Journalism of Courage
Memory plays tricks in The Blue Mug,a play that stars Konkona Sen Sharma and Ranvir Shorey
Circa 1985,neurologist Oliver Sacks delivered a surprise bestseller with The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Talesa compilation of some of his patients the case histories. Two decades later,Atul Kumar devised a play The Blue Mug inspired by The Lost Mariner,one of the essays in the book,that stirred the Mumbai theatre-goers. The founder of the Company Theatre Workspace intends to renew that experience with the revival of the play.
Shorey essays the central character of Jimmie G,who has lost the ability to form new memories due to Korsakoffs syndrome. He can remember nothing of his life since his demobilisation at the end of WWII,including events that happened only a few minutes ago. His girlfriend Sen Sharma plays doctor while the rest of the cast help him reconstruct his memory. Playing Jimmie G was my first professional theatre appearance, says Shorey who is reprising the role. He finds this role tougher than his more popular clown character in C for Clown.
Who you are is so dependant on what you remember, says Kapoor as he talks about how the book has touched him. Though the play is based on his story,Kumar feels that elements from the other 23 other essays of the books have pervaded into the play.
With this production,which comes after Hair and Hamlet-The Clown Prince,the Company Theatres inclination toward devised plays becomes even more pronounced. We dont want to work with scripts which are alien to us. We want to continue with this journey till we get bored, says Kumar. Actor-director Kapoor shares his views. We dont want to do plays which are written by someone in another time. Regarding Hair and Hamlet,he says that the fairytale of Rapunzel and Shakespeares play respectively served as starting points for them. Hamlet is a completely different play of clowns trying to stage the original play, says Kapoor,who is acting on stage after a long gap and enjoying the high it gives.
For the play that boasts of a star-studded cast,Kumar had blocked their dates nearly six months ago. Before the play premiered at Rangashankara,Bengaluru,they had a three-day residency programme,followed by rehearsals. These sessions were dotted with debates and discussions. All team members contributed in improvising the play, says Chadha,who loves doing devised plays as much as scripted ones.
