Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
Goa, in slow motion
|
Theatrecian's production lacked interpretation and energy
|
PHOTO: S.R. RAGHUNATHAN
YOUTHFUL CAST From "Goa"
Asif Currimbhoy's "Goa" is not a great play, but Theatrecian's treatment stripped it of energy. Directed by Shuktara Lal and staged by a theatre group from Kolkata, the play unwound itself at an extremely slow pace. The young cast dragged the text through two hours in a performance that lacked interpretation and stylistic device. The storyline is straightforward. Events take place before and after Goa is annexed by India (1961). The playwright establishes the location with stereotypes of the Portuguese colony, lounging in the open patio before church and tavern. The administrator argues with the nationalist, the vicar tries to convert the Hindu, the smuggler plays the harmonica, the woman recalls the coming of the pestilence, wailing, "But there was no repentance."
The motley group watches Maria Miranda (Trina Nileena Banerjee), the local sex worker, sashaying to her house followed by Portuguese `gentleman' Alphonso (Aditya Vikram Das). Daughter Rose is dark and deaf, but Maria sees herself as all White. Alphonso is her only hope of salvation. Will he marry her and take her to Portugal? She dangles the virginal Rose as the bait to manipulate Alphonso. He calls her "a beast," but cannot resist the temptation.
Standing on her balcony, Rose is entranced by Krishna (Tanaji Dasgupta), her dark Indian Romeo. He becomes Maria's bait to arouse Alphonso's jealousy. A scuffle between the two men ends in Krishna taking the drunk adversary to the tavern and returning with a knife. He has killed Alphonso.
Rose's scream fills the hall when she is raped by Krishna. Maria had used the men for just this moment — to ravish the girl who constantly reminded her of her former innocent self, before she was raped on a night of horror. She had taught her not to allow herself to be touched even casually so that the "Experience of rape would be a real one." Krishna is only the instrument of the mother's purging herself of guilt. He urges her, "Use me... pour your hate on me... Feel your pain and horror. For then only she becomes you."
In the second act, the patio is blanketed by sombre estrangement, as the characters try to fit into a new regime. India has absorbed Goa in a bloodless invasion with "the occasional case of rape but on the whole the troops were very well behaved." Krishna encounters a gaunt mother and blindfolded daughter. Rose wants to see only darkness, hear only silence. The scene ends with Krishna dragged out from Rose's bedchamber as a corpse.
Currimbhoy's play is not performance friendly. The language is hardly subtle, and often stilted. The characters are stereotypes — Maria of mixed blood, her innocent daughter, colonisers political and religious, aggressive nationalist, pimp, smuggler, street loungers... Add to this simplistic symbols — cross, prayer beads, liquor and rose; and the two rivals (Alphonso, Krishna) representing Portugal and India, greedy for the land, while Rose stands for Goa.
Symbols, unlike images, are hardly capable of conveying multiplicities. The blurb claims that the play raises questions about the concept of nationalism, and political machinations which rob the people of freedom and choice. This Theatrecian production did not go beyond naive statements about these complex issues. No layering with lights, backdrop and sets, nor could the actors project their voices, or use the mikes properly.
The characters belong to different age groups and the youthful actors could not shape them, establish their age, or levels of maturity.
This play was staged as part of
The Hindu MetroPlus Theatre Festival at The Music Academy on August 13
GOWRI RAMNARAYAN
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
|
