CHANDARAHATER KUTIR: A Haibun on the Stage
In an
interview just before his sudden death, the poet-novelist Rabisankar Bal, about
an ancient Japanese poetry format, that I first came to know about, known as
Haibun, where, a long prose is combined with short 3-line Haikus in a
prosimetric form. This came to my mind when I witnessed Dark Studio’s
production of the drama based on Bal’s novelette, CHANDARAHATER KUTIR,
which loosely translates into ‘The Cottage of the Moon-struck’. The drama has
been penned by Ujjwal Chatterjee and the play has been made by Prithwish Rana.
During his
days at a rehab centre, Bal had written this piece which can be said to be his
intense search for himself. It has no so-called story-line. And thus, it has no
continuity of events, so to say. But there are episodes that are parts of the
lives of the occupants of the centre. The episodic format builds up into a big
poetry giving space to reality as well as the imaginary unreal. So, the reader
finds himself on a journey into the memory of the inmates. Through a character
named Manotosh Basu, Bal identifies himself and brings in the 17th
century Japanese poet who is recognized as one of the pioneers of the Haiku
form, Matsuo Basho as his alter-ego. He takes on a long journey on ‘The Narrow
Road to the Deep North’.
Chatterjee
has adapted the piece into a performative form, and Basho is a character in the
play. The playwright has tackled the other characters which are quite a few,
very dexterously. A number of incongruities has been apparent like the daughter
of Basu, or the lover of an inmate, or for that matter, the late entries of a
few characters. These inconsistencies are not ostensible in the reading of the
novelette as they come naturally in the flow of the stream of consciousness of
the writer. But it is absolutely a big challenge for the dramatist to cope
with. The tangent references of the present-day political scene, I felt, are
like blemishes on the poetic face of the play, and could have been avoided.
But what
stuns the viewer is the challenge that Rana has chosen to handle. Very few
makers would dare to even touch this novelette with a barge-pole. His
determination to give shape to Bal’s writing and do justice to Chatterjee’s
script warrants applauds and ovation. It would not be an exaggeration to say
that his idiomatic design in mounting of the script has hitherto not been experienced
by me. The surrealism in every nook and corner of the literary piece has been
given a post-structural treatment, where the language of the play questions the
established norms of theatre. And the conventional idiom of theatre has been deconstructed
by Rana to present a beautiful Haibun on the stage of the Minerva Theatre.
Rana’s
sense of the theatrical aesthetics is strongly present in every aspect of the
making of the play, as was seen in his earlier work, too. Stage by Abhra Dasgupta has the post-structural elements in its
design executions, with sectorial divisions and different elevations, projecting
the total dramatic concept of the play. Lights, too, by Dasgupta give the
viewer the experience of oscillating between the real and the dream worlds.
Moumita Dutta’s dress needs special mention. Music planning and its execution
by Debraj Bhattacharya and Tanmay Pal is an important element in this
production. Buddhadev Das’s choreographic arrangements have helped very
effectively the play-maker’s designs of building up different poignant dramatic
moments on the stage.
It should
be mentioned before signing off that Prithwish Rana has, apart from a few,
orchestrated a bunch of very raw actors who have not failed him and have made
the viewers look forward for their future endeavours.
