VIDHURAN by MacTrics - A Review

             I'm still awestruck and gaping, yet to come out having experienced a truly vivid display of sheer performance, at its best of coordination and execution. Having said that, in my humble opinion every performer or rather every person who has been a part of this theatrical production has to completely believe and go by the spirit that "What I did was not my best, what I've learnt and gonna do next could be my best". In that spirit of the game here's my take on what went right and what went wrong, where the right should be taken in the humble spirit of acceptance of appreciation and pride should not find a place and wrong should be taken as a scope of improvement of one's respective contribution and nothing personal.

• MacTrics - The Mummers
• You were the pillars both metaphorically and literally.
• As the entire part of yours involves a high degree of precision and timing, being the audience I did not see even a bit of that been missed out or delayed.
• Though the entire performance involved a lot of physicality there was not a compromise on the expressions at various points that required.
• I especially loved the expression of the girl who played Draupadi Kunthi during the moment where a Vidhuran's man would fall at their feet pleading them not to go to the palace and she would be the last to leave and I felt her reaction was just priceless mixed with anxiety, confusion, worry, concern etc.
• The quick regroups portraying the flash back, the mirrored maze and final exit from the cave were my pick of best of formations and executions.
• Dancers
• Firstly, the idea of portrayal of dangers bound for Pandavas via a dance form, was a commendable and novel interpretation.
• The expressions at varied points enhanced by the well synchronized lighting was just a visual treat.
• The single beat of foot tapping resonating out of 10 feet altogether at many instances was an audible testimony to the coordination with which you girls performed.
• A few instances of gestural and hand movement miss of coordination were seen which apparently is not a big issue however it just does not give the tag of being called a flawless one.
• The Joker
• The way The Joker began (circling the audience and making stunts) really set the mood of the audience to get hooked to the performance right from the word go.
• There was that variety of expressions delivered by you at different points in the monologue which was doing justice to the role however your dialogues could not keep pace with that clarity.
• The subsequent monologue transitions from the mime began to be felt like more of a dip in the attention level rather than increase or maintenance to the audience energy levels. However the course of monologue "managed" to uplift the energy levels towards the end of each of it just before being transitioned into mime again.
• The monologue as such was a long one and with many of the line endings being said twice and sometimes even more, made it even more dragging. 
• I felt it would have been better if The Joker finished just the way he started, circling around the audience and exiting finally.
• Background Score
• I must say that MacTrics have been what they are, with a huge role of such a wonderful and talented mind behind, scoring the music tracks.
• The music indeed has been the string that held and moved the puppets (Mummers & Dancers) in the way it is supposed to.
• The expectation bars have been raised and the next time it would be a lot more.
• Lights & Sound
• If Victor Paulraj had done this feat I would have said, "His experience and versatility has done it again", however it was Charles who did the magic and its truly laudable.
• The inexperience, 20+ meters of distance from the stage, swift light change queues did not cause even a bit of downtrend in the commitment and quality of his deliverable.
• Way to go Charles, hoping to see you create much more wonders in the future.
• Just a concern was the stage blue lights when The Joker walked in during every mime to monologue transition. I felt it was not necessary and the show would've gone good with a black out instead, each time.
• The Marketing
• I guess it was the toughest challenge to the MacTrics throughout the entire production.
• I feel MacTrics (one of a kind in this city, at least) truly needs a lot more support from this crew.
• Maybe the ones here need to get to the drawing boards and start from scratch if need be, for branding and reaching out to the best, for the future MacTrics productions.
• Shutter Monkeyz
• Being the video and promo partner, I understand it was the first attempt at something of this sorts and there is quite a lot of learning you guys have to take away from this.
• Promotions these days are of much reach and ease more on social network than anywhere, hence you should have done a lot more on that front. Probably teaming up with the Marketing team at some points would have given better results.
• Stage Manager
• Managing the stage with such an enormous cast being entirely present almost the whole of showtime is no easy task and I must appreciate the work done by the one responsible and it was truly commendable.
• The Monologue Writers
• No doubt that the script as such was well written and the crowd's applause and appreciation at many a time is the proof for that.
• However in my opinion there were certain elements that were either not thought off or rather overlooked which did not make the The Joker's role on par with the performance of the mime and dance.
• There's this fine line of cohesion and comfort that should be there between the performer and the script which I felt was lacking to some extent. The script as such was good and well written, The Joker as such was a good performer however these two coming together did not deliver that punch expected out of a monologue and need to be really worked out together, moving forward.
• The Concept
• The message that MacTrics wanted to send out to the audience was truly a practically viable and needed one, drawing parallels from VIDHURAN from Mahabharatha and hats off to you folks for choosing this.
• I felt the audience could have been more informed of what's coming on the show maybe in the form a prelude via something as simple as a handout while they walked in, so that they can be a little aware of what's in store for them because what's been performed on stage was something which they have  to relate and assimilate without a blink and stay engrossed. On top of all these expecting the audience to catch the connect on what's the message being told in the end all by themselves is a bit too much to expect out of them.
• The length of the monologue each time and the switches between monologue and mime transitions could have been crispier.
• The Director
• Last but definitely not the least, it was a fabulous and well orchestrated show and you can pat yourself and your team for such a brave and daring attempt at a showcase on something that was as different as this.
• As a follower of MacTrics performances I would expect the next direction to be totally different and most importantly not involve any of the formations or representations that I've seen already.
• Probably that's a huge challenge and well that is what MacTrics is all about, in my opinion.

      Definitely living to true spirits of what MacTrics believed this production of VIDHURAN to be, it made justice by being a show that was never seen or attempted before in the theatrical arena. Congratulations to the team MacTrics, yet again...!!!

The Great Indian Blogologues - Bits and Pieces !!!

     History has been made and yeah for the first time EVER (from what we heard from the Stray Factory folks) a string of stand alone blogs, mostly written burning the midnight oil I guess, has been brought to light or rather should I say LIMELIGHT. Now, having watched it twice here's my take on the bits and pieces that made up this show.

Starting off with the three plays...

@Judy finds ‘The One’

• Firstly, kudos to the director for striking a connectivity between more than a handful of posts and delivering with absolute precision and timing.
• Its sarcastic genre has surely struck a chord at a lot of stark realities prevalent in the social and work surroundings.
• It was appreciable that the voice audibility level imbalance between the two characters that was seen in the first screening was overcome here.
• Bottomline: Amazing adaptation and indeed Judy found 'The One'.

@Vigilante Vs Vigilante

• Great to see such a complex set of posts be taken in for an adaptation, honestly I couldn't comprehend completely though, still. However must say that I felt the second screening was a bit more "adapted" in an attempt to suit the audience understanding.
• The Loan Sharkji dialogs seemed to use expletives like as if she was made to sign up for just that.
• The crying scientist girl acting overflowed (கொடுத்த காசவிட ஜாஸ்தியா நடிச்சா) in the second screening in comparison to her apt act on the first.
• The background score was not of much support to the scenes at hand.
• As Inspector Sathya knew his jaab, he saved others' butts, with just bruises.
• Bottomline: I was twice as "Vigilante" as I could be, both the times but still the clone escaped over my head.

@Confessions of a scattered a mind

• The first thing that came up in mind was the musical touch that I enjoyed and it was truly refreshing after a befitting fighting-for-samosa break. Must say that the scientist had a good singing potential.
• The idea of using a mime to create a traffic jam on-stage was truly laudable, hands down but I did not know why it was a wee hour traffic jam rather than a peak hour jam.
• Mr.Modi was amazing and might have left the real Modi gaping for a moment, had he watched.
• The character Anuraag struck a good balance in his intonation and rendition and for sure the script did complete justice to the blog post.
• The என் இனிய தமிழ் மக்கள் who "filled" the last part were good on their accent, body language and voice throw but not on the substance.
• Bottomline: Truly lived up-to its name and kept the audience mind scattered.

Moving on-to the collaborators...

@Indiblogger

• Its pretty evident to know that Indiblogger has grown to the extent of being looked upon as a pioneer in showcasing Indian Blogger talents and no one else would've been a better choice for Stray Factory for this venture, than you folks.
• Kindly stick to timelines when showing promotions for shows like this and remove it or update it upon completion of the shows because the first thing I still see logging into your forum is the blogologue tab with 'Buy Tickets' button for the 31st Oct show, STILL. It gives a feel that the site has been cobwebbed due to some poor site administration. There are quite a few more for which this is not the space for me to highlight though.
• Bottomline: Indiblogger will surely make it to that coveted world level showcase SOONER, sans these technical glitches.

@MacTrics

• I know you guys have the potential to have pulled off even a larger, bigger and more 'realistic' traffic jam. No idea whether what you had showcased was all, that was expected by the director.
• Your part in the second show did not do justice as to what the first show did and there was an evident lapse of coordination which I am sure you people would've realized already.
• Bottomline: The performance was way below par off a trademark MacTrics performance.

@Hip Hop Tamizha

• I was very much disappointed and confused with your performance, which was just like a background score in bringing the cast and crew on stage in the first show.
• However, I am blessed to have made it to the second show wherein I had been a witness of the true potential of what you were capable off. I loved and enjoyed your  scintillating performance on stage.
• The lyrics was well scripted and stuck up-to the message that you wanted to convey.
• It made me decide to get a copy of your tracks if it has been released already.
• Bottomline: HIP HOP தமிழா உனக்கு நான் தலை வணங்குகிறேன்.

@Stray Factory

• The sync-up, discussions, brain-storming sessions with the blog authors were truly up-to the expectations and the run-up to the event was well informed as well.
• The live-recorded conversational pair debuted truly in style and sure it was well received by the audience too.
• I'm rather surprised to notice that the 'LCD Screen Conversations' worked picture perfect for 'Judy...' but not for 'Confessions...' on both the screenings, with a little improvement for 'Confessions...' on the second show making not much of an impact though.
• The lighting and audio queues are definitely something that should be on the MUST IMPROVE list as it faltered and the actors on stage had to cover up for it.
• The props management needs fine tuning as well, or maybe the bad light-queuing made this look a bit clumsy especially in the second screening.
• Though the LIMELIGHT objective was achieved, the Bloggers were not given a worthwhile mention, on either of the shows.
• All said and done, yet again a must say is that this is indeed an amazing venture and I'm sure you guys will go places.
• Bottomline: Stray Factory bravely strayed into the unexplored and the unheard off domains and no doubt are en-route a firm path towards fame, achievements and accolades from a growing audience, each time.