RIP moves forward through the woman’s narration of all that she sees and feels during her travel, including the places she visited and the people she met.S.Before she ends, Savita ruminates, “Theatre is a live medium. People here are more aware about theatre work and it can be because of traditional art practices like koodiyattom, kathakali, theyyam etc which are still going strong and which enjoy respectful status. There is vulnerability. It doesn’t matter how much you have rehearsed, you make new mistakes every time.”For the first time, she also decided to come in front of her audience alone, without any prop or proper stage make up. During the journey, she questions the culture and social system.Though Savita has visited Kerala during the IFFK and Kochi Biennale, it is the first time she is performing there.RIP was not a word she chose randomly— it was a word she saw mentioned on Facebook, which she had never heard of and which she went seeking the meaning of.“Dont we all aspire to have peace while we are alive?,” asks drama artiste Savita Rani while speaking about how RIP, the play directed, perfomed and conceived by herself, evolved. She started theatre in 1999 with the group Jatan Natya Manch in her hometown Rohtak which is a political and social theatre group.

Expressing her thoughts about theatre, she says, “When one thinks of drama or theatre, one feels that there must be a written text, lots of lights, set, music, make up and costumes.Films have come seeking her and she has worked in a few art- house movies like Thathagat, Kajaria and The Hungry. Little did she know that she was only tapping the tip of an iceberg. Savita’s words flow slowly and thoughtfully; there is no rush. I was amazed by the simplicity of my own actions. Speaking about the cultural scene, she says, “The cultural scene of Kerala is very vast, deep rooted and full of opportunities, especially for young theatre practitioners, compared to North India. Her play comes from her own innards, feeding from her angst and the overwhelming need to express.” The play is being staged in Kochi at Forplay studio today and tomorrow. All of it is required— it gives a sense of aesthetics to theatre but we must not forget that these are resources which also limit the possibility of theatre.

I epsitar leds felt the need of giving voice and form to my angst and took the decision to speak out openly through my work. Lots of theatre festivals happen here.”.Thus, RIP is a soliloquy of a woman who recalls personal experiences and incidents while taking a decision to travel the world with her man. She adds, “It gave me a feeling which was queer and at the same time empowering.”That word got stuck in her mind giving birth to a multitude of questions like “Is it a given for a soul to achieve peace after death? And if it is a surety that the soul always achieves peace, then what is the need of even saying RIP? Why can’t we say this word to soothe the soul of a living being if she/he is experiencing restlessness? A body that goes through so much restlessness in life, both within and outside, in the world, how can there be rest in peace after death? Why can we not rest in peace while we are alive?” The more Savita started dwelling deeper into those questions, the more clarity she started getting about her performance. She also visited Japan for an artist residency programme and attended workshops in London.

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