Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Theatre of the Absurd wikipedia , lookup
Theatre of the Oppressed wikipedia , lookup
Theater (structure) wikipedia , lookup
History of theatre wikipedia , lookup
Augsburger Puppenkiste wikipedia , lookup
Augustan drama wikipedia , lookup
Sir Thomas More (play) wikipedia , lookup
Theatre of France wikipedia , lookup
TALKING THEATRE Indira Parthasarathy, renowned author of plays, short stories and novels in Tamil, and recipient of the Padma Shri, writes on plays, playwrights and theatre-related issues in this bimonthly column Of Shakespeare and Kalidasa I t was only in 1789, when Sir William Jones published an English translation of Kalidasa’s Abhijnanasakuntala, under the title The Recognition of Sakuntala, that the outstanding German poet and playwright Goethe (17491832), influenced and inspired by this celebrated Sanskrit play, wrote his first scene in Faust, a fact he duly acknowledged. Speaking of Kalidasa’s genius, Goethe wrote: ‘Wouldst thou the young year’s blossoms and fruits of its decline And all by which the soul is charmed, enraptured and fed? Wouldst thou the earth and heaven itself in one sole combine I name thee, O Sakuntala, and all at once is said.’ There is no evidence to show that Europe was acquainted with Sanskrit or plays written in Sanskrit before the 18th century. But, while reading Shakespeare, it comes to us as a revelation that there is much in common to the theatre techniques found in his plays and ancient Sanskrit theatre. In the Indian theatrical heritage as well as in Shakespeare’s plays, there was a vibrant, collaborative partnership between the spectators and the performers. As the latter ventured to paint the scenes through words and Kalidasa and Shakespeare gestures, the former visualised them through the eyes of their imagination, helping a dynamic progress of dramatic action on the stage in the background of multiple scene-setting that materialised at one and the same time. Word and action constitute an intrinsic part of Sanskrit theatre as well as Shakespeare plays. It is very difficult to separate one from the other. In their well-integrated togetherness, they project before our mind’s eye a canvas of visual pictures. This can be illustrated by comparing one scene from Sudraka’s Mricchakatika with one from Shakespeare’s King Lear. In Mricchakatika, Mathura, a game stall-keeper and a gambler chase Samvahaka, a masseur. The masseur enters the stage, hurriedly pushing the curtain aside. Samvahaka: Mathura and the gambler are looking for me elsewhere. Let me walk backwards to enter the deserted icon-less temple and impersonate the god. The stage direction following the words requires a series of pantomime movements. The two pursuers enter the stage a little later. They look around and their attention is focused on the footprints. They already know that there is no idol in the temple and look at each other wondering who could have gone to the temple. No dialogue, just gestures. Their surprise on finding the footprints in the reverse direction 45 z SRUTI May 2011 TALKING THEATRE is evident on their faces. Following the footprints, they enter the temple. They are shocked by the presence of an icon. Samvahaka stands motionless like a statue. Mathura and the gamester go around him in pantomime movements examining him carefully. Samvahaka stands frozen and although, they know it is not a statue, they pretend to play his game. the machinations of his illegitimate son Edmund. The repentant Gloster is unaware that Edgar is the son, whom he has disowned. Edgar feigns lunacy and Gloster takes him for a madman. There are two actors on the stage, one playing a blind man and the other a lunatic. They walk together. It is a bare stage. Gloster: When shall I come to the top of that same hill? Mathura: Is this made of wood? Gambler: No, it is made of stone. Edgar: You do climb up it now; look, how we labour. They shake him but he continues to stand frozen. Edgar Mathura: Let it be. Let us play dice. They start gambling to tempt him. With great mental resolution, Samvahaka stands unmoved but gradually he is unable to overcome his weakness. He joins them and they immediately catch hold of him to demand the money he owes them. This scene reads like an occurrence in modern absurdist theatre. Dialogue, movements and gestures are all acted in a stylistic fashion to heighten the drama. In Shakespeare’s King Lear, Gloster wants to throw himself over the cliffs of Dover into the sea after his eyes have been gouged out. In Sanskrit theatre and in Shakespeare’s plays, geography never seems to be a big deal. The characters can transcend the sea or mountain by their sheer body language and expansive gestures which stand out more eloquent than the electronic stage tricks of the modern era. Gloster is led by his son Edgar, whom he has earlier cut off due to 46 z SRUTI May 2011 breathes heavily. Gloster: Methinks, the ground is even. Edgar: Horrible steep! Hark, do you hear the sea? Gloster: No, truly. As in Sudraka’s play, the text itself provides the stage directions. Gloster walks leaning on Edgar for support and the latter lifts his feet high, pretending to walk uphill. Gloster also lifts his feet to climb the hill. It is the sum and substance of pantomime theatre. Gloster and Edgar It makes sense if the whole scene is enacted on a flat and level stage. Edgar, as one feigning madness, must adopt the right gestures. A madman leads a blind man and talks him into believing in a non-existent cliff. Soon follows another landscape. As in Sanskrit theatre, geography is sketched through word-painting and appropriate gestures in Shakespeare’s plays. A few words, and the diffused, soft afternoon light at the Globe changes into night, evening or morning. The landscape is now just a score for the pantomime. Gloster and Edgar have reached the top of the hill. Appropriate elaborate dramatic gestures by Edgar are reflexively replicated by his father. The landscape is now below them. Edgar: Give me your hand – you are now within a foot Of the extreme verge; for all beneath the moon Would I not leap upright! Gloster jumps and feels convinced that he has reached the bottom of the cliff. The miming reaches the climax. Gloster: But have I fall’n, or no? Edgar: From the dread summit of this chalky bourn, Look up a-height - the shrill-gorg’d lark so far Cannot be seen or heard, do but look up! The miming creates a scenic area, the top and bottom of the cliff, the precipice. The spectators also participate in this grand vision and a most realistic and concrete landscape created by making use of all the means of anti-illusionist theatre! TALKING THEATRE COURTESY: NANDINI RAMANI Dushyanta and the charioteer in a scene from Sakuntalam presented by Samskrita Ranga (1986) The scene of the suicidal leap is a mime. Mime is a performance of symbols. through skilful pantomime movements and remarkable wordpainting. In Sakuntala, the opening scene starts with a hermit grove and Dushyanta, the king is hotly pursuing a gazelle on a chariot. The poor animal is desperately running for its dear life almost flying in the air. As soon as the king’s chariot reaches a rugged ground, the charioteer slows down and the animal goes out of sight. A little later, as they reach a smooth surface, the horses in the chariot gallop fast ‘as the green steeds of Indra’. ‘Because of the hectic speed of the chariot, that which is minute in appearance acquires magnitude; that which is cut in the middle appears, as it were joined; that, which by nature is crooked appears straight to the eyes, nothing is distant from me for a moment nor near me,’ goes Dushyanta’s commentary, coupled with exquisite acting. They get the gazelle within bowshot. The whole action takes place on an empty stage enacted by two actors (Dushyanta and the charioteer) The bare stage is now filled with trees and galloping horses, a gazelle is on its fastest course and the forest scenes appear and disappear one after the other. The literary word becomes a dramatic word to smoothly fill in the role of a delightful scenic ambience that holds a visual conversation with the spectators without the interference of physical sets. 47 z SRUTI May 2011