director reveals. The narrator, played by Prajakta Kavlekar, takes on the roles of the villagers and the catalysts, while Pranav Tengse and Shravan Fondekar play the two thieves. The trick, the director shares, is to use paintings as the backdrop to transition between scenes. This innovation is also sparked by necessity. After all, a stage production is not exactly a profit-making machine, he says. "The irony is that while we are doing a play about the evils of money, we often find ourselves in need of it," he admits.

This duality is the hallmark of the play and makes it relevant even today. "All of us are consumers, and servants of the market," Khandare says, adding, "We'll never know how to live within our means, unless someone wakes us up to it. That's where the work attains new significance today."

On January 7; 7 pm
At Studio Tamaasha, Lokhandwala Complex, Andheri West.
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Cost Rs 200