Shakespeare in thrall and thrust :
Pyramus and Thisby
Leelamani HATHTHOTUWEGAMA
I have never seen a Shakespeare drama held so much in thrall and
thrust as Jehan Aloysius’ Pyramus and Thisby, an adaptation of
Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, rompingly mounted at the Punchi
Theatre in a four-day run. By thrall and thrust I mean the excitement it
generated by the quality creation it offered to an audience which sat
through the entire performance enthralled by the marvelous collage of
all kinds of audio visuals assembled together, not to mention the
rollicking fun and hilarity the play let go. Presented in the style of
local folk theatre tradition and ritual, it was a refreshingly novel
piece of theatre-cross-cultural, cross-media, cross-linguistic,
cross-stylistic.
I am glad that at least there are a few directors in Sri Lanka who
are capable leaving behind the archaic notion that Shakespearean drama
and lyrical verse is incapable of fitting into the Sri Lankan folk
theatre tradition of Kolam, Thovil, Nadagam and Mask. Let this be a
challenge to the newly emerging directors.
Equally with its innovative form, ‘Pyramus and Thisby’ evokes a
special interest by the nature of its preoccupations, some of which have
dark overtones in spite of the overall comic mode of the play. Though
the plot of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ revolves around four pairs of
lovers, Aloysius’ performance is created from the two sub-plots of the
‘mechanicals’ and the fairies supernatural world of Saturnalia and
carnival.
Scenes from the play Pictures by Sachini Perera |
In Titania-Oberon story, however, Aloysius postulates a world of male
chauvinism in which brutal physical strength, magic, trickery and
manipulation are used to assert masculine authority, as highlighted in
the sequences portraying Oberon and Titania’s tug o’ war over the
mystical Indian boy, visually impacted on the audience all the more
powerfully because of the minuteness of Titania dwarfed by an Oberon who
appears giant-like in comparison; and the vicious grapple between
Peaseblossom and Puck beautifully choreographed by a potently erotic
dance sequence. But the women in the play hold their own!
So much for sexual politics. But oh the ‘mechnicals!!’ They deserve
the highest plaudits and it is here that Aloysious manifests his
creative exuberance without pause. Rarely have we seen body movement,
physical action and bouncing acrobatics used so exuberantly, where
words, Shakespearean or Sinhala, ring out with such vivacity and vigour
and with such meaningful comic life. What a drama could do with the word
comes in a format that does an astonishing lot with the body, that’s the
point. It was indeed physical theatre and fusion dance.
As the title suggests the main focus of the play is a group of rustic
artisans, Bottom, Peter Quince Flute, Snout, Snug and Starveling who
rehearse a play titled ‘Pyramus and Thisby’, in the forest, to be
enacted for the newly wedded legendary king and queen, Theseus and
Hippolyta who are omitted in Aloysius’ play. It was indeed a fine touch
to exclude the pressures and constraints of aristocratic patronage.
The war of the fairies over the Indian boy and Puck’s mischievous
machinations affect the human world and Bottom becomes the unwitting
victim of a magical metamorphosis and finds himself entwined with the
enchanted Titania in a charmingly innocent embrace while he is still
fast sleep.
All this was beautifully ‘cameod’ alongside the fairy dance. Any
orgiastic reading of these scenes was dismissed in Aloysius’
interpretation laced with roisterous jollity and fun, and Bottom’s
comically innocent incomprehension of Titania’s romantic overtures met
with extremely funny, “....maha wal ganiyekne, “me genita pissu”. It is
no wonder that the audience took several minutes to subdue its hilarious
outburst of laughter.
The star focus of individual parts was Bottom played by the director
himself, but there was a great deal of balancing and blending of
dominating roles and supporting roles so that the production did not
mount around one single role.
Anuk De Silva, portraying Quience, charmed us with his superb comic
flare and witty engagement with the audience and almost stole the
thunder from Bottom. But who would have thought that such hilarity and
life could be pinched into the role of Snout like the centre stage
player did? The only drawback was Titania, who could neither live up to
the passion and power of the other roles nor the passion and power
demanded from her role and although Aloysius managed to avoid any
hindrance to the play by some intelligent mounting aimed at highlighting
her dancing skills, he failed to ignite and actuate Titania’s character
as the powerful Fairy Queen who could only be won over by magic and
trickery.
If the director’s objective was to highlight Titania in the Titania-Oberon
sub-plot, her performance fell short of this expectation. But it was a
treat to watch the fairies, their movements beautifully choreographed,
their whole person and body engaged in synchronized interplay. All
credit to the cast for the imaginative effort made to, enlarge, vary and
redistribute the limited stage space of the Punchi Theatre.
This bilingual production presented in the style of the local folk
theatre tradition and ritual has been able to transcend the cultural and
linguistic barriers that restrict Shakespeare to the English educated
and the elite. I also liked the way the actors went into the midst of
the audience, interacted with the spectators and drew them into the
play. The real worth of Aloysius’ play emerges here - making Shakespeare
accessible to all. If you go by this criterion, Shakespeare would be a
stayer in Sri Lanka.
Some final words about the stage sets and costuming - the stage sets
or set for that matter, has been designed and crafted with skilful
economy, one huge tree dominating the stage. The costumes designed by
the director himself looked very right, very rich. To cap it all the
production was backed by clever lighting, and a fine musical score very
economically used. The play altogether yielded a fabulous display of
stage craft and innovative theatre.
Shakespeare should live within this hour to see his great romantic
comedy emerge into view with laudable triumph. |