Of life lost, then found again

How many times have you found yourself trapped in city existence, and don’t know how to get out of the rut? A lot of people find themselves getting into the daily grind and sometimes there seems to be no way to come out of it. This performance titled Back from the Dark Side of the Moon just about sums up the story of our lives. Directed by Paul Affeld, the founder of the 15-year-old band Puppetmastaz from Germany, takes us on a journey about people who lose themselves and eventually find their way in today’s world — a world defined by anonymity, functionality and competition.

Director Paul Affeld, a resident at Jagriti has a puppet-band background and is the founder of the 15-year-old band Puppetmastaz, the world’s first toy band consisting of more than 20 puppets who perform styles of rap, funk and electronica. Over the past few years, Paul has been involved with contemporary theatre and has worked with the Volksbühne (People's Theatre) and Parkaue (Youth Theatre) in Berlin. In his final showing, he presents a piece he has written and produced in Bengaluru in collaboration with Jagriti Theatre. Paul Affeld says, “I believe that in today’s world, one can burn out in between jobs and trying to fit in the society. I have tried to show what happens to those who don’t fit in and where do they stand. Most of them are left traumatised and confused. The story is about the protagonist facing a crisis when he loses his identity and gets in touch with his inner self and how he manages to come out of the crisis. One character ends up in an institution in a depressed state and we show how he discovers back his curiosity when he peeps into the inner world. This is personified by the puppets. Parts of his personality are depicted in the form of puppetry and soon he is asking people about the crisis they are facing, their adventures and their stories, and this activates his desire to live and understanding of his personality.”

Paul and his puppets explore the hidden facets of identity and the crisis that can arise, bringing them on stage with the help of four accomplished Bengaluru actors — Bhavik Bhandari, Lekha Naidu, Rebecca Spurgeon and Shunky Chugani. Shunky who is a part of the performance states, “Acting in a performance that has puppetry and music and involves pathos and trauma can be both fun and challenging for any actor. The puppets bring life to the play. The performance, simply put, deals with the inner voices in our heads and how everyone is fighting a battle with their inner self. We tackle questions like —What happens to those unfunctioning members of our society? What place do they have in the world? The central character, Carli lands up at Station 36. He asks people about the meaning of life and he eventually finds that he does have the ability to live with hope when he returns from the Dark Side of the Moon.”
Paul has performed at many musical festivals, and states that his performance is different from other forms of theatre, as it has a lot of actors, music, dance and puppets and he feels that something like this has never been done before in Bengaluru.

Back from the Dark Side of the Moon will be performed at Jagriti in association with Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan on May 21.