Playwright and actor Andy Kalirai has created a new show, Gemini, about a rapper whose public image belies his private reality. The name of the play came naturally to South Vancouver-raised theatre artist.
“It is my star sign,” Kalirai tells Pancouver by phone. “The whole concept of Gemini is that you present yourself one way to the world but really, you’re another. It’s a common metaphor, but I think it’s a strong one for the character that I’ve written.”
This character, Aman Singh, differs in dramatic ways from his on-stage persona as Gemini. And Kalirai believes that this duality is common in his Punjabi Canadian community. The people whom he grew up with commonly presented one mask in public and another one in private.
“The one I’ve chosen for this story is specifically the mask of masculinity—and the way that we have to build this persona to please everyone around us, except ourselves,” Kalirai adds. “And when we do show our real self, there is a real sense of shame there.”
Kalirai’s previous credits include Guards At The Taj (Pick of the Fringe 2019), I and You (Tempest Theatre), and Dooja Ghar (Monsoon Festival). He will perform a full-length workshop presentation of Gemini, directed by Navid Charkhi, at 7:30 p.m. on Friday (August 8). The Monsoon Festival of Performing Arts will present this site-specific work at the Mezz Warehouse (#106 – 6680 152A Street) in Surrey, followed by an afterparty with a cash bar.
“We’re going to incorporate projection, music, live rapping, and dance,” Kalirai reveals.
But these won’t be choreographed Bollywood dance moves. Rather, Kalirai intends to let his body express emotions and feelings through contemporary dance “because sometimes, words aren’t enough.” DJ Chelsea will provide the music.
Kalirai wrote his play as a love letter to South Van
Kalirai is happy to see more South Asian theatrical productions in Canada. However, he notes that he rarely sees shows about people he grew up with in South Vancouver.
In his neighbourhood, Punjabi Canadian kids were in the majority and their preferred music was rap and R&B. This helps explain why he chose to make his lead character a rapper in Gemini, which he wrote as a love letter to South Vancouver.
“I think rap might be one of the few artforms where misogyny sells,” Kalirai says. “And that doesn’t really get questioned much, especially within the culture. It gets a free pass a lot of the times.”
He emphasizes that his play does not sugar-coat his character’s toxic side. Furthermore, Kalirai thinks that many people will be able to relate to Aman Singh’s existential despair. Yet the playwright and performer is also not casting judgement on his character by labelling him as a “bad person”.
“I’m trying to approach it from a place of love and openness,” Kalirai states.
He elaborates on this point through the following imagined conversation with the character: “This is what you are or who you are. Why? I really want to understand you first before I try to say you need to change. I’m not saying you don’t need to change. All I’m saying is I want to understand first.”
Kalirai has given a great deal of thought to the forces that can produce toxic hyper-masculinity. He thinks that for Punjabi Canadians, some of this can be traced to the history and culture of their ancestral homeland, which was at the crossroads of so much conflict through the centuries.
Everyone from Alexander the Great to Genghis Khan to the Moghuls to the British ruled part or all of Punjab at various times. The people of Punjab, which is in northwestern India and east-central Pakistan, also endured tremendous displacement and mass carnage when Britain imposed Partition in 1947. That resulted in Pakistan and India becoming independent countries.
“I think the reality is a lot of the behaviour is based from pain—pain from the culture,” Kalirai says.
The Monsoon Festival of Performing Arts will present Gemini at 7:30 p.m. on Friday (August 8) at The Mezz Warehouse (#106 – 6680 152A Street) in Surrey. Doors open at 7 p.m. and it will be followed by an afterparty with a cash bar. For tickets and more information, visit the Monsoon Festival website. The festival runs from August 7 to 17 at various locations.
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