Confluence through a classic

``THE TEMPEST'' - one of the most well-known plays of Shakespeare has found many versions of presentation. Yet another version is coming to India, as part of the Indo-German Festival, inaugurated in September. The director, Pitz Holzwarth (German) and choreographer, Annette Leday (French) joined forces in 1993 to develop an inter-cultural stage approach to Shakespeare's cross- cultural piece ``The Tempest''. Shakespeare himself has shown the path by setting the stage for human beings and spirits. But Bremer Shakespeare Company and Annette Leday Company has given it a more modern setting and perspective. The setting is a far-away tropical island and the time is that of High Colonialism. In this case, if the context brings to our mind India under the British rule, it is not entirely coincidental. Shakespeare came to Indians through English education, which is one of the gifts of colonial rule. The world of the spirits, which Prospero dominates through his magical powers is the mysterious India, prior to the colonial rule. The ``magical powers'' in this case is the seduction through trade/ protection/ better civilisational practices which the British offered to India while dominating and conquering the country. The conquest had its brutal aspects, such as the Jhallianwallah Bagh, but most of it was done through promises of a better (as opposed to their perception of Indian life as savage), more rational, more modern and materially prosperous life.

In theatre technique also, it offers a combination of the East and the West. Indian dancers and Indian dance techniques (in this case Kathakali from Kerala) are used to create a magic island rich in colour and sound, inhabited by strange, powerful spirits. The West is represented through theatre (in this case the actors of Bremer Shakespeare Company). Prospero, the protagonist is the meeting point. He is the one who controls the spirits through his magical powers, staves off the attack of another invading Western group (may be representing the earlier French and Dutch colonial presence in India). He also, like the British, ruled the island with a mixture of repression and promises of eventual liberty.

There is another interesting combination that emerges. The ancient land is represented through dance, music and colour and the new forces that conquer the island is represented through the ``text'' or the ``word''. Communication in the ancient East was more through non-verbal means, while from the beginning communication in the West set a premium on verbal (textual) communication. The text is the German translation of ``The Tempest'', though English subtitles will be given.

Annette Leday, French choreographer, calls this ``an encounter of the East and the West''. She herself is the mediator between the two worlds. She has lived in Kerala for many years, learnt Kathakali, presented in India and elsewhere productions such as ``King Lear'' and ``Cinderella story'' in Kathakali style using the Kathakali actors of Kerala. When I met her at Bremen, she told me that Pitz Holzworth dreamed of working together with her and was on the lookout for a fitting text and context. ``The Tempest'' was chosen because it is a play that portrays two worlds - the ``World of Spirits'' and the ``World of the Aristocrats''. It is also in Annette's words ``an encounter of two identities - the ancient and the modern, the ``nature bound'' and the industrialised or ``civilised'', the primeval (natural) and the sophisticated (artificial). In order to have a true representation of these identities, they are using the German language for the theatre text (dialogue) and Malayalam for the songs. The roles of the spirits such as Ariel are being enacted by the Kathakali actors of Kerala while the role of Prospero and his clan are being enacted by German actors.

Another interpretation given to ``The Tempest'' by these two - the director and the choreographer - is that it is a play of ``Power'', the material power resting in the hands of Prospero, balanced by another mystical and other-worldly power, lying in the hands of Ariel. Prospero's power is that of ``money'', ``position'' and ``brute force'', whereas Ariel's ``power'' is more subtle and invisible.

The Kathakali actor, Sadanam Bhasi who takes the role of Ariel says two words in Malayalam, ``Swatantryam'' (Freedom) and ``Kashtam'' (How sad) which convey a whole world of meaning. Caliban is enacted by a German actor. He is not shown as an imbecile or a savage, but as a sophisticated and shrewd survivor. The task that faced the choreographer was to transform the text of the spirits into dance, music, gestures, etc.

Annette Leday mentioned that this is the first time she is working as co-director; as there are two distinct art forms involved, merging them together requires a way of working together. In practice it comes out as bridging the direction the two forms take. The concern of the Indian dancers was to try and serve the narration of the text without being illustrative.

VASANTI SANKARANARAYANAN

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