Not long into Stage Two Theatre Society’s production of Ranjit Hoskote’s three short plays and you know that you’re in the company of a poet (more of a prose poet in this case) than that of a playwright. The three plays- THE LAST ANNAL OF ALAMGIR, KARNA and AFTERMATH are not only dense with metaphor but are also more like character studies that are perhaps best read than performed. They find their dramatic space through the use of monologue, dialogue and soliloquy but in totality, become long and winding representations of historical, mythological and literary characters.
THE LAST ANNAL OF ALAMGIR takes off from Emperor Aurangzeb’s final days. The ailing and defeated Emperor is lonely and considerably weakened by his war with the Marathas in the Deccan. Hoskote’s piece emerges as an interior monologue of a powerful man reflecting on the past that is behind him and of the imminent death that he has to face. In an attempt to not pin down the character or study him in a solely historical context, Hoskote makes scattered contemporary references but they don’t lead to any compelling insight.
At best the piece becomes a reflection on the tyranny of old age itself where power in all senses is a thing of the past. In this twilight zone one is left to grapple with one’s own memories and failures. The dying Emperor is being observed by an angel; she knows him well but even she cannot redeem him from his pain and the delusion that is setting in.
KARNA, the second play picks up an episode from the Sanskrit play Karnabharam by Bhasa. Here Karna, the glorious but cursed warrior of the Mahabharata is deceived by the God Indra into giving up his protective armour. Hoskote dwells on Karna’s psychology to present a portrait of a subdued man burdened by his past. His charioteer Shalya urges him to shake off his melancholic thoughts and not to be taken in by Indra. Yet Karna knowingly seals his fate. Karnabharam has often been performed and one of its best known productions in the tradition of dance theatre is by the Kerala based K. Narayana Panikkar. Hoskote’s play to that effect has nothing new to reveal. It makes use of the familiar theatrical device of making the audience aware that it is watching a play but this idea remains at the level of a device that is not suitably explored for any number of interesting possibilities that it holds.
AFTERMATH, the last in this trilogy of plays brings together six characters from history, mythology and fiction. The 19th century poet Mirza Ghalib is the leading character here. He finds himself amidst a group of other characters such as Ghandhari, Indra, Shahid, Sleeper and Lost. All these characters, including Ghalib are left with their own, fragmented narratives and are haunted by the ghosts of their past. This piece has potential but it becomes almost tedious in the long passages that are literally read by Tom Alter’s Ghalib. In its repetitive references to the violent images that one can associate with communal riots in India, there is a poignancy that the piece evokes but it doesn’t hold for long.
There is something however to be said about director Avaan Patel who also acts in two of these three plays. She gives a fitting performance as an angel in the LAST ANNAL OF ALMAGIR; her voice being her biggest asset. She however seems a little out of place as Ghandhari in AFTERMATH and looks as if she is transported to Victorian England. Tom Alter’s ALAMGIR on the other hand is mannered but the character slowly grows on the actor as the play proceeds. For someone who is racked by self-doubt and who is acutely aware of being on the edge, Gerish Khemani plays an unusual Karna. He is supported by Vivek Tandon’s Shalya whose accent is more obvious than the character itself. Vijay Verma’s Indra has a comic effect in KARNA while in AFTERMATH he finds himself in the shoes of the same character, confronting Ghandhari. Danesh Khambata’s Shahid in AFTERMATH has a couple of nice lines and the flute that he plays in both KARNA and AFTERMATH enhances the ambience of the plays.
The minimalist set design by Dhanendra Kawade goes well with the texture of the three plays. For movement Avaan consulted Sanjukta Wagh and Gulshirin Dubash and that has worked pretty well for her character as an angel in the LAST ANNAL OF ALAMGIR. The simple yet effective movement provides the much-needed break from the monotony of the overall design of the piece.
Hoskote’s poetic prose luxuriates in the words it is made of. Its metaphors are evocative in places. There is beauty as well as irony to be found in it. Yet it is not resonating enough. This point becomes all the more pertinent given the medium that Hoskote has chosen to express himself with.
*The writer is Editor of this site, a theatre critic and an academic keenly interested in Theatre & Performance Studies.
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