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Stories from everywhere

Come together Sophia, Keertana, Arundhati and Andrea

International collaborations sound exciting, but are never easy. Getting down to brass tacks there are a hundred-odd strands — beginning from logistics to the physical running around and balancing emotional planes of a heterogeneous group thrown together from varied cultural quarters.

The scene at Nrityagram is pretty much the same — cast and crew of the Indo-German collaboration putting their entire selves and more to make this enterprise inflame with meaning. “Do I Know U?” is a partnership between Schnawwl theatre and Ranga Shankara. They are producing the play “Boy with a Suitcase” by British writer Mike Kenny with an Indo-German cast.

“The question before us was how can we make this collaboration successful. From communication and food to salaries and hierarchies — one has to think of everything. It's a tough job,” says Sophia Stepf, the dramaturge from Germany. “We have very different approaches — theatre for passion and theatre for profession. But we are all in the search for something and we hope that in the end something meaningful emerges.”

“My understanding of time has changed completely,” says Andrea, director of the play. “It is a high pressure project and initially I suffered. But the Indians have taught me how to relax. Through their involvement they have told me that it is a shared burden. In these months that we have spent together our trust with each other has grown.”

Kirtana Kumar, the Indian dramaturge agrees: “Cultural collaboration doesn't mean perfect understanding, but if we can remain committed to a cause beyond ourselves, then it is really worth it.”

The group initially thought of Girish Karnad's “Hayavadana” which has its beginnings in Thomas Mann's work. “But after the reading we felt it would not work. Theatre has to negotiate new spaces and cultures and we kept our search on,” recalls Arundhati Nag. “It was not a play for children and had too much of one context. That is when we decided on the migration theme,” explains Sophia. Finally, it was Andrea who suggested “Boy with a suitcase”, because “it was a good theme for children”. The play was good for the actors as well, because most of them were not English and came from different sensibilities. A migrant theme was something that they could all relate to.

“It's very immediate to us in Germany,” says Sophia. “With more than 37 per cent non-Germans in Manheim and a large Turkish population, Germans feel that the local culture is challenged. As a result there is violence and crime. Anyway, as a nation, after the Second World War we are very scared of the outsider. Home is a very important thing in our scheme of things,” explains Sophia, who feels that this is much the global scene with people travelling in greater frequency than before.

“Boy with a suitcase” is the story of a 12-year-old Naz, a war refugee, who undertakes a long and dangerous journey to be with his sister in London. All he has is a small suitcase and a treasure of stories from his childhood. Like his hero, Sinbad the Sailor, Naz needs to travel half-way around the world to meet his sister. But when he reaches London, does it invoke the sense of ‘home' in him? Is it the ‘heaven on earth' that he expects? This gripping narrative full of adventure, also throws spotlight on the real dangers faced by children who have to travel alone.

It's a complex subject and there are no easy solutions. “I believe it is important not to understand everything and have answers, because then thinking will come to an end. Understanding life is similar to understanding art. The boundaries keep shifting,” reasons Andrea.

“And every audience is going to receive it differently, so the challenge is higher,” says Arundhati. “It would mean a lot to us if a child comes out of the theatre with a different gaze. Children deserve good theatre, they are the future,” says Sophia.

The group has been putting in 12 to 14 hours of work everyday; they are doing rigorous workouts, reading each scene, building it detail by detail with inputs from each member of the team, reviewing the process, before Andrea gives it her masterly stroke. Music is by Konark Reddy, M.D. Pallavi sings and also doubles as an actor.

The play will open at the Schnawwl Theatre Festival on April 10 in German, and will be back in Indian in June.

At lunch, Andrea, Sophia and the actors enjoy rice with dal, while Pallavi and Shrunga practise German rolling their tongues in every direction to get the perfect sound. Partnerships are about learning as well.

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