Now here's a play title, perhaps not as invitingly raunchy as THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES but nevertheless potent enough to draw in audiences. Curiosity never really killed the cat and this is as good as curiosity can get. Then there is academic legitimacy to boot. But research oriented as the two plays are, the similarities between them just as well end here.
Arpana's production of S*X, M*RALITY and CENS*RSHIP directed by Sunil Shanbag grew out of a research project funded by the India Foundation for the Arts (IFA), and the guiding inspiration behind it was the highly controversial Indian play of its times- Vijay Tendulkar's SAKHARAM BINDER. Developed by Irawati Karnik and Shanta Gokhale who were closely involved with the project right from the beginning, the play essentially dramatizes the research concerning the clamping down of SAKHARAM BINDER in the 1970s.
To that effect it seeks to raise questions about censorship and about who can really decide what is moral and what is not. It's an ambitious debate that affects most of our world in some form or the other, however librealized some of the countries may purport to be. There can be no easy or ready answers therefore.
So while the play under Sunil's astute direction has much to offer in terms of sheer dramatic involvement, it falls short of serious reckoning. It is expertly handled by a team that is theatrically commendable on various fronts, including the set design by Nayantara Kotian and Prashant Prakash. A research project could not have had a more entertaining outlet, but the play appears to be trapped in a honeycomb of its own making.
On the one hand it appears like a superlative production of SAKHARAM BINDER itself; on the other it loses its germ of reasoning as it gets caught between nostalgia and glorification. In the process, it dilutes the very complex issues it wishes to address. As the events of SAKHARAM BINDER's arduous journey find dramatic parallel and resonance in the Tamasha, Maharashtra's best known folk theatrical form with its own set of critical issues, the stage narrative - a medley of dialogue, music, dance and film keeps you largely hooked because of the virtuosity of the actors and the musicians- Bali Deshmukh on the Harmonium and Sada Ulik on the Dholki.
Nagesh Bhonsle who plays shahir (people's poet from the Tamasha lexicon) and Sakharam is born into his roles. Not for a moment does he let them overlap in spite of the transformation that is required almost continually of him through the play. And almost all his co-actors- Gitanjali Kulkarni, Shubhrojyoti Barat, Ketaki Thatte, Rajashree Sawant Wad, Hridaynath Jadhav, Umesh Jagtap, Gulshan Devaiah, Prasad Athaiye, Dhanshree Karmakar, Puja Sarup- some of them playing more than one character, fulfill their parts with equal elan. It would be picture perfect though to have a more teasing, flirtatious and a sensual performance from Ketaki Thatte, who plays the lavani dancer.
Music by Shailendra Barve and songs by Anil Deshmukh, Atul Tiwari and Arvind Jagtap form an essential part of the experience. The 70's video, which sums up the spirit of a revolutionary age adds spark but its full impact depends very crucially on what in stage parlance is called 'timing'. It's well placed in the scheme of scenes that unfold and it works superbly if the cueing is right.
This leads me back to the glamour (no pun intended) of Sunil's direction. His minimalist theatre throbs and thinks. Here is clearly a director with a finely developed sensitivity to four things most essential in the theatre- the auditory, the visual, time and space. To top that he understands rhythm, pace and the importance of a tightly produced piece. His double experience as a filmmaker perhaps gives him the edge.
S*X, M*RALITY AND CENS*RSHIP however remains more of a celebration than any acute deliberation on the topic. Its aim is worthy but it gets high on idealism that is undoubtedly irresistible. Come out of it sober and you would have had a pretty decent theatre experience.
*The writer is Editor of this site, a theatre critic and an academic keenly interested in Theatre & Performance Studies.
