Sartre's men? Not quite!
ROMESH CHANDER
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With more rehearsals by the cast, Bahroop's "Men Without Shadows" recently mounted in New Delhi, could have been more enjoyable.
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It was a delight to see actress Poonam on the stage after about three years.
THE ORDEAL OF THE CAPTURED A scene from the play "Men Without Shadows"
Bahroop is now 10 years old, and in all their productions they have been trying to strengthen what one may call, `the culture of protest'.
Its latest presentation, J.N. Kaushal's Hindustani translation of Jean Paul Sartre's "Men Without Shadows" designed by Mushtaq Kak and directed by Faiyaz Ahmed, was on the boards at New Delhi's Alliance Francaise this past Saturday. It was yet another link in its chain of meaningful theatre.
"Men Without Shadows" is built around five French Resistance fighters who have been taken prisoners after a failed operation that resulted in a massacre of scores of innocent people. As the play opens, the captured Resistance fighters, four men and one woman, are all mentally very disturbed and feeling guilty for the failure of the mission that led to the death of so many innocent civilians.
All the four are convinced that they are about to be tortured and killed by their captors. Each one of them is tense and is agonised over whether they will break down and reveal the whereabouts of their escaped leader.
And so begins the physical torture of each one of them and a test of their faith in the cause. What we see on the stage is continuous horror and pain and yet sit through it for we are with the victims all the time even if the action is repetitive.
Falls short
Unfortunately, in spite of Kak's overall production design and Ahmed's passable first time directional assignment and Kaushal's excellent translation, the overall impact of the presentation falls short of the standard expected of Bahroop. The reason is not far to seek - the cast by and large is new and needs more rehearsals, for it has potential. However, it was a delight to see actress Poonam on the stage after about three years. The way she changed her action, movement and modulated her words underlined her understanding of the needs of each of the comrades.
Till about two to three years ago, NSD as part of its objective to help the theatre movement in the city provided directorial guidance to some of the theatre groups that helped to train new actors. Bahroop was one of the beneficiaries resulting in some of its outstanding presentations. One wishes the scheme could be revived for it would greatly help the theatre movement in Delhi.
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