Chennai artistes collaborate to celebrate mortality through art

CHENNAI: Just Us Repertory and Chennai Art Theatre are producing ‘At Last: An evening of music, poetry, and theatre’, a benefit concert, on December 9 at Medai, Alwarpet. The proceeds of the show will be donated to Vishranthi Old Age Home, a home for elderly and destitute women, in Palavakkam.

The brainchild of this event, Akhila Ramnarayan, a theatre artiste, educator, and musician, says the idea takes its base from the song At Last by Etta James. Speaking to DT Next, she says, “The acts and performances put together for this benefit follow the idea of what happens when you grow older and what after that.

“You have songs, books, and movies romanticising staying forever young. But what about the reality that everyone eventually gets old? How do you talk about that process? Last year, my band, Akhila and The Alchemist, we released an EP and in the EP we had three songs that discussed mortality about oneself and your loved ones. “This got me thinking and I decided to explore this concept more.”

Residents of the Vishranthi Old Age Home in Palavakkam.

Akhila, who will also be celebrating her birthday on the day of the event, says she wants to give back to society on her birthday and this show is her way of doing so. Having gathered the artistes to put up special guest performances, the show is going to be a melange of various forms of art expressing one idea.

“On birthdays I’ve always received gifts, love, and blessings. So, I decided to give something back to a meaningful cause. Since the show is all about mortality, it only makes sense to contribute to an old age home. Vishranthi has been doing really good work and I felt this was the right place. However, I’m open to receiving gifts from friends and family,” she laughs cheekily.

The line-up of events is live music by Akhila Ramnarayan, Vedanth Bharadwaj, and Paul Jacob. Special guest performances by Anita Ratnam, Gowri Ramnarayan, Sunandha Raghunathan, Srilata Krishnan, Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma, and Bharath Kumar.

The event is taking place at Medai, Alwarpet on December 9 at 7 pm. For tickets visit https://www.townscript.com/e/at-last-an-evening-of-music-poetry-and-theatre-242241.