To call Chilsag Chillies’s latest play A Wake-Up Call an experiment is an understatement. On entering Sri Ram Centre on September 7, for a moment it felt as if one had accidentally landed on the streets of Janpath. The aisles were noisy and colourful and boys went around with trinkets, crying aloud, “Sau rupaye, imported maal, sau rupaye.” Director Sachin Gupta and his cast of 40 actors had put on such a convincing act that a few in the audience even started bargaining with the sellers.

But the play was more than just a recreation of a street-side bazaar. Amid the hullabaloo, a young man was looking for a job, a pregnant lady was going to the doc, a schoolboy was waiting to receive an award and a bride-to-be was looking for jewellery. Soon bomb blasts rocked the place that is reduced to a burial ground. A Wake-Up Call takes a critical look at society that is numb to terrorism and laments at its inadequacy to make a difference. But what was most engaging was how Gupta got the audience to play a part in it. Sheets of paper were distributed among the audience, asking for their contact details and explaining how they could make a difference to society. People were even invited on stage to share their ideas. Even the elements of didacticism were forgotten in the spirit of experimentation.