Ignited by water
DIWAN SINGH BAJELI
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Music and imagery help a workshop production come to pulsating life.
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A GOOD ONE A scene from "Memsaheb Prithvi".
We have seen plays created in the course of theatre workshops through interactions between director and participants. The scripts conceived in this process have little staying power. Now we have one more theatrical piece, which is drawn from several sources ranging from contemporary literature to folklore. The piece entitled "Memsaheb Prithvi" was presented by the National School of Drama Repertory Company the other day at Abhimanch. The most haunting elements in this experimental work are music score and visual imagery.
Those used to viewing a play based on the Aristotelian concept of three unities, Time Place and Action, may find the script has single action but with multiple viewpoints and diversified thematic elements. If theatre is regarded as a mirror of contemporary social life with its contradictions, "Memsaheb Prithvi" provokes us and fascinates us with its aural and visual imagery. The slices of life from varied sources projected cannot be described as isolated. In fact, through the device of the theme song rendered in melodious voice and slow tune, a kind of artistic harmony is created. It highlights the importance of water for human existence and the crisis created by reckless devastation of nature by man. The dominant thematic element is revealed through the enactment of a folktale about a kingdom suffering from water crisis, and the same thread remerges in the last scene, depicting a rag picker who collects an empty bottle of mineral water, declaring unabashedly his intention to earn some money by refilling it with any kind of available water and selling it to unsuspecting buyers in the market.
Again, it is the water famine that forces the characters from a folktale to land in the contemporary world in a desperate search for water which turns out to be futile and humiliating.
Another thrust of the experimental piece is the widespread resentment of the people of the Northeast caused by the imposition of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act which is vehemently criticised and opposed for the wanton violation of human rights in the name of combating terrorism let loose by ULFA. This point is further reinforced with the scene of army officers playing a game, signifying the gruesome acts of violence being perpetrated by army on the innocent people.
There are scenes that project the psyche of contemporary youths who have little opportunity to find jobs and are disenchanted with the existing social system. They indulge in the polemic against the use of ethics in attaining ones means. The majority appears to justify the use of violence in achieving the ends. There is a mood of nostalgia about an adolescence spent in an idyllic rural landscape, and the anguish, cynicism and frustration about a wasted life in the urban chaos are also projected.
Many themes
The scenes range from the most obvious ones like Delhi's bus stand and a Barista outlet in Delhi to artistically conceived intricate scenes like the convergence of the images of two women — one that of a queen in the folktale who is being sacrificed to obtain water and the other that of Sharmila Chanu who is on a fast unto death against the AFSPA for the last six years. In short, this is a play about environmental devastation, state violence, disillusioned youth and women as sacrificial victims in a male dominated society.
The script is written by Himanshu B. Joshi, a promising young theatre artist known for his artistry as a light and set designer and director. Rabijita Gogoi, holder of post-graduate diploma from NSD, who is engaged in the exploration of folk narrative forms of the Northeast with a view to blending them with contemporary theatrical art, treats the script with sensitivity and remarkable finesse. Amba Sanyal deserves praise for designing costumes that not only lend colour to the production but also contribute to the delineation of characters. In an aptly cast production, the music by Zubeen Garg of "Ya Ali Madad" fame enhanced the emotional depth and helped to harmonise the diverse thematic elements and theatrical devices.
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