Hunkaro, a play that premiered in Bengaluru at the Staying Alive - Ranga Shankara Theatre Festival, in 2021, is back in the City on September 23. The Ujaagar Dramatic Association production that recently bagged seven awards at the Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards or META festival, 2023, is a performance piece that was designed just after the second wave of COVID-19.
The idea of the play came about with the disturbing realisation that the lockdown reduced not only the attention span of people but also the capacity and need to listen to others. Hunkaro literally means a verbal affirmation, a response from the listener to the storyteller that she or he is listening, comprehending, and travelling with the story. Since Lockdown, there has been an insatiable hunger to consume visuals and noise which leaves very little room for listening. If listening too is an art, like many other art forms, is this too losing its beauty and necessity? How can it be regained? Hunkaro is premised on these questions.
