Staging concerns

KOCHI: Porvili' the 15-minute-long drama made quite an impression on the audience who were present at the Maharaja's auditorium on Thursday. The play organised as part of World AIDS day programme was held in association with the Maharaja's NSS unit and drama club. The students through the play focussed on the condition of AIDS patients and the stigma they continue to face from society.The student actors gave a riveting performance, one that send out a strong message in favour of the patients. “Through the drama we want AIDS patients to come forward and make their demands heard and fight for the cause,” said Abhinesh, final year Chemistry student and scriptwriter of the play. The drama also looked at how the disease spreads and ways to combat it. Another point it stressed on was how many people readily give money for charity, but when it comes to really inhabiting the AIDS patients, they are reluctant to show the same kindness. The drama was full of punchy dialogues and strong acting, though it didn't rely on a definite plot-line. “We just wanted a small play that could convey the message with minimum speaking and maximum acting,” says Abhinesh. The killer AIDS virus was symbolically represented as people painted in black and holding spears. At the conclusion of the play, a man came forward and narrated his personal account of how he was infected by AIDS six years ago and the challenges he has been confronting since then. He spoke about the shock he received on hearing for the first time that he had contracted AIDS.All in all, the event succeeded in its objective of making its audience more aware and sensitive about the AIDS issue.