Theme of universal appeal

WHY BERTOLT Brecht once again? Hasn't "The Caucasian Chalk Circle" been performed quite a few times in the city? And in different styles too, by the Koothu-p-pattarai and by Theru-k- koothu groups. This was the initial reaction to the announcement by the Women's Christian College's choice of theatre production for the year.

But "Vattam", turned out to be a Tamil adaptation of the German classic in which, as Jnani confessed in his director's note, he had taken as much liberty as a playwright adapting a work can possibly take. The essence of the original text had been retained while the characters had been made relevant to the Tamil milieu, said Jnani. In Brecht's play, established notions of motherhood, justice and ownership of property are challenged.

The tussle for possession of a child between its rich biological mother and the poor peasant girl who is the child's foster mother, was given a local flavour by Jnani. The characters were given Tamil names and the events enacted against a rural milieu in Tamil Nadu. There were songs and dances exuding the rustic flavour. In fact, the play in its totality bore little resemblance to Brecht's notion of epic theatre.

In "Vattam" the story of the Chalk Circle is told to city dwellers who come to a village to advocate prawn culture. The soldier Veerasami falls in love with the maid of Doraiamma, the wife of the governor of the area. The Dorai is proud of their baby boy while his wife develops an aversion to it as she has been traumatised by her husband who had previously killed her infant daughters in his craze for a male heir.

When Dorai is killed in a coup, spearheaded by his brother, Doraiamma flees, leaving behind her little boy. The maid, Kanniyamma is left literally holding the baby. She saves him from falling into the hands of the enemy by taking refuge with her brother and submitting to a marriage with a soldier who dodges the draft. The maid who sacrifices so much for the child is shocked when a change of events leads to the Doraiamma returning to claim her son. The judgment passed by the thief turned judge favours the one who truly loves the child.

This was Director Jnani's second production for the WCC. The first, on women whose names have been left out of history, to mark the 50th year of Independence grew out of a workshop held at the college.

The kernel for Brecht's play comes from The Chalk Circle, on anonymous Chinese play of the 14th century. "Officer, fetch a piece of chalk," says the judge. "You will trace below the bench a circle in the centre of which you will place the child. Then you will order the two women to wait, at the opposite sides of the circle. When the real mother takes hold of him it will be easy for the child to come outside the circle. But the pretended mother cannot take him out."

From this was born Brecht's play.

Performed many times since it was first written, the universal character of the work makes its appeal timeless. "I have taken just the skeleton structure of Brecht's play," said Jnani to this correspondent. "I have used Krishnamurthy's Tamil translation only as a reference text and introduced many features that are not in the play. The play has been given a feminist slant not just because it is performed by a women's college but also because of my personal conviction on gender issues. Female infanticide, eve teasing, and women's property rights are issues introduced by me in the play. The male judge Aztak has been replaced by the thief Muniyamma here. I have also used a huge cast of 40 actors to provide an opportunity for as many students as possible to participate, and shuffled the roles on the three consecutive days of performance. Overall if I didn't acknowledge it as Brecht's play, he would disown it for it is as Indian play as anything else."

If Jnani had just mentioned this in his director's note as well and not expanded on the theory of alienation and Brecht, the play would have gained a much better response for a great deal of trouble had been taken by the director and the actors over it - three weeks of workshop training and a three weeks of rehearsal. Songs and dances had been introduced appropriately (but there was a simplistic approach to the entire exercise of transferring the story to a local milieu). Good use was made of stage space. Though quite a few in the cast seemed awkward in their stance, gestures and delivery of lines, the students playing the roles of Kanniyamma, Muniyamma and the sepoys were expressive and confident. Kanniyamma especially was a cut above the rest. With the help of a few stately chairs and an ornate umbrella, the atmosphere of affluence and power was created just as the stringed cot, a few baskets and bundles of firewood conjured up the simplicity of the rustic dwelling.

The song describing Kanniyamma's desperate flight was evocative and the action of the heroine crossing the perilous bridge with the child in her arms imaginatively executed. The Thappattam by Jayarao provided the rhythmic background to the action but it could have been used more sparingly.

A campus production has to be seen in perspective as it has inbuilt limitations. For a production in which many of the artistes were making their stage debut and half of them were non- Tamil, the play was an brave attempt. At any rate, it was a relief to hear Tamil spoken well unlike many campus productions were a self-conscious English accent marks the delivery of the lines.

By itself the play passes muster. Compare it to Brecht and it crumbles like chalk. Instead of inviting comparison with classic German and French theatre through their presentations, it is strange that playwrights and directors do not turn to the wealth of Tamil literature instead for their productions whether mainstream parallel or campus theatre. "Vattam" was presented on October 4, 5 and 6 at the WCC auditorium.

KAUSALYA SANTHANAM

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