COMMITTMENT OF THEATRE ART

Committment of Theatre Art & its Speciality
( In Respect of the Present Societal Structure & Political Leadership )
by Shaoli Mitra

Creation & Interpretation
Let Us come to the point interpretation in the arena of modern urban acting. I may depict the story of the Mahabharata, the age old classic. But should remember how to express the rlevance of the story. we must communicateits significance to the contempoary audience.Suppose some one asks 7you which way Duryodhan laughed. It is obvious that none of us got any chance to witness it. But if some one laugh in a particular fashion you immediately understand what his felling ina particular fashion you immediately understand what his feeling is about Duryodhan.The same way one can show the laughter of Shakuni.In my play Naathvati Anaathavat i ask the boys of the jurri to demonstrate the style of laughter of Shakuni. It creates fun among the audience.But when the enactment of the vastraharan episode appear what might the laughters put togather create on the stage? Does it remain a funny situation any more? it makes the spectators shiver. The Mahabharata indeed describes that the kurus made fun of the attempt of stripping a queen in the court! The KAthakar depicts and interprets the incident simultaeously.It must be mentioned no art from merely depicts the reaality. It converts phiysical reality into meta physical truth. The person who has the quest for truth is definitely an exeptional artiste.He speaks about reality and at the same time expresses rare human experiences to communicate the complexities of life.in life one has to go throgh various situation compulsions.Yet each indivisual has to deside what is right and what is wrong. in fact human civilization cannot exist wthout the sense of Virtue. The Mahabharata gives us enough scope to venture for truth as it is an Epic. It depicts the multifaceted human lives with unfathombledepth and venormous wealth of wisdom.When i narrate the story of Draupadi, it is not just to give an account of Draupadi's life, We realise the agony of the yuga through the life of the most beautiful, intelligent and educated woman of the age who had to suffer agony and humiliations over and over again. At the same time we compare Dwapar yuga to our present time through both my plays. I, as the kathakaar, very easily quotes from our renouned intellectual Buddhadev Basu,- his analysis of the epic.I incorporate sm. Iravati Karve's interpretation wiyh the same ease in the depiction of the story. The folk form assimilates them wiyh case. It has been possible,-no:1-because the from is rich and at the same time it has the sophistication in it as I mentioned before.no:2- and secodly , we must remember the basisof the stories of boyh these playes is the Mahabharata, an incomparable classic.At one point in my play, an enraged Draupadi comes to Krishna, and enquires what does Krishna think about the compromise. To let the claim on the Kingdiom go, and to ask for the five village only, that yudhisthir thinks is fair to demand. The Kathakaar assumes herself as Draupadi and says,"......This is my hair ,the very same that Dushasan had grabbed to drag me to the court. When you sit in the very same court to talk of peace and truce, may you remember my abandoned hair. May you rememberhow Dryodhan, in the same assembly , had undraped his thigh and infront of my five lords, made an indecent gesture toward me.you ought to remember all this when you speak of peace.I hope you remember how Karna and Duryodhan had bellowed out that anyone devoted to the five husbands was like a pros...! I could not believe my own ears, Krishna.I looked around me. There were so many people in the sabha, but not a word of protest came from any of them! And Duryodhan and Karna said - they actually did - she's beenwon , she will serve us too!May you remember this when you talk of truce.May you remember that Karna had said - In that sabha 'Disrobe the women before everybody in the court; we would like to watch.'And i saw Duhasashan did indeed get up and come foward ! He actually pulled at my robe !And i was wearing only single gament!All the elders were there in the assembly, but the jut sat and watched, nobody says anything at all.May you remember all this krishna..."at the end of conversation the narrotar as Draupadi asks Krishna,If i forget the humiliation inflected on me, dear friend , will it usher a Dharmarajya, the rule of virtue , into this world ? Can you promise that in the future no woman will ever be presecuted and demeaned like I was? Will my forgiveness usher in that heavenly state?.... if you could promise me this, Krishna , I would forget erytrhing.......everything...!...It is not heard to realise that there is a comment. The comment connects the women of the present age to Draupadi of Dawpar era. We remember the women who suffer similar agony and humailiation ! As we know what had happened wiyh several women of Nandigram since March 2007, and what happened in the aadivasi society of Lalgarh!But does it only speak of women? Aren't the male members of our society facing the same sort of crisis a fearful time we are living in? Isn't it a time when every moment the spirit of the individual is being insulted?It is important to get the artistes' comment on the Society they are living in, through theatre or any artform for that matter. It is also necessary to raise relevant questions about the civilization . It reveals the artiste's committment toward his society. We understand that a civilized society to reinstitute the moral values. It is unfortunate and scaring the way politicalpower uses the powerless, the way the rich utilises the poor.To think about our time,- isn't it queer, when we call the earth a global village, we keep the highest budget to buy weapons to kill people? Shouldn't we question the justification behind behind maintaining double standard?If we rember what has happening in iraq for the last 4/5 years how do we react? if we remember what has been continuously happenning? Don't we that something is very very worng with this civilization and its norms?We know we had to pay a heavy price for the atom bomb targeted to the common people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That was in 1945.Should we remember that the soldiers who returned to America after the gulf war in '90-s gave birth to 40,000 deform childern? The childern and their mothers had no connection wiith the war whatsover! Still it happened ! Because the soldiers were affected by weapons useed in the war. This is the reality we are living in.The greed for power knows no limit!Theatre cannot solve these problems. Neither does it have the strenth to change the world. It can merely raise the vital questions that are imporant for our existence. We fell that is the need of the hour. we, each of us , should try to protest against the inertia that takes the lead role now for the so called development of civial society.In the end of my play katha Amritasamaan the Kathakar announces the end of the era. She recites a shloka from the Mahabharata by the poet vyasa, Atikranta sukhah Kaalah,poryupasthita darunah,Shwah ahwah papishtha divasahPrithivi gatayauvana
The earth is a woman past her prime the end of era draws nigh.Dharma shall be gone ,sins multuply,the whole world shall despair.*
The world, so beautiful oyherwise, becomes aspace for weaponeries to kill people. Nature is being polluted , so are the people ! Ww, the common people ,are forced to live in a society of distortion . The society that is fast losing its moral values.In the midst of all these cruelties we can only pray for a beeter world,
Let all the sins be wiped out!Let the sky be clean!Let the wind is poor!Let the earth be free of sorrow!Let the Humanity live!*We, hope that leadership in future will never let us down.We ,earnestly desire - our new generation will not let our time face a catastrophic end.We ,hope that the yought re-discovers the sence of morality and finds out what it means.We, quietly wait for the mankind to rise against the Evil.We, from the darkness around us, pray for light . Lights!*The shloka and the prayer is rendred by the Kathakaar of my second play katha Amritasaman. English version of the play has been named as "Timeless Tales". The translators of the play are Ipshita Chandra and Moushumi Bhowmik.