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Women, violence and more

Vijay Tendulkar's Sakharam Binder was a realistic presentation

MAIN ASSETS The powerful script and good acting made the play watchable

A 17-day theatre festival marked the completion of a year by Rangashankara, which was thrown open to the public a year ago, on October 28. The present festival was a modest one compared to the grand, month-long feast that had accompanied the launching of the theatre last year. There was less publicity and some of the matinee shows on week days went less than houseful, though tickets for the evening shows were always sold out. But those who came were not there out of idle curiosity nor were they looking for novelty. Many of them were people initiated into theatre by Rangashankara and had taken time off to attend the festival.

That Rangashankara is trying to create a theatre community which has more than a casual interest in theatre was obvious from the numerous peripheral activities that accompanied the staging of the plays. Performances were followed by an interface with the director and the performers — a particularly useful exercise when the form or the language had posed problems!

Sircar's play

Samudaya, which has been closely associated with Badal Sircar, presented the Kannada version of Juloos (Procession), a representative work which embodies Badal Sircar's ideas of Third Theatre.

The play uses the numerous processions we see on the roads every day - from funeral processions to social, religious celebrations and political demonstrations - to hold a mirror to the loss of values, the apathy, corruption and hypocrisy in our society. Since the entire play is a series of processions, it requires a free space where the audience line either side of the processions which cut corners, turn and march in different directions etc. Samudaya's production, sandwiched between the photo exhibition and the canteen, suffered heavily because of lack of space and the animated chatter in the café by ticket-holders for the evening's performance.

The actors, too few in number, were forced to adopt repetitive, circular movement round the pole which soon led to monotony. The team needed a few more powerful actors.

Vijay Tendulkar's plays got a fair representation with B. Jayashri's group Spandana performing Ghasiram Kotwal in Kannada and Abhiyan performing Sakharam Binder in Hindi. The seminar had Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Prof. Rajendranath and G.K.Govind Rao speaking about their impression of Tendulkar as a playwright. Ashish Rajadhyaksha drew attention to Tendulkar's concern with violence, his territorial realism, his amoral sense of justice and his depiction of women. Most of the discussion that followed revolved round the women in Sakharam Binder.

The play, directed by Prof. Rajendranath for his Delhi-based group Abhiyan, powerfully evoked the harsh realities of life in a Bombay slum.

The focus of the play is on the two women, Lakshmi and Champa, hired by Sakharam to fulfill his various needs. While Lakshmi is ready to give him everything he wants and serve him like a loyal wife, Champa rebels against the exploitation. Compelled by her material circumstances to fulfill his sexual demands, she yields to him after drinking herself to unconsciousness.

Once addicted to alcohol and sexually aroused, she demands more than Sakharam is capable of giving her. When the frustrated Sakharam murders Champa, Lakshmi stands by him and shields him from the consequences of his act.

Director Prof. Rajendranath's attempt was to make the presentation as realistic as possible while using simple, functional sets and props. His main assets were the three actors who played Sakharam, Lakshmi and Champa. Sakharam's pride in his maleness, his drunkenness, sexual overtures and the daily routine of the slum-dweller were played to perfection by Sanjeev Sahai. Though there was nothing much by way of design, Tendulkar's powerful script and good acting made the play watchable.

LAXMI CHANDRASHEKAR

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