Threading together a fine yarn
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Cotton 56 Polyester 84 is sensitively written and executed
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The third day of the Ranga Shankara theatre festival 06 showcased Ramu Ramanathan's Cotton 56 Polyester 84, presented by Arpana.
The play revolves around the lives of two friends Mien and Bhao Rao, workers of the spinning and reeling unit of a textile mill. The locale of the play is the Sarvajanik Vachanalay in a small area of Bombay. The two friends stay close to each other and meet everyday to reminiscence of the time when they were involved in political rally led by Shaher Amar Shek, Bala Saheb and Datta Sawant.
Mien is a "born again," Muslim and Baho Rao, is a communist. "Once a communist always a communist," he says. And while both are dutiful husbands and children, they are still strong political loyalists. And more than anything, they are thick friends.
Each cannot live without the other. Each day, they meet to analyse the politics of the day, at the local Vachanalay, (dubbed in Kannada as Somberikatte), talking of the politics of the day, singing and dancing. All their pastimes revolve around the mill. They count the number of cotton and polyester clad persons walking in front of them. The title of the play is an outcome of the same ritual. But, once they down a couple of pegs of whiskey, stories of the mill, the union, the morchas and andholans flow quite smoothly. Each has his version and though they fight, they are inseparable in their dream that the mill will open once again, and that they will relive the glory of what they saw years ago.
Reality bites
Yet reality has not spared them. They have families to run, and mouths to feed; they have wives to pacify and children to rear. Each calls for a responsible choice and they have to deal with all. The other characters - Chotu, Aayi, Meghana, Bhai and Gopal Seth - struggle with their own realities. The poignancy of the play is in the helplessness, the submission and the stoic acceptance of the situations of life. Though each of the characters has their share of sorrow, they display rare strength, resilience.
Ramu Ramanathan has masterfully shown the struggles of all the people in the play. Each characters has a point of view, a political stand and theirown narrative. Each is a confider and storyteller. At a time when people struggle to play safe Ramu Ramanathan, has managed to be the voice of the people. He has presented thepolitics without much distortion of facts. Cotton 56 Polyester 84 is not just a sensitively written pay, it is sensitively executed as well. Sunil Shanbhag, the director of the play must be credited for this. Each of the actors slip into their characters quite skillfully.
The actors portraying everyday people move between the different struggles without a hint of melodrama.
While one portrays the stoic father whose son is killed in an encounter, the other is a man who loses his house. The performances of all actors were laudable.
At a time when theatre uses pre-recorded music to replace onstage singing, it was refreshing to hear lavani and tamasha music, sung live on stage with great ease.
The backdrop painting, and the sets were good. The mela on stage was not distracting. Bangalore requires more performances like this. It would be wonderful if the play reached some more audiences.
DEEPTHY SHEKHAR
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