Experiencing poetry in action

CLOUD MESSENGER

IN Kalidasa's original lyric poem Meghaduta, a yaksa (nature spirit) pining for his wife persuades a passing cloud to help him send her a love message. The cloud agrees to do so, only after the yaksa describes in detail all the astonishing sights and wonders the cloud would see on its way to his wife's home.

This 1,500-year-old story has, in the hands of Haresh Sharma and Alvin Tan, transformed into a contemporary play about the experiences of seven graduating students of the Intercultural Theatre Institute (ITI).