Colombo Tamil theatre makes a comeback with Thaai

K S SIVAKUMARAN

Admittedly I stopped seeing Tamil plays since the 1970s and 80s for there were no opportunity for me to see any of them on the Colombo stage. A dramatist among many other contributions to Lankan arts and literature -Antony Jeeva- invited me to watch his laboured production of a short play based on the famous Russian writer Maxim Gorky's novel Mother. It was called Thaai in Tamil and was on boards at the Lumbini Theatre in Havelock Town in early January.

Understandably Anthony Jeeva has written his script to focus on the Mother character in the original novel. In doing so he was trying to show the audience the power of the Mother as an energetic source and a catalyst / stimulant to reactivate lost spirits. He does not try to be comprehensive to include the whole sequences in the novel but judiciously stops at the point where an ordinary conservative widow becomes the banner carrier on behalf of his revolutionary son and leads in the struggle against oppression and thus becoming a heroine.

This is a period piece of socialist realism and the formative stage of communistic ideals just prior to the historically important Russian Revolution of 1917. The novelist and playwright Maxim Gorky was essentially a humanist then turned the father of socialist realism guided by Lenin and other Marxist leaders. His classic Lower Depths was a hallmark in world theatre.

Readers would appreciate the play perhaps in the larger context of the complete novel. The plot and the theme are best described by a critic.

Mother by Juliet on July 15, 2010

It tells the story of a mother who takes after her son to socialism and works for it. She is kind and affectionate to her son and all his comrades. The story describes how the mother is transformed from a woman who afraid of her husband's beatings tries to make herself inconspicuous to a brave woman who trudges country roads and courts arrests to work for the cause. It is her wish to be of use to her son which prompts her. She has seen her son mature into a leader, thoughtful, stern and respected. Like a mother, she loves and grieves for him but quickly takes to her new life of action. In disguise, she goes to many places taking books and leaflets. At her sons arrest and exile she goes to distribute his last speech in the court to the common people but is caught, arrested and dies in her struggle to be a message to the masses. All through we see her love for her son and her struggle to be a mother to him in his cause too. In her attempt she comes to love the comrades with whom she gets acquainted and does her best to take the new ideas of awakening everywhere. Another critic extends a description further .

Maxim Gorky's Mother - a review

Kazim Aizaz Alam

"Mothers are hardly ever pitied," wrote Maxim Gorky (1868-1936) in his landmark novel Mother around 100 years ago. The novel is about the pre-revolution proletariat of Russia and focuses on the role women played in the struggle of the Russian working class on the eve of the revolution of 1905. Maxim Gorky, who was persecuted by the tsarist government and forced to live abroad for his ties with the Bolshevik Party, was moved by the brutal social and economic disparity that existed in Russian society during the tsarist government.

The novel is based on two actual events - the May Day demonstration of workers in Sormovo in 1902 and the subsequent trial of its members. The protagonist, Pelagea Nilovna, is the mother of Pavel Mikhailovich, the novel's hero. She gives the book the name of Mother. At the outset of the novel, Pelagea is no different from the rest of the workingwomen of Russia who toil in factories throughout the day and put up with wife-beating men at night. For 20 years, she lived a miserable life with her husband Mikhail Vlassov, a bad-tempered misogynist, whose passing away did not sadden anyone."

Let us see how this story entertains us a performance. We mentioned that it was a laboured effort. It was because the players being amateurs accustomed to different kind of Tamil plays and cinema mouthing a plethora of words had in this play to be theatrical in a contemporary sense. However they tried to be theatre-conscious. Thanks to the director and producer the play was enjoyable.

An experienced actress on the Tamil stage for a long time played the role of the heroine satisfyingly.

The props, costumes, music, lighting, delivery were reasonably appropriate.

I wonder whether Gorky's this particularly story would have an impact on the present day audiences, because we have come a long way from the early 20th century politics, naturalism, realism and early trade union leftism.

However for Tamil Stage it could open a new door to explore and see new vistas through drama.

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