Playback Online

Observation on a day during pandemic during a practice session with Actors Collective

by Jibrael Jos

Fifteen square inches of stage

Zoomed in to find a place

Stories of our journeys

Waiting to burst into space

Emotions weaved by wordsmiths

Into a poetic masterpiece

A lifetime and a time in life

Played out from mountains to the seas

On this theatric train trip

We chattered and we paused

Acting Quotient is needed

But empathy is the sauce

On shoulders of metaphors

Stories shifted with ease

Playback chugged home

and tellers found peace

Seeing my story played back

Observation post sharing a vulnerable story during a playback theatre conference in Bengaluru, Home Group lead by Joke Rood

Written by Jibrael Jos

A story kept knocking

Inside my heart

Mind kept it locked,

lest it tears me apart

A leap of faith

After seven odd years

it had become the centerpiece

In the museum of my fears

Awareness which sunk in

With shooting pain

Knowledge of the loss

As tears swelled into rain

In the torrential monsoon

I saw it played out

Because I trusted my circle

After years of doubt

Once played back

I felt no longer a victim

I could accept my inequities

And reset my system

A wound I received

Which I refused to heal

Afraid my mask n fortress

Will crumble and peal

Perspectives of my story

And my shattered mirror

Distorted facets

Flowing in the playback river

Healer and the Potter

works in mysterious ways

Sometimes I am the wheel

But mostly I am the clay

"I know exactly what you feel" Really !!

Introspection on impact of Playback Theatre, how playback theatre actors journey is never ending. Humility , Openness is key to doing justice to a story

"I know exactly what you feel"

Is a universal lie

What is going in each head

Is quite different, that is why

Siblings raised together

Or even friends for many years

Cannot possibly perceive

Dynamics of the others tears

Psychological journey,

the unique DNA inside

What the eyes sees

What the brain puts aside

Slowly builds our subconscious,

Learns to override and decide

Slowly sculpts our ego,

and even the degree of our pride

Love and sorrow

Depression and joy

Trying to understand causation

Is impossible, O boy!

We fail to understand

even our own thoughts

We fail to appreciate

the emotions it has brought

So we can empathies to an extent,

sit together, laugh and cry

but to know "exactly" ,

Please!.... that is a lie

Yet

Performing with Actors Collective in Sajeeva Space, Vijayanagar

29 June 2019

Audience were reluctant, yet

turned up with happy faces

Actors who gallop around

Adjusted to small spaces

Tellers who felt short, yet

Lived stories which stood tall

Tellers who felt weak, yet

Chose to take the difficult call

People broken, yet

inspired to live

People shaken, yet

but ever ready to give

Tears swelling, yet

Gratitude all around

Old Vijayanagar, yet

breaking new ground

Dynamic and Organic

Team did perform

Laughter and Tears

Will "Sajeeva" be our norm

Playback is Calling

Written by by Jibrael Jos

Playback is calling

Your heart wants to go

Your head is weighing it

But it also does know!!

Sharing in this space

Listening with your heart

Stories that warm you

Is the best way to start

Skills need time

It can't be practiced in the mind

Love, trust, acceptance

Where else will you find?

Life is too short

to watch it just flow

Playback is calling

Your heart wants to go

Katha Ghera

Launch of Kausi Theater, Kathmandu Nepal by Katha Ghera

All the best Akanchha Karki, Written in 2018

A girl who was a catalyst

in her college miles away

Set the stage on fire

With her ideas and her plays

She touched the life of many

who swear of her skill

to take clay into her hands

and sculpt masterpieces at will

She knows how to dream

She knows no fear

She leads teams

Higher and higher every year

Today she embarks

On a grander quest

To start a circle of stories

high up in a nest

Playback has a mother

Theatre has a roof

Kathmandu is happening

And here is the proof

Jennie's Workshop

Inspired after a session with Jennie Kristel in October 2015

by Jibrael Jos

Jenny and her quirks

Inspired us folks

To stretch the red thread a bit

What seems just a day

Has touched us in a way

That somewhere a flame has been lit

Fluidity of the sculpture

Soundscape and it's rapture

Our inner fabric has been re-nit

Let's watch to Let's Listen

Playbackers under Jenny's vision

Explore their stage presence and wit

Ummmm ...There's a feeling

There has been a healing

But I am not sure just yet