Young Thespians in the Making: A Review of Four of the Plays at the 2006’ Thespo Youth Theatre Festival.

The Mumbai leg of the Theatre Group/QTP’s annual youth theatre festival Thespo transpired from 13th to 17th December 2006 at the NCPA. Out of the select six plays, five were performed in Mumbai while all six were performed in Bangalore. The 2006’ festival celebrated Thespo’s eighth year and since its inception it has not only encouraged youth theatre (all participants have to be less than 25 years of age) but has also moved on to become a two-city festival. Its other achievement is that it has been able to shake off its once very distinct English character (Theatre Group established in 1941 is one of the oldest English language theatre groups in the city of Mumbai; QTP which came to be founded much later under Quasar Thakore Padamsee’s direction owes its allegiance to the former) and has been able to bring in other language plays such as Marathi and Hindi.

Of the four plays that I was able to see at this year’s festival, RETELLINGS (English) directed by Scherazade Kaikobad struck me as the best. The play which provides an alternative reading of the mythological Indian women characters- Shakuntala, Sita and Surpankha is an adaptation of three different stories (‘An Afternoon with Shakuntala’ by Vaidehi and ‘Asoka’ and ‘Mother Clan’ by Sara Joseph). Kaikobad’s direction adopts the straight-forward narrative approach and provides it with a simple but very effective framework of movements that make the narration come theatrically alive. Again the use of devices like reading straight from the book may seem too obvious but it somehow gels well with the overall direction and more significantly contributes to the ambience of the telling and the sharing of stories.

Combined with Shivani Tibrewala’s efficient adaptation that evocatively brings together the two stories by Sara Joseph, the action creates shades of meaning that aid both the theatrical and the narrative experience. There is a rawness about some of the movements that the actors play out and they are not worried about communicating their physical presence as women. In places, the movements purport to be quite bold and sensual too. In Shakuntala’s story for example, the two actors simultaneously play Shakuntala even as they play the other characters. This simultaneity, further emphasized by interlocking movements creates an interesting picture of the dichotomy between body/mind and emotion/reason. It is also reflective of female bonding and challenges the traditional assumptions of female coyness. But sometimes the movements are altogether too literal and the story too can do with some thoughtful editing.

It seemed only too well that Sita and Surpankha’s stories should be combined because popular or rather the North Indian religious readings of their characters consider them as opposites in every imaginable way. If Sita is a goddess then Surpankha is a rakshahi (a female demon). If Sita is the fount of virtue then Surpankha is the very embodiment of vice. By having put their stories together, Tibrewala emphasizes the critique of patriarchy, caste and class that the stories contain. The device also creates solidarity between the two women who have been wronged by Ram. The feminist underpinning cannot be missed in all three stories.

The play is very much in lieu with the feminist literary tradition of retellings. The two actors (Amrita Puri & Vandita Vasa) do a reasonably good job but could have done better had they got their cueing right. Vandita Vasa is the better actor of the two and while the exercise is commendable one cannot deny that myths and even other classics featuring women have been overworked to death. To that extent the stories offer nothing that is substantially new to the modern woman who has been able to free herself from the dogmas of tradition and patriarchy. I couldn’t help but think that were this play to be translated into local and regional languages and were it to be removed from its urban setting it would perhaps succeed in evoking a variety of responses ranging from outrage to disbelief. Even if it manages to ruffle the minds of women in small towns, cities and villages it would have done its job.

The Bangalore based play WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS degenerated into slapstick and clichés no sooner than it started. Written and directed by a law school student, Harsh Parashar (he also acts in the play) the play is about three friends. And that is where it ends too with a plot that rests on the college-canteen humour of Bollywood films and on adolescent prattle that makes the mistake of passing off as slick repartee. The play has its truly funny moments but unfortunately they are unable to salvage the show. It is the young writer-director’s first play and one can credit him of being able to provide a coherent structure even if the content is largely trite.