Travel back in time with a new play that takes you through stories of nostalgia and pain, all with the help of your fifth sense
Have you ever had a smell trigger a memory that had been buried deep within for the longest time? Did driving down the coast, with the salt-tinged breeze rushing past your face, bring back the memory of a childhood trip to the beach. Has walking through a beautiful garden taken you back to the time an ex gifted you a bouquet of fragrant roses?
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The Fifth Sense includes intense and light performances in the form of monologues and physical theatre
Turns out, the sense of smell is closely linked with memory, and this weekend, you can experience it with Metamorphosis Theatre Inc's newest play, The Fifth Sense, which promises to take you on an immersive olfactory journey through a collection of monologues and physical theatre.
Omkar Bhatkar
"I have been wanting to work on a play involving the sense of smell for the last two years, but I didn't know how to go about it. Then, a couple of months ago, while rehearsing for a play, some of us got talking about the concept. One of the actors ended up sharing an interesting story about how a certain smell reminded him of a moment from when he was eight. Suddenly, we had an idea," says director Omkar Bhatkar.
The play, thus, is a diverse collection of seven such stories that have been picked up from the real-life experiences of people. "For instance, there is one monologue about a girl who smells something that reminds her of a rather painful day at school, an incident that took place over a decade ago," shares Bhatkar.
Yet another story, titled Bakery of Books, revolves around a memory attached to entering an old library and breathing in the sweet, musty whiff of books that call the place home. What makes The Fifth Sense interesting is that the team has incorporated these scents they talk about into the performance.
"We created the scent of the books using a combination of mothballs and vanilla-scented candles, and on the day, we'll be using diffusers to fill the room with this smell. Similarly, we have created signature scents for each piece. Between each performance, audience members will be asked to sniff a pouch containing coffee beans, which act as olfactory palate cleansers," says Bhatkar.
On: October 15, 7 pm
At: CLAP, A-Wing, second floor, Solitaire II, Malad West.
Log on to: bookmyshow.com
Entry: Rs 250