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Starring : |
Harshal Nagdevte, Pallavi Wagh, Arunkumar & Others.
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Recently the Academy of Theatre Arts, Mumbai University performed Machhindra More’s adaptation of Sophocles’ classic Greek tragedy, OEDIPUS REX. The play VEDHAPASHYA, designed and directed by Waman Kendre was part of the 11th National Theatre Festival 2007, organized by the Nehru Centre.
Oedipus is the first play of the famous Greek trilogy- (three plays-each complete in itself-yet all the three are connected by a single story) and is also one of the oldest and widely appreciated. The play has been translated in many Indian as well as foreign languages of the world. Its astounding, outrageous theme and its protagonist as the unsuspecting perpetrator of a chain of events proved to be compelling to modern psychology and thus the term ‘Oedipus Complex’ became an entrenched part of the subject.
The story of the play is enigmatic; a child is born to the King of Thebes with the prophecy that ‘he will kill his father and marry his mother’. This deeply unsettled the King and he therefore ordered the child to be taken away and killed. The play follows a torturous path of revelation and the horrid game that destiny plays with Oedipus and his mother/queen.
The adaptation VEDHAPASHYA opens with a joyous song describing ‘Umang’ (joyfulness) by the group of boys and girls in Rajasthani type of costumes-spotless white, fresh, and crispy. In Greek tradition this Chorus or group of artists forms an important, integral part of play. As the play opens with the shadow of death looming large over the land, the joyous song in Rag Basant (Spring) seemed totally out of place. After the song distraught people enter the palace courtyard for help and again the costumne design with bright colours for women and the fresh look deceive the impending doom. The production was throughout treated in the paradoxical manner, with the theme in one direction-catastrophe, and visual treatment in other- filmy opulence!
The movements of the chorus were choreographed but were repetitive and stereotyped. The manner of speech was singsong, dragging and absolutely devoid of emotions. The climatic scenes were miserably ineffective too. In the early sixties Shombhu Mitra and Tripti Mitra performed the same play and it was simply incredible. A Latin reading of the play in the US had a colossal imact too. May be one should not compare theatre students with the iconic Shombhu Mitra, and yet one can’t help but evaluate the attempt undertaken, especially as it figures in a national level festival. The production lacked basic understanding of the script, the situation, the characters, repercussions of each word uttered, actions made and reactions generated. The standard of acting was far below average and characterisation was missing; none of the characters rose from mundane to awe-inspiring.
Merely changes in the names of the characters and the shift of locale from Greece to Rajasthan cannot qualify the translation as an adaptation. The imposing set was without any definite character- just two distinct levels of a stone-painted structure. The lower level was for the ordinary people and the higher level for the king and the queen. This matter-of-fact stage design once again got back memories of a photograph of a production of the same play; the production was probably Mr. Alkazi’s. The picture revealed a next to bare stage. A platform which was about two feet high and four feet in width rose in the background, near the cyclorama and connected opposite wings, three steps off the right side descended at the stage level and from the right wing, five steps descended on the raised path. At the back of the platform at twenty feet height, the skull of a large bull’s head was visible. The simple yet effective stage design set the tone for the play.
VEDHAPASHYA’S dominating set and the glossy costumes were just out of sync with the plot and the mood of the play. The music too was just about ok. But the biggest let down of the production was the lack of interpretation of the complex theme. The multifaceted characters and their conflicts, both inner and outer have not been done justice to. The production lacked everything except the tag of staging a great Greek classic! It’s high time Nehru Centre stops patronizing groups, whose productions don’t amount to much but mediocre student level work.
*The writer is a senior theatre and television person who has trained under Ebrahim Alkazi at the National School of Drama (NSD). She has written for publications such as ‘The Asian Age’ and is a regular contributor to the Prithvi Theatre Newsletter (PT Notes). She also offers theatre training to students at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and is an important critical voice for the Gujarati Theatre.
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