Desert Rose

Describing the play as a Baisakhi gift to Chandigarh,Arun has teamed up with her 29-year-old theatre group,Surnai’s long-time director KK Raina for this production,which is her ninth adaptation and one that was commissioned for the Delhi Ibsen Festival two years ago. Ironically,after reading most of Ibsen’s plays,Arun zeroed in on The Lady from the Sea,which is set near the sea to take the story to the sands of Rajasthan,for she felt this was the story she could do justice to in this tradition. “The desert used to be a sea once and I minutely studied the characters,metaphors and references to create a new story with the geography,language,costumes and psyche of another culture. But in spite of it all,Mareechika is about Ibsen’s creativity. So the structure of the original is sacrosanct,” says Arun. The play,according to her,brings to stage many moods,shades and essentially the importance of a woman’s desire,her various colours and a woman’s voice. For Raina,the co-direction,he admits gave him a new perspective to appreciate the way music is used to highlight the text. “It seems the play was written in Rajasthan,” says Raina.

Ibsen’s The Lady from the Sea is essentially the story of Ellida,a lighthouse keeper’s daughter married to an older man,her desire for a sailor she was engaged to and her conflicts with the relationships. Arun creates a storyboard and draws the narrative from the Rajasthani folk form. “Two storytellers narrate folk hero,Pabuji’s adventures with the help of a phad or a painting on a long roll of cloth,” says Arun,who adds that they did a workshop with these folk performers to get closer to impart authenticity to the creations. Arun describes how the bhopi moves forward and backward by highlighting her lantern on that part of the painted scroll which the bhopa is singing about. In Mareechika,Arun plays the bhopi,who urges her husband to recite from a phad called “Ibsenji Ki Phad”. Her daughter Ishitta Arun,plays the lead role of Rampyari and confesses that the play gave her a chance to identify with her roots. “My strong connection with Rajasthan made me work with a cast of 32 to create something unique,as I go beyond forms to incorporate customs,colours and traditions of Rajasthan,” says Ishitta. Music is one of the highlights of the play,with Arun writing and singing the songs,along with folk singers and musicians. Ghoomar dance,Rajasthan’s chari dancers and Kutchi ghodi (wooden horse),Arun will use it all on stage.

Mareechika will be staged on April 12 at the Tagore Theatre at 7 pm. Passes available on a first-come first serve basis at Tagore Theatre