Expressions — Cultural chaat

After seeing Karna, directed by Heisnam Kanhailal, I felt truly elated. The dance sequences, sculpted scenes, gut-level performances, all appealed at a very organic level. Later, while talking with the festival director Divya Bhatia, I learnt about the non-verbal dramaturgical style of the Kalakshetra Manipur group — one that focuses on primal feelings, often evoking spiritual responses.

Kanhailal has been at the vanguard of the experimental theatre movement, discovering an alternate theatre using the rich Manipuri indigenous performing arts and culture as a springboard. His `Theatre for the Ritual of Suffering’ is an original way of looking at the arts. In a book, documenting the work, he writes, "When we have pain, we get the means to overcome it.

The project ventures towards materialising this human experience in theatre… locating this human experience in a historical context to relive a holy experience." In our city, with bedroom farces still doing the rounds, such a theatre gives one much to think about.

Stretched out

The two Hindi plays seen last week were less stimulating though. Perhaps a shortage of good scripts has prompted directors to adapt scripts from other media. Khel Khel Mein and Do Qaume, directed by Sunil Shanbag, stretched the short story — one by Milan Kundera and the other by Hassan Sadat Manto — to its theatrical limits. Although there was considerable narrative finesse, one left the theatre feeling that the stories were better left in the book.

The page-to-stage surgery shows up especially in the quality of the dialogue. Naya Theatre’s Jis Lahore Nahi Dekhya Woh Janmyaee Nahi set in pre-Independence India, turned out to be predictable. Veteran director Habib Tanvir is well-known for more original work. The Prithvi theatrical feast continues and another at the Nehru Centre is underway.

Beyond language

AT the panel discussion on `Translations and Issues of Cultural Sensibility’ sponsored by the Asiatic Society, it was quite unnerving to hear that English translations of major regional writers like Vasudevan Nair may sell less than a hundred copies each ! According to Meenakshi Mukherjee, a well-known literary critic, in times when Indo-English books are regularly `marketed as products’, novels which are translated are not promoted at all. Though there are a few exceptions like Samskara, the classic by U R Anantha Murthy.

Dilip Chitre, also a key speaker, enlivened the meet with his punch lines such as: `Tradition has no space and time’, `Literature travels beyond language’ and `Translations can be more important than creative writing’. According to him, translations from Marathi to English are a form of self-defence, an attempt to preserve the culture for the future generations. For all of us involved with translating, that is a big motivation.

The general feeling, following an animated discussion, was that awareness about translations need to be increased via the media, which usually tends to focus on original Indo-English work while ignoring the former. And indeed it does. But then on the other hand, there is the problem of poor translations and distribution. However, publishers like Seagull Books, who have a strong presence at the Prithvi Festival with their excellent translations of plays, may change the picture. MacMillan too has launched a major project with quality translations of novels from all Indian languages.

The Last Word

Said Ms Vulture to Ms Culture: A prominent director has been quoted thus:"I’ve to base my plays on myths, ethnicity or else no one will take notice of me…" If directors think in terms of a slot won’t creativity be all but lost?