STAGECRAFT
Truly new
VASANTHI SANKARANARAYANAN
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The Park’s New Festival showcases India’s search for the balance between traditional and modern.
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The Park’s New Festival is a comparatively “New” event in Chennai. It is on its second year and was launched on November 25, 2008 at The Park Hotel. Why is there a New Festival in Chennai’s calendar of programmes? This question was answered by Ranvir Shah, the curator of the Festival.
He comments: “The New Festival is about the new India and the dynamic energy that is present due to our being in the world arena… no longer are Indians ashamed of their identity but hold their heads high…with this comes new issues of seeking that identity which through the field of culture I am trying to investigate as the curator of the New Festival. This leads us to question ourselves about truth, joy, love, loneliness and the existential quest of our inner selves. I think there is enough exciting and new work in the fields of theatre, dance and visual and plastic arts that merits showcasing as India and its people search for balance between the traditional and modern. That is what I explore and share that exploration with the audience.”
Evaluating the festival
Ranvir has accordingly chosen five performances that were showcased at The Museum Theatre, the Kalakshetra auditorium and Lalit Kala Academy. As a viewer and a critic I seek to evaluate these performances based on the newness, innovation in form and theme, and the experimental nature of each piece. It is very difficult for me to come to definite conclusions as I have very little exposure and experience with regard to such performances. However, I have chosen to do this job relying on my instinct, understanding and a deep conviction on the parameters I have outlined above. For a person like me who is deeply rooted in the traditional aspects of Indian culture and yet is conscious of the need to change the form, content and approach to art forms to express the growing new concerns and artistic aspirations of modern India, it is indeed a challenge. I stand on the dividing line between tradition and modernity looking backwards, around and forwards and do this evaluation.
The first performance “About Ram” by Anurupa Roy and Vishal Dar is based on Uttararamacharita of Bhavabhuti, which deals with Ram’s later life. It has been influenced by the Balinese version of Ramayana. The content deals with the inner workings of Rama’s mind after he abandons Sita in the forest. The form used is stunning with its avoidance of dialogue, an original music track with pieces of mood music and dramatic drum beats, use of puppets, Bunraku (Japanese) puppets and shadow puppets from Andhra Pradesh and the body movements and martial art stances adopted by the puppeteers. The story telling is partially done through animation on bamboo screens. The lighting was such that it helped to uplift the quality of the performance. However, the most arresting images in the production were Rama changing into Hanuman and Rama seated on the throne, lonely, bereft, ruminating on the choice he made — his throne over his lover. In one stroke, conveying through a seemingly inanimate object such as a puppet the emotion of loneliness and the pathos of human condition, the directors succeeded in creating a unique experience.
The second day’s performance “Pushed”, conceived and choreographed by Padmini Chettur, was probably the most experimental, the most daring and the most unusual piece in the whole repertoire of the New Festival. Minimalist on all fronts such as stage setting, lights, music and costumes, the aesthetic of the dance depended completely on the body of the dancers and the slow and chiselled movements that not only provided the structure, but proved to be the essence. “Movement” became paramount in the aesthetic scale, pared of all inessentials. Slowness lent a meditative quality. The dancers attempted to express emotions such as anger, pain, pleasure, happiness, sorrow, love and lust, in a condensed and abstract manner, in a unique way through body movements between the bodies and between the bodies and the performing space departing from traditional codified gestures, posturing and mythical tales. “The intention is to blur the lines emotionally. To move the emotional to the tangible subjective to an intangible objective.”
Not new or innovative
The third day’s performance “Buddha Charitam”, a Kathakali dance did not fit into the category of the “new, innovative and experimental”. Probably, the dancer thought that if he took up a non-traditional theme or made some cursory changes in the costumes, it would be experimental enough. But, none of the elements that went into the making of the production reflected the truly experimental nature. Music, instrumentation and movements did not show any departure from the traditional Kathakali performances. In fact, the literary interpretation of the lines of music and the lengthy voice-over narration took away the real experimental trend in traditional Kathakali, the manodharmam.
The fourth day’s performance, a light installation by Zuleikha Chowdhry, combined with monologic acting of Manish Chowdhry was breathtaking in its vision and theatre acting that included controlled body movements and non-sentimental yet intense, narration. The frames conceived and lit by Zuleikha created spaces unimaginable on a proscenium stage. It freed the actor from a limited and constrained space and allowed him a new kind of narration of the lines.
Manish’s supreme control over his body and the movements he crafted through the body were truly impressive. But, the best aspect of this production was the intense pathos and sense of inevitability of human condition which the images and the voice created. It reminded me of a Kim ki duk movie where the minimalist narration creates a heart-rending pathos and the bareness of the setting and the spare human movements prove to be the most lyrical expression of emotion.
The last day’s performance was Jaimini Pathak’s “Sixty Seconds Deep”, an unusual drama reflecting the various aspects of the “new” urban life in vignettes. Four actors, all dressed in black, moving, speaking, gesturing, dancing and enacting the seamy aspects of urban life with humour and panache. The audience laughed, then wondered why they were laughing when they were exposed to the skin-deep, bleak and meaningless aspects of life. TV jingles, TV programmes, TV interviews with fake Gurus and brave teachers who are overwhelmed by the ebullience of the interviewer, they all come as flashes, the inspiration must have been the TV shows only.
However, the incumbents are searching for something, the “it”, maybe eternal happiness, maybe the elixir of life, maybe plain happiness and peace of mind. But, they never find it. The search continues and they are trapped like sardines in a tin or worms in a bottle. Make what you want of it. But there is food for serious thought when the laughs die, and the self reflection begins.
Ranvir himself feels that there is a thread of a common theme in all the performances — the loneliness of an individual in the modern urban world and his quest for something which eludes him. On my part, I would like to sum up my article by saying that Ranvir has managed to give us, Chennaites the potential of really new and experimental work.
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