When the Peer pressure worked!
ROMESH CHANDER
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It's no child's play but "Peer Gynt" staged by Khilona recently, managed to hook the young and the wandering.
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EMPEROR OF THE SELF A scene from "Peer Gynt", staged in New Delhi.
To commemorate the International Ibsen Year-2006, the Royal Norwegian Embassy in India commissioned Khilona to produce an Ibsen play and left the choice of play to V.K., the director. Since Khilona is primarily a company of adult actors performing for children I was rather surprised that they selected "Peer Gynt", which was hardly a play for children and its first performance in Norway on 24th February, 1876 ran for 4 hours and 45 minutes. So before seeing the play I expressed my fear to V.K. that a theatre company that played for children should select this play.
He replied, "We chose this play because a character like Peer Gynt, who is always telling lies to prove his worth by fantasising and boasting, who does not want to take responsibilities and has a self centred attitude to achieve his goals, who is always running away from situations rather than facing them, are some of the traits so common not only among adults but the children and youth as well. We may be the first in India to do this play for children but we are not the only group in the world to have played `Peer Gynt' for children. At least four-five companies, including one each in the U.K. and the U.S. have already discovered the play's relevance for children."
Flow and essence
As the play is long, the director drastically edited it to two hours without affecting its flow or the essence.Talking about the extensive training process, V.K. shared, "We conducted a two-month-long workshop with about 35 young actors where experts, dance, movement, music and acting were invited to take classes. The first 15 days were spent on improvising the script so that the whole team understands the play , paving the way for casting for various roles. Since it was a play involving over 35 actors, we had to construct the set 10 days before the show to help the artistes get familiar with the space and environment created by the sets."
Challenging norms
Back to the play, it's a journey of life of a young man called Peer Gynt, who lives life according to his own whims. He lives in a self-created fairy tale world of trolls, princes and riches, dreaming to become an emperor without actually doing anything. He challenges the established norms of society and refuses to take responsibility for his actions and is therefore exiled from the village. He leaves the country, becomes a successful businessman by amassing wealth through fair and unfair means. Later, he is cheated by his friends, who run away with all his money. Next he becomes a prophet in an Arab country but fails because of his own stupidity. Then he tries his hand at being a historian in Egypt but lands up in a mental asylum, where the inmates hail him as their emperor, the emperor of the self!
All through this, Solveig, who had once spurred Peer Gynt for being drunk has since fallen in love with him for his unique fantasies. She has been waiting for him, because Peer had asked her to wait. Peer Gynt, on his part, never spared even a single thought for his beloved, and almost forgets her in his pursuit for self.
Finally, tired, aged and disillusioned Peer Gynt comes back to his village to find he is no more than a fairytale for his old friends who do not even recognise him. Nobody is waiting for him. He wanders off into the forest contemplating the deeds he ought to have done which he had ignored in order to live according to his own self. He picks up an onion, removes its skins in search of its core, his true self, but is dismayed to find none! Because the onion is all layers and no core! Peer Gynt realises that his life has been an utter waste and is shattered by this discovery.
The cast plays well and Rajinder Sharma as Peer Gynt in the first half and Vinod Bahadur Rai as Peer Gynt in the second half, Flora Bose as Peer's mother, Hema Bisht as Troll King's daughter and Swaraj in the Troll King's role and Geeta Guha as Solveig, Peer Gynt's beloved live their roles as well.
Apart from the cast and its Director V.K., the success of Khilona's presentation owes much to its off stage team of Robin Das (sets and costume design) Chitranjan Tripathi who set the music for over 20 songs written by V.K. to high light the mood and enhance the dramatic impact as for instance when Peer's heart throb Solveig comes to stay with him in exile and Peer asks her how she got his message, she responds with a beautiful song, "Khamoshi Se Mila Sandhesh /Aur Hava Se Mila Sandesh". Credit must also be given to the other solo singers Rajinder Sharma, Vinod Bahadur, Flora Bose and Hema Bisht.
Robin Das's set and costumes gave a contemporary relevance to the presentation with which the audience could relate. For instance, Troll's costumes reminded us of today's underworld. Then again, the sets helped to create not only the relevant atmosphere but also the fantasy.
"Peer Gynt" is Khilona's best presentation so far and must travel to different parts of the country so that theatre practitioners and audiences are exposed to something new and different in Indian theatre.
A play not to be missed when it is on the boards again on the coming January 7 during NSD's annual festival.
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