Angrezi play with a desi perspective

The stage seems to be dominated by adapted classics of late. Ranga Shankara’s Naa Tukaram Alla was based on Herb Gardner’s I’m Not Rappoport, Aneka’s Arere Kunhirama was based on Molière’s That Scoundrel Scapin and even The Blue Mug starring Konkana Sen, Ranvir Shorey et al was adapted from Oliver Sack’s The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. Adaptations of foreign scripts form a large part of theatre productions today but what is amazing is how the troupes localise the play, make it contemporary and add an Indian flavour to make it their own. Is this what make the classics appealing to Bengaluru’s young theatre crowd?

“I am all for the adaptation of foreign classics,” says Deepanjan Dey of Dramanon, an English theatre group in the city. “Young theatre goers in Bengaluru have not been exposed to these classics and we would never get a chance to read or watch them if it weren’t for these adaptations. It must be a challenge to adapt a foreign script and make the audience relate to it. For instance, in The Blue Mug, Ranvir Shorey plays a Jat with a typical Haryanvi accent. An American book like Oliver Sack’s The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat has been so beautifully picked up and placed in the hinterland of India,” he adds.

Foreign plays too lend themselves to interesting local adaptations. “These classics are time tested and their appeal endures through the ages,” says director Suresh Anagalli of Aneka. “The theme of the play remains the same — of relationships and human conflicts. Only the situation has to be localised. That Scoundrel Scapin is set on a seashore, so I place it between Kundapur and Kasaragod. Scapin becomes Kunhirama, and our characters speak the Mangalore dialect,” says Anagalli who has also adapted Molière’s The Would-Be Gentleman and plans to bring out two more adaptations soon, one of Molière’s The Miser and one of Russian playwright Evgeny Schwartz’s The Dragon.

Theatre enthusiasts have a lot more to look forward to, says a spokesperson for Ranga Shankara. “Manav Kaul’s Hindi play Antaheen, which is based on Jean-Paul Sartre’s In Camera, will be staged this Friday. In August, Mashaal will perform Maut Ke Saaye Mein, based on Sartre’s Men Without Shadows, at Alliance Francaise. Anurag Kashyap’s The Skeleton Woman, (based on American Clarissa Pinkola Estés’s book Women Who run with the Wolves) is also coming to Bengaluru.”

An adaptation is a more interesting way to present a classic, rather than enacting it as it is, opines Nandini Rao of Yours truly Theatre. “Indian actors doing a French play in French costumes and speaking in French accents would have worked brilliantly a few years ago. But today, our audience is well-read, and well-travelled. It would be that much more difficult to make an original foreign play believable,” she says. Yours Truly also has Kannada adaptations to its credit, including Molière’s The Flying Doctor and The Imaginary Invalid. “Molière’s plays are very easy to adapt in India because his characters are so melodramatic. However, it would be nice if similar effort could be put into exploring our own Bengali, Marathi or Punjabi plays,” she adds.