Theatre in transit
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Sankramana, apart from a couple of oddities, was well executed and brilliantly acted
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class act Sihi Kahi Chandru’s acting was the icing on the cake
Kenneth Tynan once said: “An evening in theatre alters your consciousness”. This probably is true of what one experiences while watching Sanket’s latest play “Sankramana”.
Traditionally, the word means transition of dominance of one ruling star to the other.Three actors tell the story of their lives, in separately constructed monologues. The time line varies.
The death of the father is the still centre. There are scenes that happen before and after this incident. This probably is Sankramana. Where there is a transference of responsibilities from father to son.
If one is a die hard fan of social plays that were popular in the 70s and the 80s, then this is a play to see. The story is of a family group of three people. Each of the monologues is a page from the life of the members. The mother (Girija Lokesh) begins the story of her husband (Sihi Kahi Chandru) who has recently passed away.
On the surface, it seems as the father’s life was a “big love ballad for the house he built with his sweat and blood”. All he can see is a broken glass, a leaking wall, the flush that needs repair, and a son – Yuvaraja (Manjunath Hegde) who refuses (according to him) to assume responsibility. He feels the house has become a “stop over hotel” and wonders what would happen after his time.
The play is interpolated with sounds of a leaking tap or flush in the background – all hinting at being more important.
The story speaks of the life history of men and women who were born during the pre or post-Independence era into poor families with many children and little or no money. Sacrifice and struggle were a way of life. This changed drastically with the economic boom of the Seventies. The transition in the family as economics changed in the outside world is portrayed rather vividly. All these are eloquently conveyed through the three characters.
The sets gives a notion of the play being an absurdist one as they suggest the interior of a house. There is a slanting wall as the background with a few props here and there. The excessive use of white, not only on the walls but also on the floors, is striking. A vinyl covered floor to suggest the size of the house immediately evokes the image of a middle class house with smaller means. However technically, the light reflecting on the floor hurts the eye.
One wonders why the director chose this colour. The play does not in any sense mention the colour white – literally or metaphorically. Ask the director Surendranath and one finds he wanted to create an “…eerie feeling. A ghostly feeling to the play…”.
Was this ghostly feeling to evoke a supernatural slant in the wake of the husband having passed away? But the play is structured in such a way that all people (even the scene with the husband) happens in the present. Each is dealt with as if it is in the present.
However, you can easily shrug off these oddities when you look at the performance of the actors. All actors are natural. There is no excessive drama, or maudlin moods. Girija Lokesh as the understanding widowed mother is a natural and almost perfect, Manjunath Hegde as the son who becomes the father in his behaviour is hilarious. Sihi Kahi Chandru is the icing on the cake.
While both Girja Lokesh and Manjunath Hegde, play characters similar to their real age, Sihi Kahi Chandru manages to pull the act of a man in mid sixties in age and older in his attitude. His performance is arresting and characterisation infallible. It was only sad that water tight (no leaks here) show like this did not draw greater audiences.
DEEPTHY SHEKHAR
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Chennai and Tamil Nadu
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