Chasing Hares

Theoretical design for a production of Chasing Hares by Sonali Bhattacharyya for the Bristol Old Vic main stage.

2000’s Kolkata. The Klub Halo factory is on lockdown and no one’s getting paid. Grab is caught between joining the picket line and the need to provide for his family. When the boss’s son ropes Prab into reinvigorating hi failing folk theatre troupe, Prab seizes the opportunity to expose the injustice of factory conditions and child exploitation.

Collaborating with director Phoebe Kemp, the design was heavily inspired by traditional textiles and shadow puppetry of the Kolkata region. Textiles that reflect the perforations of Rabana Chhaya shadow puppets create the visual suggestion that the characters themselves are only part of Prab’s magical stories told to his daughter in the present day.