Vikram Phukan

Vikram Phukan is a Guwahati-based theatre practitioner, stage commentator, and artistic director of Theatre Jil Jil Ramamani. He has served as the editor of Bombay Dost magazine, has been faculty at the Drama School Mumbai and has written extensively on theatre. He is also a working committee member of the Indian chapter of the International Association of Theatre Critics (AICT-IATC).   

Vikram notes in his proposal how the internet revolution has allowed a multitude of voices to emerge, which were hitherto suppressed and invisibilised. This is especially true for India’s gay rights movement, the trajectory of which has mirrored the rise of the internet and the inclusive spaces it created. From early hesitant post-Y2K blogs to the social media citadels of fearless rainbow expression, from anonymous shiftless classifieds to brazen profiles on dating apps, change has taken place at a seemingly slow, but perhaps accelerated, pace. There has also been death and its grief to deal with online. As strangers connected by shared experiences partake in public mourning as never before, and tributes and RIPs litter timelines, the perfunctory memorialising of Facebook pages has become the defining activity of our times.

Enabled by this grant, Vikram seeks to create a theatrical performance titled Dry Ice that will look at death and mourning in the age of the internet, through the particular lens of queer communities online. For this, Vikram will first create a literary text that will illuminate how millennials negotiate mental illness, whether diagnosed or not. Although based on testimonials, the writings will be stripped down to essences, guaranteeing anonymity to its subjects. The texts will not be narratives of victimhood or trauma, but seek to excavate resilience and despair in equal measure, drawing out hope and succour from the seemingly morbid. This text will form the basis for a performance piece with an ensemble of five actors. The work will eventually evolve to become interactive devised theatre, using text, movement, and spatial design. The performance will be presented online for now and as a live performance at a later point.

The deliverables from this project will be still and video documentation of the rehearsals and video documentation of the final performance.

This grant is made possible under the special initiative 25x25, with support from lead donor Kshirsagar-Apte Foundation, and philanthropy partners, Titan Company Limited, Priya Paul, and Sethu Vaidyanathan.