A ‘surreal encounter’ at Tagore Theatre

CHANDIGARH: Set in Kasauli, a small hill-station near Chandigarh, Pankaj Kapoor’s ‘Dreamz-Sehar’ feels far from conclusion or a drop, even after it ends after an hour.
Staging its tenth show at Tagore Theatre on Saturday, the play was the first narrative from the Dreamz series, which explores the blurred space within dreams and reality thus leaving behind a deep yet inexplicable impact on one’s mind.
The play revolves around a professor named Sanjay Mishra (Pankaj Kapoor), visiting Kasauli on a weekend, where he has a an encounter with a strange woman named Sehar (Supriya Pathak). Sehar is looking for her sister Nisha, who is described as girl in the “yellow suit” and knee-length hair. Attracted towards her, Mishra joins her in the search.
Being economically timed at fifty minutes, the play contains very rustic, typical hilltown imagery with a street sign reading directions towards the Lower Mall and Upper Mall regions of Kasauli. Accompanied by a ghostly persona, and a subtle theme music. The play has been written and directed by Pankaj Kapoor. Although fourteen cast members besides Kapoor and Pathak hail from Mumbai, another ten of them are based in Chandigarh.
Mishra, drawn to Sehar ends up spending a night with her, only to be deserted by her in the morning, with nothing left behind but a letter.
The narrative concludes, by a personal dialogue from Pankaj Kapoor, asking the audience to question whether Sahar was real, whom Professor Mishra met. The concept of involving the space around the stage by walking outside of it, near the audience has been effectively executed in the narrative.