Hilda,Hilda,Hilda the unexpected,maniacal laughter that followed this chatty,cheerful voice,was enough to send a chill down anyones spine. Mrs. Lemarchard,the owner of the voice,fits the stereotype of an upper class woman rich,lonely and looking for love,something she knows she can never find. In the sad story of her life,money which she has in abundance is her only weapon. The bored wife ends up weaving a messy web,entrapping herself and two unsuspecting victims. Hilda,a 70-minute Hindi play adapted from French-Senegalese playwright Marie N Diayes work of the same name,opened to a packed house on Tuesday at National School of Dramas (NSD) Sammukh Auditorium. It follows the story of Lemarchard,who is in search of a perfect nanny. She hears of Hilda,the beautiful wife of her carpenter,Frank,and makes it her ultimate goal to hire her. The story unfolds through a series of conversations between Lemarchard and Frank from Lemarchard persuading Frank into letting his wife work for her,to her ill-treating Hilda and in the end,making Hilda leave Frank. Lemarchards desire to manipulate and satiate her boredom ends up destroying Frank,Hilda and their family. NSD alumnus Geeta Guha,who plays the infamous role of Lemarchard,managed to hold her character through the performance awkward in the beginning and sinister towards the end. She also managed to earn the audiences sympathy. Lemarchard is only looking for a friend and a confidante but her desire to manipulate turns things ugly, said director Prashasan S Malthiar,also an NSD alumnus. Malthiar,who also works as a sets and lights designer,added that the strongest point of his play is its three-member cast. Besides Guha,Teekam Joshi was excellent as Frank suffocated by the web of manipulation that Lemarchard spins around him. Joshi,whose character is mild at the outset,becomes agitated as he realises he is losing his wife. The audience couldnt help feeling for the wronged party and as he held Lemarchard by the neck and showered her with a few choice curses scattered applause punctuated this sombre scene. Her eyes,her long tresses,shy smile and sweet voice Hilda is the epitome of perfection. There is much build-up to the enigma that Hilda is and the audience patiently waits for her appearance throughout the performance. Its only towards the end of the play,when Anshul Chauhan,who plays Hildas sister Corrine,steps in to help Frank that we realise that Hilda is a character which is up to the audience to imagine. She never appears on stage.
