|
|
| CULTURE & SOCIETY |
|
THEATRE |
|
Rewind ’n’ play: Memories do an individual make
The Hoshruba Repertory’s production of Krapp’s Last Tape is celebratory proof of the fact that adaptations need not limit the scope of creativity, writes Susmita Saha
 |
Photos: Garima Jain |
|
“When I first laid my hands on Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, everything went over my head. I had to read the play thrice before anything registered,” admits Danish Husain candidly, who has launched his new film and theatre company The Hoshruba Repertory with Manu Sikander Dhingra and Sourabh Ratnu. The repertory’s moniker derived from Tilism-e Hoshruba, a section in the Urdu text Dastan-e-Amir Hamza, is used as content in Husain and Mahmood Farooqi’s celebrated production Dastangoi.
“What else does a reader do when Beckett provides no references or back stories to fall back on,” he asks after the final rehearsal of the show, which debuted at the Stein Auditorium at India Habitat Centre on 25 March.
A performer as animated as he is engaging, Husain has plumbed the depths of Beckett’s world not only through his readings of the play but also by collating biographical details of the dramatist and scrounging for articles that scrutinised earlier performances. In his adaptation of the Irish playwright’s one-act play, Husain has used Beckett’s symbolism of light and darkness, autobiographical references to his relationships with women, allusions to his childhood singing memories and imageries of eyes.
Yet, this English and Urdu production is a celebratory proof that adaptations need not limit the scope of creativity. “Rather than being superfluous or jarring, I wanted the changes to be organic and integral to the theme of the original version,” he says, explaining why he wanted to stay true to Beckett’s vision.
However, there are several structural transformations that cement Husain’s reputation as a forceful theatre personality and a performer of stature. While there’s just one person onstage in Beckett’s script, Husain has introduced a second actor to inject the performance with theatrical energy. “The memory of the protagonist is projected on another individual in this project, allowing me to play around with the script,” points out Husain.
There are other shifts from the original as well. Urdu poetry, dialogues and names of individuals address a contemporary audience as opposed to the original Irish idioms and sayings. A song crooned by Krapp has been replaced with some dark Afzal Ahmed Syed poetry while Faiz and Persian poems from Tilism-e-Hoshruba act as substitutes for Beckett’s eye imageries.
Names of literary works and characters too are familiarised in a similar fashion. Krapp’s obsession with Effie, the central character of the eponymous book has been transformed into Chashm Haayash, Buzurg Alvi’s Persian novel. Urdu names conjure up a new world where Bianca is Suraiya and Kedar Street—an anagram of darke, meaning black in Hebrew—conveniently becomes Katra Siyahposh or a neighbourhood of people clothed in black.
Krapp’s Last Tape, which premiered in 1958 at the Royal Court Theatre, London, is a morbid drifting of the central character into old age and obscurity. A sense of self-disenchantment lies at the heart of the drama, compelling the geriatric protagonist to review his life through memories recorded on tapes. The action is set in the den of the 69-year-old Krapp but is relocated recurrently to a space inhabited by him as a 39-year-old. The theatrical displacement of the self takes place through tape-recorded memories amassed over the years.
There’s admirable acting by Husain as the weary old Krapp with a disoriented mop of grey hair. A sartorial contrast is created through his black waistcoat and trousers with white shoes and shirt. He portrays the air of complete resignation with artistry. A harder edge to the character brought by years of self-analysis is underlined through bouts of mirthless laughter. Husain, who has invested his story-teller’s act in Dastangoi with an incredible engagement, is a treat to watch. The play trains a spotlight on his versatile interests ranging from poetry and acting to story-telling.
Young Krapp, played by Sahil Farooqui, draws attention too. Armed with a degree in Fine Arts from Emerson College, Boston, he captures vividly the self-important tone of a man who’s obsessed with the play of darkness and light. With a keen interest in the Delhi theatre scene, Farooqui returned home last year and has since enacted his immigrant experience in a solo performance titled A Brown Monkey Goes To McDonald’s. “The younger Krapp has a different energy than the wreck he has become now. They are two different individuals and it’s a challenging exercise to portray that,” he says.
Beckett’s play is the scan of a man who’s been dealt out a calamitous predicament. Under Husain’s direction, the play achieves contemporary resonance and transforms into an unsettling interaction between the past and the present. The final flourish is added by way of sliding the worktables of both the Krapps towards each other till they become a single unit. The memory and the individual finally merge into one.
Susmita Saha is a Features Correspondent with Tehelka.
Editing by Debashree Majumdar |
