Words: Fathima AbdulKader   Images: Yukthiraj Kadalundi

Khasakkinte Ithihasam was a groundbreaking novel for its time and has managed to remain relevant ever since. O.V Vjayan’s magnum opus initiated conversations on illicit relationships, religion, myths and stories. Its unique narrative made the story bigger than the protagonist; it was a philosophical and spiritual examination of the people of the hamlet of Khasakk and of society in general. Adapting the classic work for the stage and keeping it faithful to Vijayan’s vision was not an easy feat for theatre veteran Deepan Sivaraman. But with two decades of experience in the national and international drama field, he envisioned a play that brought Khasakk to life.

The opening act

Born and brought up in Kodakara in Thrissur, Deepan Sivaraman’ foray into drama began by participating in the small plays put up in the Grameena Samskarika Sankatana in his village. After studying at School of Drama in Thrissur, Deepan went on to do his Masters at Pondicherry University and then to Central Saint Martins to study Scenography. After his stint working as a professor at London School of Arts and Wimbledon College of Arts, Deepan returned to India and made a name for him in the national theatre scene. His works such as Ubu Roi, Peer Gynt and Spinal Cord received critical acclaim and won several awards.

When asked about the experience working in the national and international theatre industry, Deepan said that it is not easy to compare the Indian theatre situation to the international. He went on to say “during my studies I traveled to Eastern Europe for pursuing my love of drama. In those countries, the modern theater has been in existence for centuries, while there has only been a modern theatre in India in the last 100 years or so. Internationally there is an existing theatre industry where recent graduates can find employment. However in India, the situation has not reached a point where theatre artists can make it their sole profession to live off of. Any advancements that have happened, it is because of the efforts of people who are passionate about the field, be it actors, writers or directors regardless of money. Even after making a name for myself in the field, I still have a day job as an academician because of this reason.”

Staged directions

When Deepan Sivaraman took charge of adapting Khasakkinte Ithihasam for KMK Smaraka Kalasamrithi in Trikaripur, he had to ensure that the essence of the work is retained. Deepan focused on the village of Khasakk rather than the story of the protagonist Ravi and presented it in a multi-narrative style. He drew inspiration from the village of Trikaripur and from the folk form Theyyam to complete his vision for the play. His experience as a scenographer came into play when he created a visual spectacle for the set. The center of the set is made like a traditional Palakkadan Vazhivaramb and three sides are marked by elevated areas where other actions take place. Since its initial performance in 2015, the play Khasakkinte Ithihasam has gained critical and popular acclaim.

When talking about his contemporaries, Deepan Sivaraman is an admirer of the female directors in the theatre industry right now. According to him, the female directors such as Anamika Haksar, Anuradha Kapur, Neelam Mansingh Chowdary, Kirti Jain, Maya Krishna Rao are the reason for the existence of an Indian Avant Garde theatre in current times. With the need to prove more, the female directors in the field have been willing to take more risks and stray from the traditional. They create complex contemporary works that has helped further the modern Indian theatre.

The post Getting In Touch With The Brain Behind The Theatrical Adaptation Of The Novel Khasakkinte Ithihasam appeared first on FWD Life | The Premium Lifestyle Magazine |.

A stirred bafflement in me was when the curtain fell at Ekharya, India’s first solo drama performance festival. All the performances opened up to new perspectives, especially Indian plays. They are more open-ended than reductive. One may think plays are passive, but it stimulates interaction and institutes a dialogue. It may not be inter-personal or even a critique. It could mean, intra-personal. That’s the deepest, just when you’re immersed in introspection.

The Soaring Lioness

I saw her as one; she had a guttural voice, as she talked about a scene called “Dushasana Vadh” from the war of Kurukshetra. That ferocity was portrayed in her bright red sari with a dot of vermilion on her forehead. She walked with a swagger of gadadhaari Bhim.

Dr.Teejan Bai, the first woman from the Pardhi community, is known to perform a form called Pandavani. This time it opened it with an iconic story from the Mahabharatha. Her ballad resonated with the phrase “Tohe sharam laaj na aaye Nakul” (Don’t you feel a little bit of shyness?). Her indelible Draupadi Cheerharan from the lore Mahabharat made her exemplary, but also infamous. Ostracized by her community, she took the bold decision to sing the Pandavani professionally. When asked about the barbarity done on women, she said, “The atrocities have fairly reduced compared to our times. These days, girls are well educated and soaring to better heights.”

Sharpness, truths and bluntness

As long as we live in a society that is reigned over by male heterosexual norms, female bodies will continue to be “user- friendly” and “saleable”. In the play, C Sharp C Blunt, the concept was based on a plight only going in circles: a loop. A question on gender construction, how folkways frame boys and girls. It narrated stories of three women: a germinal singer who’s forced by a lady director to sing songs that are equivocal. It’s worse when her parents cannot embrace her independence and society nags her about marriage. Then an actress who was coerced to expose herself in a rape scene. In life, she’s pestered by the society’s questions about her husband’s opinion, her late working hours and higher salary. Finally a software (an app named Shilpa) which becomes self-aware and starts utilizing data about human perverted preferences for its advantage. Singer MD Pallavi has calibrated the moods and situations with the looping, pitch-shifting, overlaying and processing voices. Her humor was a lesson that laughter could only ease the pain. All of the characters shared problems that could not break out from the loop.

Eyes beyond the unSeen

One may despise the truth, but it is an inevitable fact of life. When girls breathe for the first time, it isn’t just the oxygen but fumbled words of “must do”. unSeen starts with a 10-minute stream that gushes forth hysterical self-suspicion. How should she carry herself so that she does not provoke a man to paw her or how she shouldn’t get caught in a man’s eye? The play probes Rabindranath Tagore’s misconstrued notion of womanhood (women are intellectually and physically weaker than men). Kalyanee Mulay bluntly depicts a woman’s quotidian rituals: menstruation, depilation, dressing up. Donned in a necklace draped with clunky kitchen utensils, she shook her hips in a skirt cut from a plastic washbasin. Her handbag was made from a bent frying pan, and she essayed a women’s journey in an astounding way.

Mesmerized by Monologues

One of the final performances took me to a blank state of mind, as symbolic as the body adorned in white cloth. She lay on a wooden base in a crematorium with a fierce smell of incense. Seema Biswas, the National Award winner was a cynosure among the audience. Jeevit ya Mrit directed by Anuradha Kapoor is the story of a widow, Kadambini. Taken by her relatives and left to be burnt, Kadambini gains consciousness.The rest of the play is about the monologues that set foot in the dominion of dreams, desires, sights and interior landscapes inhabited by memory. The dramatic lighting and thumping music enhanced the soliloquies. They were narrated not only with superb modulation, but also a surreal navigation through different deaths in many widows’ lives. When asked about feminist theatre to Seema Biswas she quipped, “ There is no border to distinguish something called feminist theatre. It could be remarked as a different way to tell a story.”

I was overwhelmed by the fact that theatre and artists have the prowess to move you; deeply, which probably even cinema may not be able to do so. I could feel my nerve wrench as I saw artists venting out on stage. From raising certain questions on democracy, basic existence of women, how human lives have become like a circus to introducing a completely new genre called object theatre, the topics were divergent, but what stayed along with me was the energy on stage they had displayed. Even after the wrap up, it was unfathomable. Unreal.

The post Art and Injustice : My Unfair Lady appeared first on FWD Life | The Premium Lifestyle Magazine |.