Clowns enact Shakespeare play

Adyam theatre, which appeared last year with a bunch of plays in Delhi and Mumbai, has come back this year with five more plays, which are to be staged over the next six months from March to September. The first play was I Don’t Like It. As You Like It directed by Rajat Kapoor. A troupe of clowns has been down on luck lately and things at the clown company are in a mess. Take for example Mimi and Coco. There’s a passionate love but once the rehearsals for the play begin, issues unfold and soon their relationship starts to stutter. Fifi and Fido are in a love-hate relationship, which means Fido loves Fifi but she kind of hates, him. She feels suffocated by constant presence of him. Soso is a clown struggling with his unique recipe of melancholia and spends too much time with his hand puppet, Toto. Gigi is a new clown from France who has recently joined the troupe and is struggling to find a space in it and has to deal with petty jealousies and rivalries. Popo, the troupe director, decides to take on another Shakespeare play, (A comedy play turns into tragedy). The first two plays, which the company did and are still running, were Shakespeare’s Hamlet and King Lear. However. As You Like It, was not convincing as a clown’s play. In fact most of the time, the stage was taken up by showing petty rivalries and discomforts of the clowns. Actor Vinay Pathak was impressive.

The other play by Adyam was Arpana Theatre’s Loretta, directed by Sunil Shanbag; written by Pundalik Naik and translated to English by Milind Dhaimade that was staged at the Kamani on May 27 and 28. It is based on Tiatr, a form of musical theatre, which is popular in Goa. The story of Tiatr is an interesting one. In the late eighteenth century a person named Agostino, came to Mumbai from Goa where he landed a job in an Italian theatre company. Agostino travelled with the theatre group around the country. When the theatre company went back, Agostino was left with his costumes that were used on the tours. Until Tiatr, the theatre in Goa was largely folk style and Agostino was determined to give it a more sophisticated feel and make it more relevant to the colonial era. Shanbag follows the spirit of Tiatr and brings on stage a generous dose of this theatrical legacy. The story is set in the 70s on a river island in Goa. Widower, Antonio Moraes, who is a landlord, lives a comfortable life in his resplendent home with help from locals. He is a great votary of Konkani language and is intent on preserving the culture of the island community and not letting in outside elements to corrupt the peace of the island. Antonio’s son Rafael returns from Mumbai with his Anglo-Indian girlfriend, Loretta. He is not enthusiastic about the island or it’s culture and the necessity to preserve it. Loretta on the other hand, is quite in love with the island and she starts to learn Konkani. She goes to Panjim, and returns with a wheelbarrow full of books in Konkani language. Despite the fact that Antonio is not happy with Loretta staying back in the island even as Rafael leaves, he is forced to revise his beliefs and convictions when Loretta sings a song in Konkani language at the annual fair. The play ends with Rafael and Loretta getting married.

There was a live band that played the music of Asif Ali Beg and Ronnie Monsorate. The play was simplistic with a large wooden cut out of the house in Goa with only the steps leading up to the front room. This door leads into the house and most of the characters uses it to go inside the house. The atmosphere of Goa is well captured in the set with lighting and music. There were sideshows that are typical of the theatre form and provide a good measure of satire and humour. Sunil Shanbag is known for directing controversial plays and to see him directing this simple story was a surprise.

Ruchika’s play On The Brink is directed by Feisal Alkazi where the stage has been professionally designed by Jatinder Marwaha and lighting done by Sunil Arora,. It is thought-provoking play about the moral values of family and relationships. A man who has left his wife and two children visits them after many years. He comes with a young woman, who is his lover. On his arrival, his son and daughter confront him. As the play progress, one realises that the son was sympathetic to his father, the daughter was absolutely adamant to make him leave. The mother played by Radhika Alkazi, was emotionless at his appearance. But she plots to send the young woman away, when the four of them sit together for a meal. After the meal, the mother comes close to her husband and takes him to a spot where they would go often and later kills him. Next morning, the son is totally disturbed and does not speak to his mother while the daughter helps to clean up the blood and dispose the body. Finally, she talks to her children and manage to get them to sit with her in the twilight. She consoles both the children and says “that there is nothing wrong with us living separately but I will not give up this house to him for anything.”

Radhika Alkazi had a precarious hold on the character in the beginning, but lost it towards the end. Sheeba Shaik as Natalie the young woman was more genuine. The two children played by Ashish Dhameja and Gayatri Khanna, were effective.

Khilona directed by Kiran Deep Sharma, wife of VK Sharma, the originator of Khilona, has a group of adults who perform for children. This play is based on Charles Dicken, a literary genius and master storyteller. Hard Times deals with education of children in schools and their upbringing at home. The play is about a young man whose sister is questioning her education that goes only by logic and has no interesting elements such as emotions in it. She goes for arrange marriage. Her brother is a thief who robs banks and finally sent to the jail. The play was well performed by the Khilona team with VK himself playing the narrator.

Anuradha Kapur has directed and designed Mahesh Elkunchwar’s Virasat for the NSD and she made changes in the sets. The play is focused on decaying feudalism and the rise of industrialisation in India. The landowning Brahmin Deshpande joint family has slowly become single as all the characters have their own desire and exploring for identity and individuality. The style of the performance was realistic.