Girija Kalyana play review
Direction : The Bangalore based production of GIRIJA KALYANA in Kannada by Spandana theatre group was performed on 10th January 2008 at the Rabindra Natya Mandir, Mumbai during the satellite drama festival of the National School of Drama’s (NSD) golden jubilee celebrations. This play had generated special interest amongst theatre critics for more then one reason during the Prithvi Festival 2007 in Mumbai. IPTA Mumbai had presented the same script in Hindi and its production was directed by M.S. Sathyu. One wonders how M.S. Sathyu and B. Jayashree, both good directors in their own right selected a script that is quite problematic.
Starring :
M.S. Sathyu and B. Jayashree
Mangala Raghu
The story revolves around a young clever girl Girija from a village called Madepura. Like any other girl she is fascinated by films and dreams of marrying her famous matinee idol. But just before she completes her schooling, she is married off to a farmer. Young innocent Girija shares her aspirations with her husband Nani and on her behest, the couple take loan from a bank to realize their dreams. Now from here on the play takes the expected turn the news paper story. Due to the failure of crops because of a draught, Girija and her husband are unable to repay the loans. Nani commits suicide. M.S. Sathyu’s play ends on optimistic note after Nani’s death. Girija weaves new dreams for her children while B. Jayashree’s version goes further to expose the middleman and the sex hungry politician who robs Girija of whatever little she had. On the whole except for a few theatrical devices, even Jayashree’s production failed to generate interest and sensitize one to the greater human tragedy of the farmers’ plight.
The writer B. Suresha has penned more of a documentation of farmers’ suicide news and the few dramatic devices like the bank officials in the garb of vultures, or of the electronic media’s massive insensitive invasions in the personal lives of ordinary people are sensationalized. The script is more of a propaganda than a piece of theatre and in the process the whole issue of the farmers’ suicides gets trivialized. Nonetheless the play does have B. Jayashree’s touch and yet she has misplaced her theatrical acumen by using such a poor script. Every tragic news story need not necessarily stand out as a good piece of dramatic work.
The action took place in an open space with painted mud walls in the background. The centre had a motif of the tree- Kalpavriksha! There was a raised platform at both ends of the tree and all the side wings were adorned with Girija’s matinee idol. A frame symbolic of the electronic media hung in the front stage and was used in between to highlight the intrusion of the media. This aspect was exaggerated in M.S. Sathyu’s production with all the paraphernalia of the media while B. Jayashree used it with restraint. Incidentally the set of this production has also been designed by M.S. Sathyu. The lighting could have been better; costumes were appropriate for the characters. The sound and music did add interest since the artistes had strong and melodious voices. The use of folk instruments further added charm to the sound pattern.
The acting was uniformly good. The lead character of Girija was played by Mangala Raghu. The actor playing Nani, Girija’s husband had an agile body which matched the teenage boy’s playfulness. Group scenes were choreographed well and there was a natural elegance to them. The theme and events of the play are contemporary while the production’s style was rooted in traditional folk with a touch of naturalism. Thus the plot and the production pattern did not gel well!
*The writer is a senior theatre and television person who has trained under Ebrahim Alkazi at the National School of Drama (NSD). She has written for publications such as ‘The Asian Age’ and is a regular contributor to the Prithvi Theatre Newsletter (PT Notes). She also offers theatre training to students at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and is an important critical voice for the Gujarati Theatre.
