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Contemporary take on a classic

“Flame of the Forest” had the right mix of drama, dance and music

PHOTO: M. VEDHAN

VISUAL TREAT Scenes from “Flame of the Forest”

“Is there anything civilised about war,” quips Mahendra Pallava. The audience bursts into laughter. That it is no laughing matter but a tragedy too deep for tears is borne out by the next 90 minutes of the play staged at th e Museum Theatre.

“Flame of the Forest”, a theatre version of Kalki’s immortal classic, “Sivakamiyin Sapatham,” a historical novel in Tamil of the Pallava period, has introduced the Tamil theatre tradition in English. The tradition harks back to the Natya Shastra of Bharatha, for whom the term ‘Natya’ meant ‘theatre’, where dance and music were integral features.

The last to follow it in Tamil theatre were perhaps the TKS brothers.

“Why such lengthy dance numbers? Why so much music,” is the note of disapproval heard in some quarters about the play which revolves around a dancer. Indeed opinions are sharply divided between the hardcore Kalki aficionados and the English theatre regulars. For the former, it is a dream-come- true to witness their favourite heroine Sivakami come alive with her dance, romance and anguish on stage. Gowri, the writer and director of the play, who is also Kalki’s granddaughter, has handled the theme with love and reverence.

It is no mean achievement to distil the essence of a 1,000-page novel in the brief span of one hundred minutes. For those of us who know “Sivakami” backwards, it is exciting to listen to the familiar dialogues of Kalki in English, fluent and expressive. How far the others would follow the story unravelled in a rapid succession of flashbacks and dialogue is a matter of conjecture. Gowri extends her grandpa’s story with a convincing sequel of Sivakami twenty-five years after her surrendering herself to the service of God.

She chooses to tell the story through Paranjothi, the Pallava general-turned- ascetic, commenting on the events of history, where his master, the multifaceted Emperor Mahendra Pallava, the artist and art patron, is the protagonist. While it provides an interesting angle with contemporary overtones to the familiar story, it inevitably leads to a shift in the focus from the Emperor to Sivakami, from politics to romance towards the end of the play.

Balakrishnan in his triple or quadruple roles proves his versatility in playing antithetic characters. Deesh Mariwala gives a poignant portrayal of the anguish of the peace-loving monarch driven to seek revenge. A directorial masterstroke is the casting of leading dancers in the role of Sivakami in her youth and middle age. Mythili Prakash, the Bharatanatyam dancer from the U.S., exudes power and vivaciousness in her nritta, abhinaya and acting and manages to a great extent to mask her strong American accent. While she is the flame, Priyadarshini Govind, as the senior Sivakami, is the glowing ember signifying the blaze within. The dance of myriad shades of emotions on Priyadarshini’s face is a treat to watch. A memorable visual is the dance she and Mythili perform in tandem, with identical movements distinguished by the difference in the temperaments of the characters.

The costumes and props are vintage Kalakshetra, colourful and aesthetic. Lighting accentuates the mood of the play. While Gowri’s music brings out the sentiment of the lyrics in classical and light classical modes, singing by Savitha Narasimhan and Akhila Ramnarayan is an invaluable asset to the play.

The comic interlude of the Buddhist and Jain monk does not quite come through and the pair of Kapalikas, reminiscent of Macbeth’s witches, seem inhibited by space constraint and a soft, feminine enunciation of sonorous solkattus.

The play produced by the fledgling Just Us Repertory in association with the veteran Madras Players, has the right mix of drama, sentiment, romance, action, suspense, colour and spectacle, music and dance, all of a high order. As a new genre in English theatre, it could very well widen the circle of audience in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere.

SUJATHA

VIJAYARAGHAVAN

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