Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
Straight from the heart
|
Athol Fugard's classic play cannot fail to strike an emotional chord
|
A DEMANDING SCRIPT From "Valley Song"
"Master Harold... and the Boys" is probably Athol Fugard's best known play but "Valley Song" too has been a favourite with audiences the world over. This play came after the official abolition of apartheid, with the promise of a new egalitarian order for both blacks and whites in South Africa.
The nation's world-renowned playwright had condemned racial segregation for over 40 years in works of extraordinary power. He knew that solutions to longstanding problems are not so simple. A law passed, a rule amended, a leader changed... But the rot festering through the centuries cannot be so easily cured.
In the somewhat autobiographical "Valley Song," Fugard has two characters, the Author and an old farmer, one Black and the other White, played by the same actor. (The playwright enacted both in the original Johannesburg production). The theme is the eternal tussle of the generations. Grandfather Buks wants to perpetuate the old ways, while the young granddaughter Veronica is eager for change, in her own life and the world around her. His stubbornness is matched by her impatience. A singer and composer herself, the girl believes her music will bring a new tomorrow.
"Valley Song" comes to Chennai for the first time as a Bangalore-based Artistes' Repertory Theatre production. Directed by Arundhati Raja, it takes on a tremendous challenge in staging a play unmistakably localised in its anti-apartheid content, and in its language scattered with words from Afrikaans. Add Fugard's spare vision, and the script becomes demanding for both actor and audience. But "Valley Song" is no intellectual exercise, nor a sloganeering poster play. It's a classic of its kind, dealing with elemental human emotions that can touch hearts in Jammu, Jharkhand or Johannesburg.
In her treatment of the theme, director Arundhati Raja brings the maturity gained in over 30 productions from Shakespeare to Girish Karnad. Her own experience on the stage makes her an actor's director. The music is arranged by Sankarshan Kini. "It is basically western but except for a pop song dictated by the text, the music belongs to no particular genre," the director explains. "It pertains to the words of the song, and the situation and sentiment they imply."
GOWRI RAMNARAYAN
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
|
