Future play in the past tense

Last year, just before the annual Prithvi festival kicked-off, the overworked festival directors -- Sanjna Kapoor and Divya Bhatia -- dec...

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Last year, just before the annual Prithvi festival kicked-off, the overworked festival directors — Sanjna Kapoor and Divya Bhatia — declared with near-certainty that their ambitious plans of going international would be postponed to 1999. A festival on that scale could not be pulled off by 1998, it would take too much out of them and Prithvi, they averred. But a bit like the strange biological phenomenon where mothers forget the severity of labour pains as soon as they set their sights on their newborn — last year’s fatigue hasn’t stopped the Prithvi team from fulfilling their dream.

Festival ’98, sponsored by the Max Touch Cultural Heritage Series, starts on November 1 and brings to Mumbai a wide selection of contemporary European Theatre. Six groups — from Italy, Germany, Poland, Hungary, United Kingdom and France — are coming down with eight plays. Chosen more for quality than variety, Divya, who donned the mantle of festival director this year, is quick to point out that the selection was in no waya judgment. "We are not saying that these are the best plays, or the best representations of a certain genre." Instead, the promise is of stimulating theatre.

And yet, there is a common thread or theme that binds the festival. Most of the plays are reinterpretations of myth, folklore and history. For instance, France’s Nada Theatre will perform Marie Stuart, a play which deals with the last few days before the death of the queen who spent 20 years in lock-up, almost mad. Merlin International Theatre, the Hungarian group, sticks to its aim of presenting its country’s classics for non-Hungarian audiences. They bring to Mumbai Bluebeard’s Castle, a piece of work which explores the deep love the seducer-murderer’s last wife had for him. And The Quest, a play adapted from a 19th century classic regarded the most poetic Hungarian verse drama ever written.

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Contemporary issues are also explored in Teatr Biuro Podrozy’s Carmen Funebre — The Funeral Song. Based on the recent events inBosnia, it explores the dark forces at work when a country goes to war. Says Divya, "I think peace and war are major themes in European theatre right now. As an area, it has seen a lot of strife, specially with both the World Wars taking root there. And the theatre we are seeing right now is wrapping up the post World War II movement of absurd theatre which took a bleak view of life." And this long period of angst and despair is giving away to themes of peace and hope. "So the material for these topics can come from either before this period or after, thus the going back to classics and myths," he adds.

Kicking off the festival is Italy’s Luoghi Dell’ Arte’s Commedia Dell’ Arte Galore. Performed in Italian, English, gibberish and mime, the play will combine precise slapstick with improvised dialogue. The group’s belief in actor-centred theatre is also achieved by employing outlandish masks which draw the attention away from the face to the body.

Prithvi’s aim of good theatre runs parallel to itsexposure to the widest possible audience — thus the low ticket price of Rs 50. There will be at least two performances of each play and as soon as a group wraps up its quota here, it will be flown to Delhi courtesy Indian Council for Cultural Relations and Air India. And the back stage jugglers for this act will be Sanjna and Divya along with their team. And while right now, the thought of another festival seems back-breaking, next year, it will be the same backstage story once again.

Carmen Funebre on Nov 2, 3, 4 and 5 at 8.00 pm at Juhu Aerodrome.

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Commedia Dell’ Arte Galore on Nov 2, 3 and 4 at 9.00 pm at Prithvi Theatre, Juhu.

Tickets are available at Prithvi and Rhythm House, Kala Ghoda.