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THE FEAST
INTRODUCTION
The module started with the introduction of a set of absurd or nonsense-literature poems from Sukumar Ray's book 'Abol Tabol'. Each person had to choose a poem and create a response to it. The response could be anything- sounds, gestures, texts, conversations and so on. We had to adapt the character, or characters, as per our poem, right after choosing a poem. The poem I chose is called 'The Customs of Bombagarh', which showcases a set of absurd customs and rituals followed by the people of this place, and no one has any clue as to why they perform them. As everyone's prosthetics were getting ready or developed, rehearsals for the performance had commenced. The space for the performance was cleaned and maintained every morning. The play started off by building it up with individuals or groups performing simultaneously over a span of time, after which the play was divided into six episodes. The play kept developing and changing and finally all episodes were smudged together to form one mega episode. This mega episode was rehearsed again and again, to shorten it to a span of around thirty to forty minutes. This module gave lessons on how architecture is not the study of creating a space just with 4 walls. A space can be created through people, acoustics, movements, and simply someone's presence in that space. A major observation I saw at the end of this module was how we created a version of our own personal characters, but further pushed, out of our comfort zone. I also learned that everyone being present and working together matters, as even one performer not being present collapses the entire performance.

GENERATING A RESPONSE
My first response to this poem was a conversation generated between a king and an anonymous person, where the king basically goes on telling the person about the absurd customs of his kingdom, while the person is in utter confusion. This response developed into a story where there is a conversation between a king and two men, where one is accused of stealing something absurd from the other. The responses kept changing/developing over the first week, until my final response was a list of absurd customs that I had created on my own.
CREATING A PROSTHETIC
The next step was to create a prosthetic, out of our response, which would be implemented for our character in order to perform in a drama. Since my response was mostly revolving around rituals, I decided to play a priest. I designed a cassock, with a drapery longer than usual size, and gave the design to a tailor to be executed according to my measurements. I had initially made a miniature sized cassock with 'manjarpat', which is a cheap, thin and unfinished cotton fabric. For my final cassock outfit, I chose a thicker cotton fabric material. The cassock was prepared within a day.
REHEARSING AND CREATING A PERFORMANCE
As everyone's prosthetics were getting ready or developed, rehearsals for the performance had commenced. The space for the performance was cleaned and maintained every morning. The play started off by building it up with individuals or groups performing simultaneously over a span of time, after which the play was divided into six episodes. The play kept developing and changing and finally all episodes were smudged together to form one mega episode. This mega episode was rehearsed again and again, to shorten it to a span of around thirty to forty minutes.




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