Luz Negra (Black Light)
Jun 2020
Director
A digital theatre production based on conversations between two severed heads in the aftermath of their executions.
The text, originally published in 1962, is a black comedy that focuses on a conversation between two severed heads in the aftermath of an execution. The heads belong to Goter, a revolutionary, and Moter, a thief who were punished to death by hanging for their respective crimes of thinking and stealing. Strangers before death, they make friends under these unusual circumstances, discussing a wide-ranging array of topics such as war, love, identity, belief, and crime.
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In early 2020, we were approached by the Embassy of El Salvador to stage this play in April 2019, to bring visibility Salvadorean literature, traditions and culture. Unfortunately, the current lockdown made us abandon the original plan to stage the production. However, given the nature of the text’s and its characters, as well as my own experiments with digital theatre, multimedia and augmented storytelling, I am now directing the project as a live performance using Skype and OBS. The fact that the conversation between these two severed heads can be replicated almost perfectly over a two-person video screen, the fade-in and fade-out for character transitions can be controlled using the brightness of our monitors and finally, being able to switch our video background to place the performers in a dilapidated 17th-century town plaza (or anywhere else for that matter) makes the performance highly compelling to watch, even if it's online.
Cast & Crew
Presented by Kaivalya Plays
Directed & Designed by Gaurav Singh
Performed by Tariq Ahmad, Vanshika Verma and Varoon P. Anand
Consulting Dramaturg - Varoon P. Anand
Production Overview
The performance will premiere online through live stream in July 2020.
Language: Spanish
Running Length: 100 minutes
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