A Review
by Vasanthi Sankaranarayanan
February 4th 2008
Transformation is one of the most difficult processes – from ape to man from man to superman, or from one literary form to another – such as short story or poem to a play or a play to a film. Only a person who can get the essence of two forms and transfer that essence from one form to another can attempt this. And yet this is what Paul Mathew from Perch did as he prepared a playscript for Rajiv Krishnan and team from the stories of Vaikom Mohammed Basheer, a literary author who transformed the Malayalam language itself and put his own individual stamp on it. Of course, another transformation had already taken place, when the short stories written in Malayalam was translated into English by V. Abdullah and R.A. Asher.
The task was an onerous one – Paul did it four years back when Rajiv’s group did the play “Moonshine and Skytoffee”. At that time he had combined only two short stories, “Premalekhanam”(A Love Letter) and “Mucheettu Kalikkarante Makal” (Cardsharper’s Daughter). Yet, even then the ingenuity of combining these stories and making them into a cogent and meaningful play script was evident in the treatment. A familiarity with the village background where both the stories are located must have helped. The village tea shop as a meeting place must have also suggested as to how the play could proceed. Yet, on the whole it was plausible and therefore held together as a play. But, this time the task was not so simple. Seven short stories have been used as background material for the play script and a narrative has been woven out of them. The stories do not have the same background. They are not all located in the village itself. How would one combine these seemingly different and strange stories and make into a workable script? What is the common thread that can unite these seemingly different stories? Paul has very cleverly hit upon a device – introduce the author as a character of the plays. Then it could be shown as a part of his experiences, memories, dreams or imaginary wanderings. Basheer the author himself is there either as a character, a narrator, a commentator or an observer. This solves the problem effectively. The audience are at no time sure when the characters on stage are actual characters from the short stories, or the figments of the author’s imagination or recollections from his experiences. So, having introduced the author as a character, the texture of the play changes, it is no more the experiences of a group of village people, but even a part of the dreams and experiences that the author had during his life and travels. The spectrum grows much bigger, the perspective becomes more universal. It gives greater scope for the director to use theatrical devices, music, dance, masks, props. It becomes a saga, not the story of one person, one family or even one region. It becomes a travelogue, a peep into the author’s inner thoughts and soul and thereby richer and more fulfilling as a visual experience. And what is the title that was given for this saga? “Sangati Arinja?” means “Have you heard?” Can you have a better title for the stories related by a clever story teller? The communication between the author and the audience of the play becomes more intense and telling.
If Paul’s job was onerous, Rajiv’s job as the director of the play was even more onerous. He had to have a group of actors who are so fluid and flexible that they can transform themselves to different characters – from men to women, from women to men, from a village idiot to a transvestite and then to a mystic. From a roadside Romeo to young Basheer, from a mere villager to a doctor, from a villager to a tragic soldier and then to an unfortunate lover. From a one eyed card sharper to a shapely secretary. The shifts were mercurial and instantaneous. Yet, the group of young actors managed these acts of transformation effectively. Was that all the transformation there was? A young girl takes the role of a fat villager with a body as twisted as a spider. All of them turned into masked beings, maybe destitutes and drunkards who surround a village brothel madame. Were these done only through costume changes and movement changes? Not exactly. They became whatever role they took on and gave each role their individual touch. Not an easy task. The director must have guided them and at the same time given free reign to their imaginations. Also, they are young, passionate actors – they do not care how long they are on stage or what kind of roles are given to them. They are actors, their job is to act, whatever the role demanded they would try and achieve. To infuse such a spirit in a group of actors is no mean job. Rajiv has achieved that and deserves praise. His own deep interest in theatre, his passion for perfection, his imagination and far-sightedness in seeing pure theatre in Basheer’s stories ( one does not know where reality ends and drama takes over), all these are commendable. It was his research that woke other people to the fact that two thousand and eight is Basheer Centenary year and should be celebrated capturing the many-faceted nature of this unusual writer and human being.
He had a team of able assistants – foremost among them are Kaveri under whose initiative a new organization has evolved – Perch (Performers of Chennai); there is an irony to this title. This group does not claim that they are amateur or professional actors; they are performers; performers is a word which can be applied not to actors alone, but to musicians, gypsies, circus troupes, magicians, story tellers, dancers and even human beings in general (Remember, Shakespeare, all the world is a stage and all men and women actors!); Salaam, Kaveri for choosing such a name; and Natesh who assisted him with his earlier research on Basheer, his surroundings, his family, the people among whom he lived and who created a minimalistic stage, where ordinary props became unusual objects – a vessel, a table, a rod and a needle became a gramaphone, the eating plates gramaphone records, a cane stand with umbrellas hanging around, the mangosteen tree , a set of shelves the wall of a prison, three car tyres a well, some red blobs a rose garden, a water hose pipe a long nose. Here is a case where a whole village, interior and exterior of buildings such as walls or a haunted house were created out of these objects. Just a nudge to the imagination of a discerning viewer, no elaborate sets, the hand of a master art director could be seen in those. The lighting was very unusual, the soft, and yet radiant light of a Kerala village was effectively captured. Sound was also one of the major assets of this play. The songs that Basheer liked were woven into the play as mood creators and they tugged at your heartstrings, reminding the audience of lost worlds and lost innocence. If Basheer saw this play he would have wept and said “Not a dull moment” as he did when he watched veteran Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s film, “Mathilukal” based on Basheer’s novel.
All the actors did their roles well. Yet, some stood out, Paul Mathew as Basheer, Ishwar as young Basheer and Kader, Aparna as Jameela and many other women, Prakash as the Namboodiri, Dayal as the soldier and the lover, Jagan as the village idiot, the transvestite and the mystic. The play was two hours long and yet, one never felt the passage of time, because there were no set changes, no delays in costume changes, why, hardly any break in the flow of the play. The use of Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi suitably interspersed with the English script was also another remarkable feature of this play. Starting with a regional base it grew like a banyan tree, all encompassing, universal and touching the hearts of all kinds of audiences. The range of emotions which were shown were stunning. Simplicity, humour, pathos, tragedy, love, cruelty, it touched all aspects of emotional acting. At no time was it stagey or artificial. It retained its naturalness and spontaneity with amazing ease. And yet, it did not slip into caricaturing or undisciplined exhibition of excess or obvious acting.
The greatest success of this play is that it captured Basheer, the man, the writer, the mystic and the agonizing soul of an eternal wanderer. It offered a glimpse of this many-faceted genius with alarming simplicity. At no stage did it distort or spoil the vision of the author. “From a story teller, he became the story itself”, M.T. Vasudevan Nair, the great writer of Malayalam described Basheer thus. Rajiv, Paul Mathew, Natesh and Kaveri and their team unraveled this story to the audience of Chennai effectively.
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