Saga of journeys and change

'Outcaste Eternal', an adaptation of a novel into dance theatre, proved to be an enriching experience, transforming itself into many colours. Performed by a multi-racial team, the actors had to transform themselves to play their respective roles. VASANTHI SANKARANARAYANAN on the fusion of different art forms - in this case, theatre, dance and music.

"PERMIT me to go," says Nambyattan, a character in "Outcaste Eternal", a dance theatre performance staged in Singapore last April. The script is based on the English translation titled "Outcaste" of a Malayalam novel, Brashtu by Matampu Kunhukuttan. Another character, Paptikutty, the protagonist of the novel and the dance theatre also says, "Let me go." Both are about to embark on a journey - one as a wandering mendicant and the other as an unknown, outcaste orphan, protected only by the darkness of the night.

For me too, it was a journey, a long journey covering a span of five years or even longer.

It all began in 1994 when I submitted a proposal to translate Brashtu. Recreating the lyrical prose without diluting its power, finding equivalents to Sanskrit words and a dialect specifically used by Namboodiris and constructing the layered and multi- dimensional structure of the novel was not easy.

The novel came out in 1996. (The book is selling well and has been accepted as a non-detailed text for the Bharatidasan University, Tamil Nadu). I thought that that was the end of my connection with "Outcaste" and the protagonist "Paptikutty", with whom I emphathise at a very deep and intense level.

But, Paptikutty refused to let me go. After finishing her mission of revenge, a woamn who had once asked to be left alone to go away from her native place, Kerala, had other plans. In May 1998 a dancer from Singapore, Nirmala Seshadri approached us for a copyright to perform "Outcaste" as a dance theatre. Reluctantly, I agreed.

Paptikutty is an unusual character. When raped and humiliated on the eve of her nuptials by her husband's brother, she refused to cave in and be one more victim to patriarchal assertions and brutalities; instead, she used the female body which was subjected to domination and defilement, to wreak revenge on her tormentors, the upper class men of the highly restrictive and oppressive society of Kerala in the early part of the 20th Century. She seduced men of 64 upper class families, kept evidence of the sexual acts through souvenirs given by the lovers or remembered birthmarks.

When she was tried for infidelity and was about to be made an outcaste she argued effectively that her partners in crime, the men who slept with her, should also be treated the same way. The canonical investigators could not raise any argument against her infallible logic and as a result 64 men were isolated from society. This created an intellectual void in the social and political arenas of Kerala. Most of the earlier social reforms of Kerala can be traced to this earth-shaking event orchestrated by Paptikutty.

She did get an honourable mention in the novel of Matampu Kunhukuttan, who relayed her story in a sympathetic and understanding manner. But, neither the literatti nor the establishment, which maintained a predominantly male outlook, gave this act of Paptikutty any serious mention or consideration. Even now, in Kerala, people - men and women - would prefer to sweep this historic event under the carpet. Others who read the English version would like to look upon the event as a "hasty act" of an impulsive and lone woman. Therefore, I was always wary of anyone who wanted to recreate Paptikutty's story on stage.

Nirmala convinced me that she, like me, understood the predicament of Paptikutty and may be able to relate to her special act of revenge. She had come from Singapore to do research and chose a theme on "Shakti". She told me, "I found out that while the female energy was worshipped as Shakti, the reality pertaining to women was very different. In actual life, women are neglected, marginalised and subjugated by a dominant patriarchal system. So, I was not happy with any of the Shakti themes as they did not reflect this disparity between the concept and the reality."

It was her friend Maggie Thomas who suggested the book Outcaste as a possible theme. On reading it, she could relate to it at a very personal and artistic level and hence her visit to Macmillan seeking copyright. Thus began our collaboration to create this dance theatre, "Outcaste Eternal".

Adapting a novel to theatre, and that too to dance theatre was not an easy job. Those sequences which should be included for dramatisation and those which should be omitted posed a problem. Outcaste, even though it is the story of Paptikutty, has subtexts, each following its own momentum and at times joining the confluence of Paptikutty's story. We found out that relating all the subtexts would not be possible as we would end up with a three hour long script. It would also be very confusing to the audience if we were not able to explain the relevance of the subtexts. So, we decided to include only two or three of the subtexts, which could be directly related to Paptikutty.

The next problem was the order in which the script had to be written. Do we follow the chronological order and continuity of the theme (expressing the Aristotelian concept of theatre- introduction establishment of the theme), development, climax and resolution?

The easiest way would have been following the order of the text itself, starting with the childhood of Paptikutty and ending with her trial to be isolated and leaving Kerala. I felt that it would not have the necessary dramatic impact. We decided to begin with the "Trial" as the first act and then go on to Paptikutty's earlier history (childhood) as the second act with the society in which Paptikutty lived as the third. At the end of the third act, we would once again go back to the finale of the trial and have one more scene, "The railway station", where Paptikutty meets her two friends, bids good bye and leaves for a distant place.

The first and second acts were not too difficult. The dialogue was in the book itself, all we had to do was to assemble it in a logical manner. But the third act proved to be our nemesis. We had to relate the stories of three sets of people, the Thazhamangalam household (the example of a depraved, dominant, Namboodiri family), the Otikkan household (the example of an intellectual, saintly Namboodiri household) and Mathukutty and Nambyattan (the story of the Nair prostitute who transforms herself and her lover Nambyattan) and relate them to the story of Paptikutty. We rewrote it and gave it a fairly coherent form. Needless to say, we had to add our own commentary in between the scenes, change and chop the dialogue to bring in more clarity. In August, I went to Singapore to conduct a workshop for the actors and actresses.

The actors and actresses too were to be from Singapore and Nirmala herself would don the role of Paptikutty. She had not had any previous experience in theatre, however, she agreed to take it up as a challenge. She advertised and called for an audition.

While we were writing the script, we had to bear in mind the fact that this was not going to be just theatre, but a dance theatre, wherein dance would be given an equal place along with drama. Many a time the argument would crop up that the scope for dance was not adequate. At the same time we did not want to use dance as it was performed during the solo recitals. Only movements were to be used as fragmented bits to express heightened emotion in a stylised way.

We made a decision to use the classical dance form of Bharatanatyam as Nirmala herself was proficient in this form and the folk dances of Kerala, to give the whole performance a touch of Kerala, where the story took place. In the trial scene, we deviated from the text and included enactments of scenes which led to Paptikutty's revenge as flashbacks. The "Past" was shown through stylised dance movements and the "present" through theatrical dialogues. The bridal chamber beginning with Paptikutty's expectations as a bride, her subsequent rape by her brother-in-law and her transformation as a goddess of revenge gave ample scope for using lyrics and movements pertaining to Bharatanatyam. Similarly, her seduction of Pachu Otikkan of the Otikkan house and attempt to seduce Chematiri, her own guru also was enacted through dance.

The dances in the second act were folk dances, adaptations from the "Kaikottikkali" and "Kummi" of Kerala. The intelligent inclusion of certain Malay dance movements in the Kaikottikkali gave it a new and languorous look. In the third act there were two dances, again an adaptation of movements from Bharatanatyam. The actors, especially the male actors chosen were Chinese, Malay, and Indonesian.

During the workshop, our main attempt was to explain cultural specificities underlying the plot and to convince the actors that the mode of a dance theatre, different from pure dance or pure theatre, was workable. What helped the actors identify themselves with the script and their individual roles was the universal elements in the theme, such as the predicament of subjugated and dominated women, the relationships between the teacher and the student, the mother and the son, the lover and the loved.

The next question - what was the technique of acting to be adopted for this work. We chose the Theatre of Transformation, adopted in the ritualistic dance of Kerala, "Theyyam", where an actor becomes the role for the duration of the play. A real transformation from the actor to the character is attempted. The donning of headgear is the point of transformation. Only when the act is over and the headgear removed does the actor shed the role and becomes himself. The actors undergo a period of penance, observing vegetarianism, celibacy and seclusion from society to enable them to undergo this transformation. I felt that as this theme has as leit motifs, journeys and transformations, the ideal technique of theatre would be the Theatre of Transformation. It worked, because in the final performance, all the actors and actresses were not acting, but being the respective characters. Everyday during the rehearsals, they began with exercises and meditation and this must have helped them to enact this transformation.

Apart from the transformation relayed in the text, the actors had to perform another kind of transformation as each was enacting more than one role. The roles which each person enacted were not similar; therefore, they had to transform themselves between roles too; Paptikutty and Thazhamangalam Amma was done by one person; Chematiri and young Otikkan, Tundan and Akkithar, Neelan and Nambyattan, Pachu otikkan and Unni Namboodiri, King and Thazhamangalam Achan, Ritualist, Kesavan and Chemi, Ittingayya and Raman's niece - these were the dual or triple roles enacted by one person. As the persons of the characters in each group were different, the actors had to switch gear and transform themselves within the span of the play itself. We used minor costume changes and major movement and voice changes to effect the transformation.

The next major problem was music - whether to use live musicians or to approach a composer to compose a full track for the entire performance. As the music had to evoke many moods, emotions and even atmospheric changes, we thought it would be better to have a full track specially composed. Nirmala approached the famous composer, L. Vaidyanathan (elder brother of L. Subramaniam and L. Shankar) for this purpose. The music was a fusion of Eastern and Western styles, the instruments used included African drums, Chinese reed flute and Spanish guitar.

The production had many ups and downs. Some of the actors and actresses chosen dropped out, others had to be selected and trained. The group became dejected at various points as the final dates of performance were postponed. The music composition took longer than expected. Many a time the actors had to direct themselves as both Nirmala and I were in India. Special mention must be made of Roz and Man who took on the roles of directors and kept the group going. But, what is fascinating is that in spite of these problems, the core group kept meeting and rehearsing, keeping their spirits alive. Even though they are all amateurs on stage, they did their best and gave themselves wholeheartedly to this new and unfamiliar theme and the different kind of acting. Towards the end, the solidarity and the camaraderie within the group was clearly visible. As a result, we managed without a stage manager or a prompter. The actors took care of themselves, helped others and proved that a democratic way of rehearsing and staging a performance was possible.

To me this was a debut in directing theatre or dance theatre. What I learnt from this experience is that change and transformation are the essence of any good production. Experimentation not only with structure and form, but even with lighting, props and costumes is necessary to produce newer and newer forms. Nothing is impossible, just because it has not been tried before. A theme may be culture specific; but we can transform it into a universal theme, by underscoring the universal emotions and relationships and by fusing art forms such as dance and theatre.

Within the art forms itself, we can fuse various elements like combining the Malay dance movements with Kaikottikkali movements or Carnatic ragas with Western instruments. We need not always use modern theatre techniques such as alienation in order to make a production contemporary; we can use a very traditional technique like the Theatre of Transformation and bring in modernity. It is all a question of exerting and extending one's understanding of the various art forms, and their interconnectedness - in this case that of theatre, dance and music.

In the final analysis, "Outcaste" has journeyed far, transforming itself into many shapes and colours. A novel written in Malayalam was translated into English. The English novel was adapted to dance theatre. It was performed by a multiracial caste. At each stage, the people involved had to transform themselves in order to produce the transformation in the theme itself. This transformation was possible because of the mental and physical journeys that the people involved undertook. A journey always brings to fore the different aspects of life. In a journey which signifies movement, there is no scope for stagnation or repetition. Who knows what shape Avatar "Outcaste" will take when performed by a different group at a different time in a different place?

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