"A mammoth amount of fun for participants and audiences alike!"
David Light, Khaleej Times
Starry Little Stories was always a project about evoking the extraordinary simplicity of childlike play. But simplicity, ironically, turned out to be the toughest thing to execute. Grand visions of sets and props and costumes took over, fighting, always fighting that resolution. Starry became our lesson in dropping egos, becoming children again, and trusting that the imagination has more power than we can fathom to fill in the blanks.
Is there something pretty special about the subject and meaning of your play that you think will make a captivating story?
Our play takes place in an office, conveyed through taped lines across the floor that everyone must follow. Not only are we controlled by our boss, but by the audience as well, who choose exactly in what order they wish to see our mini plays within the piece from a menu they are given. Autonomy is foreign in this world; everyone functions as they are told. But, in the end, there is a rebellion: The audience can no longer dictate our play, and neither can our boss. We step outside the lines as we please, and tape our boss inside a box he can never leave. It dawns upon us that the lines were only as real as he made us believe, and that, when you drop your fears of the unknown, there is a world much freer, much more beautiful than you know.
Credits:
Writer: Ryan Kayello (Dubai), Dhruti Shah
Director: Pascal Buyse (Belgium)
Visual Designer: Kalki Karthikeyan
Music: Johan
Presented by The Loom Ensemble (New York) and Starry Little Stories
Cast: Ryan Kayello, Dhruti Shah, Raphael Sacks, Neva Cockrell, Nikita Patel, Pascal Buyse (ensemble)
Website festival: Short + Sweet Dubai 2015
1. Tale of a Relationshit
Hey, did you guys read that article in L'amour Fou? Well, my friend Renan’s in a relationship JUST LIKE IT.
The other day I was out for drinks with him and his girlfriend Greta - when out the blue Greta smashes her wineglass on the bar and starts yelling at Renan. And suddenly Renan’s on his feet yelling back at her, and they get into this massive fight, so over-the-top, and the barman comes round to tell them to shut up or piss off. That’s when they zip it, kiss each other, and laugh. Apparently, they rehearse this crap every chance they get, because they believe it’ll prepare them for when it actually gets messy in their relationship. So they invite me to their place, and I find their front door open as I get in. I see and smell the food baking in the oven, but there’s no one there. And then I hear screaming from their bedroom. And I’m just about to open the door when Greta yanks it open with this smirk on her face, a scissor in her hand - and… I never got to finish my story! So Greta opens the door with the scissor in her hand, and I'm like WOAH. Has she lost her mind? Turns out she’s gone and stripped Renan and somehow TAPED him to the ceiling. “What the hell is this?” I shout at her. And she goes, “Oh, you know - just in case I do that to him seriously one day. Need to see if he’ll wriggle out."