Srinivas Beesetty's latest grabs the corporate world by the collar

The stage is set for theatre artiste

Srinivas Beesetty

’s latest directorial venture, Contractions - A Savage Corporate Satire, which captures the trappings of contemporary corporate life.

“It is a play about our contemporary moment, with the themes of surveillance, lack of privacy, and workplace alienation. Contractions asks one question, loud and clear: How far would you go to keep your job?” says Srinivas who left his corporate job four years ago and has since been observing friends working in MNCs as an outsider.

That’s why giving life to playwright

Mike Bartlett

’s corporate satire made complete sense. “When I read the play for the first time, I was certain I wanted to do this as I had not dealt with the corporate milieu before and the highs and lows around it.”
Interestingly, the fabric around corporate themes has been frequently explored in works such as David Mamet’s Glengarry

Glen Ross

and Neil Labute’s film In the Company of Men. However, Contractions is unique and distinct, Srinivas stresses. “It is a distinctly individual contribution to this growing sub-genre, as it features a cast of two women unlike previous corporate dramas that were drenched in a white-collar, glamorized machismo,” he says.
The hour-long play, which features actors Sangita Nambiar,

Suhasini Seelin

and Vivek Sinha, goes beyond the manager-employee interaction. “I see this play as an infinite or circular loop of employees turning out to be managers who again follow the process taught to them. The subtext of the above can be viewed as human beings trained to follow instructions that eventually make them completely mechanical, without an emotional quotient,” he adds.
Contractions will be performed at Ranga Shankara on October 5 and 6. Srinivas says he is happy to be able to get dates at a time when the government has allowed 100 per cent capacity. While it’s still hard to get an audience considering the timespan we had to promote and the situation, we’re glad our efforts will reflect on stage,” Srinivas says.