Chennais Alliance Française to host dark comedy Necks and Glasses

A fly! How relevant can a fly be to a story? Midway through the play, a fly constantly distracts the main character, Bharat, who claps his hands in an attempt to swat it, creating moments of light humour on stage. But there is a dark side to it — the fly emerges from a body he has killed.

When the lights come on stage at Chennai’s Alliance Française, spotlighting Bharat, the audience will be taken through the different shades of a serial killer’s psyche, revealing both a complex human side and a disturbing, inhuman one. How to judge the character is left to the audience themselves.

The play Necks and Glasses is a 70-minute monologue told from the perspective of a serial killer. “Many people have this misconception that monologues are boring. After 10 or 15 minutes, they start fidgeting in their seats. I wanted to challenge that perception and create something that would keep the audience engaged,” says Harry MacLure, playwright of Necks and Glasses. Harry is also a filmmaker, illustrator and editor of the magazine Anglos in the Winds.

Through non-linear narration, the play moves across different characters and places, all brought to life by a single performer, actor and director Ajit Chitturi.

For Ajit, the script’s layered portrayal of Bharat helped him navigate the character’s contrasting sides. “The script does not depict the protagonist as singularly villainous. Rather, the narrative is layered between the humane Bharat, who mostly thinks and feels like a normal person, and his descriptions of his killings. This made it easier for me to play the role, as it prevented me from leaning too heavily towards either his darker traits or his normality,” he says.

The progression of the narrative also helps Ajit transition between Bharat’s different shades. “The different parts of the script gradually lead the character into different situations, circumstances and narratives. This helped me build and navigate the shifts in Bharat’s persona seamlessly into the actual action,” he adds.

Explaining the title of the play, Harry MacLure says it stems from Bharat’s disturbing fixation with slender necks and glasses. “Most serial killers, if you research them, have some kind of fetish. This particular character is drawn to people with slender necks and glasses. Before disposing of a body, he removes the victim’s glasses and keeps them,” says Harry. 

Being a member of the Anglo-Indian community, most of Harry’s stories will find representation from the Anglo-Indian community. “In this play, there’s a teacher who takes Bharat under her wing and treats him as her son. She is drawn from my own experiences of being an Anglo Indian.”

Given the dark nature of the story, humour becomes a way to ease the tension.“The story is quite dark, and certain scenes can be disturbing, so I incorporated humour to relieve the tension. I didn’t want to overdo it, though, because this is not a comedy,” says Harry.

While the play explores the different shades of Bharat’s psyche, it does not seek to romanticise his crimes or present him as an outright villain. “I didn’t want to portray him as evil or a mastermind. We are neither supporting him nor condemning him. His actions have a repulsive side, but other aspects of his character emerge through his monologues,” says Harry. 

The play Necks and Glasses will be staged on November 1st at Alliance Française of Madras at 6.30pm. Tickets price: Gold pass: ₹500. Silver pass: ₹300. Available at kynhood.com.