CHENNAI: There’s something quietly powerful about watching a story you have only known on paper come alive under stage lights. To Kill a Mockingbird, long cherished for its tender gaze on childhood and its unflinching take on justice, arrives in Chennai in a new, immersive form. At the heart of it is the same enduring pulse: innocence grappling with prejudice, and quiet courage standing tall in the face of it. But in theatre, these themes don’t just unfold, they linger.
The Madras Players is collaborating with Chennai Art Theatre to stage the play, To Kill a Mockingbird, which was licensed from Dramatic Publishing Company, scripted by Christopher Sergel.
“This whole story is very much told from Scout’s perspective,” starts Shaan Katari Libby, the director of the play. Set in Alabama during the Great Depression, the story shows the Jim Crow laws and social segregation. Atticus Finch, a prominent lawyer, horrifies the racist white community by taking on the defence of a black man, Tom Robinson.
“The theme and story of the play are relevant even today because there is discrimination on gender, caste, religion and economy, if not skin colour,” adds the director. Talking about how she guided the actors to maintain that emotional balance without making the narrative either too heavy or overly simplistic, the 29-year-old shares, “I am lucky to have the most talented cast, and every one of them is dedicated to theatre and their roles. So, getting them to be in character has not been difficult.”
Shaan is pretty confident that the play will take the audience back to Alabama in the year 1935. “After the Great depression, racism is rife - you do have some enlightened people, but you also have some pretty obnoxious ones, such as Bob Ewell. You will watch innocent, imaginative children, and you will watch different types of adults, some cynical and vitriolic. And then you will see the likes of Atticus and Heck Tate, who stand up for what is right. It should keep you transfixed,” she notes.
Charles of Chennai Art Theatre is taking care of the technical part. Gibran of BAS Studio is in charge of costumes.
The play, To Kill a Mockingbird, is all set to take place on March 22, at MS Subbulakshmi Auditorium, Taramani, at 7 pm.