Message in a bottle

‘Message in a Bottle’ was an inspiring, well produced community play and a testament to the creative juices flowing in Auroville. Above all, it was great fun with a street smart kick at times. Mixing Auroville references with global ecological implications and a hint of pantomime, it was delivered with funky music, dances, story line, and a moral to boot. 

Describing itself as an adventure comedy thriller, telling the story of four river-dwellers in a desperate race against time to save their river from being blocked by a soft drink company, the plot involved an imprisoned Cassandra sending a message in a bottle which travelled all the way down to Waterville (sound familiar?), the sleepy river town. She appeals for help to be rescued in the village of Effluviam by the next full moon in order to succeed her recently departed teacher as the next Oracle. The antagonists were the power hungry and imprisoning Pompous Crumpet, who wants to be the next Oracle, and the big bad corporation, Uwanto, which is gunning to dam the river for malevolent financial reward. 

The bottle is discovered by forest dwellers Fleur and Walnut who then journey for a week with friends Chickoo and Brace through jungle scenes, dreamscapes where a magical gift is given, struggling past the Sludge of Despond, and through the town of Desire where the culinary inducements tempt them to stay forever. In between, they encounter wandering shamans, magical tribes, an oily industrialist, corrupt magistrates and guards in constant pursuit. The storyline includes upbeat songs, dances and laughs such as Eyeball’s – ‘You need to be lost to find yourself’, which mixes new age humour with lightly applied perennial wisdom. Each scene change is punctuated by Johnny’s inimitable rhyming summation of what lies ahead for the protagonists.

The ultimate moral, when Fleur gets unexpectedly chosen as the next Oracle, is that we are all oracles, reflecting one of Auroville’s core principles of unity.

There was a high standard of acting from all. ‘There was Eyeball’ played with Scottish lilt and verve by Paul, the venal magistrates played with sardonic joy by Wazo, Tamar, Andre and Otto, the fabulously narcissistic Agapunctus, Fleur the oh so humble heroine and Chickoo the singing healer.  And then there were children who danced, acted and sung all the way through in this big old school Jesse-run community production. 

Where else but in Auroville would an anthropomorphised JCB have a star turn as a grumpy dragon which needed holistic mechanical healing after changing from digging holes for tree planting to ripping out trees? Such Auroville-centric references, along with quips about Newcomers, entry and committee selection procedures and housing availability, were all delivered to an audibly appreciative audience. 

The narrative about a ‘Uwanto’ (…you know you do) soft drink corporation wishing to take over all of Effluvium and convert us to soda, dam up the river and destroy the villages downstream, was both a caricature and unfortunately instantly recognisable in our world. One of the punch lines about our rubbish not going ‘away’ entertainingly illustrated an ecological principle which reflects Auroville’s environmental aspirations and values. 

The overall production was slick, with high quality props, screen projection, excellent costumes and lighting. All in all, an entertaining, fun, inspiring best-of-community evening.