Waltz with Basheer

The play combines two of Basheer’s stories,The Love Letter and The Card-sharper’s Daughter. While in the first a Hindu boy falls for his Christian landlord’s daughter,the other story has love blossom between the daughter of a cardsharper,and a pickpocket. “Both these love stories play themselves out with unexpected twists and turns,all laced with Basheer’s sparkling wit and irrepressible humour,” says director Rajiv Krishnan.

A look at Prithvi Theatre calendar reveals that there is more of Basheer in store in the coming week—from December 15 to 20. Perch also brings its play Sangathi Arinhya! (Have you heard!) to this theatre hub. This is an adventurous mix of seven stories by Basheer—all different,but with a common vein of love,humour and pathos running through them. And the connecting link in this literary concoction—laid out in a non-linear narrative—is the character of Basheer himself,who plays narrator,participant and witness in turn.

For those who want to acquaint themselves more with the author and his work,two films,My Name is Basheer,directed by Anushka Meenakshi,and Basheer Enna Manushan (Basheer the Man) directed by M A Rahman,will be screened on December 20 at 11 am. “The aim of our week-long event at Prithvi Theatre is to make Basheer accessible to a wider audience,” says Krishnan,artistic director of Perch,which was formed in 2006.

The plays were first performed in Chennai as part of the festival—Under the Mangosteen Tree-100 Years of Basheer—in January 2008. Since then,truncated versions of the festival have travelled to different parts of India. It was Krishnan,who has always been fascinated with Basheer’s stories,and who came up with the idea of celebrating the author’s birth centenary. “Basheer’s writing gives a lot of possibility for theatre,through his storytelling,characters and situation. Still,there was challenge to how take the essence of the story and use it in our plays,” says Krishnan.

While Moonshine and Skytoffee was easy with simple narrative,giving shape to Sangathi Arinhya! has been a more challenging exercise. “We took six months to ready Sangathi Arinhya! which combines seven of his stories,” recalls the 43-year-old director.