The third edition of the Ibsen Festival in Mumbai by Ila Arun's company Surnai in collaboration with the Norwegian Embassy...
October 5, 2016 4:24:14 PM IST MTG editorial
The Ibsen Festival in Mumbai, which is now in its 3rd year, is being organised by Ila Arun and her company Surnai with the support of the Norwegian Embassy. Previous editions of the festival were held in Delhi by Nissar Allana.
The focus of the Ibsen Festival has been to encourage new adaptations, translations and productions of Ibsen's plays. Ila Arun has herself adapted three plays" LADY OF THE SEA (MAREECHIKA),PEER GYNT (PEER GHANI) and GHOSTS (PICHA KARTI PARCHAIYAN). GHOSTS, her latest addition, will premiere at the festival this year while her earlier adaptations will also be staged. Ila Arun has also invited Pushan Kripalani to stage A DOLL'S HOUSE at the festival this year. A DOLL'S HOUSE remains one of Ibsen's popular plays.
When asked about the staging of A DOLL'S HOUSE, Pushan Kripalani said, ''I think the basic themes of Ibsen are very relatable, especially in A DOLL'S HOUSE because it contains certain kinds of sexual politics that most certainly exist in India whether you like it or not. It's about ownership of people in a manner. Most relationships in our country are unequal largely due to gender politics and a text like this breaks them.''
Actor-Director KK Raina who has been closely involved with the festival, says, ''A lot of playwrights have great stories, but often their characters aren't well fleshed out. They aren't nuanced or thought through, but in Ibsen's case, I see so many shades within his characters. I find his work very exciting as an actor and a director. For instance with PEER GHANI, we had to adapt a six hour-long text into a two hours and twenty minutes play. One time we were performing it at the Kamani auditorium in Delhi and before the show began, I wanted an informal performance to happen in the corridor. We had organised for Kashmiri folk artists on that day to be performing before the show. After their performance, they wanted to stick around and catch PEER GHANI's show...so they came up to me and I was more than happy to let them in because ultimately the piece is for people like them, for people from remote areas of Kashmir. They came up to me after the show and said, ''Sir, please ye show aap humare baccho ko dikhaiye. They should realize the path they are taking.'' This is what we can do as artists; use our art form to tell stories and to tell them to the best of our abilities.
The Ibsen Festival in Mumbai will take place from 6th to 9th October 2016 at Prithvi Theatre.
