Theatre must move beyond cliches

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 27

A zenith is reached right in the beginning as an armed assailant steps in and begins indiscriminately shooting at a hall full of people waiting to be entertained – theatrically of course. The drama of the moment is so intense that you have to remind yourself you are not literally being shot.

In a withdrawal from the previous productions that theatre group YUVAA has dished out for the city audience in the recent past – the aroused, heady opening of Ankur Sharma’s play ‘Chaturangg’ sadly fails to translate into a substantive explanation even as you sit through 90 minutes hoping for a ray of theatrical brilliance, justifying the gush of anticipation you felt at the outset.

Until the explanation which trickles in at the fag end, you have been bogged down – by three stretched-out love/relationship sequences which confirm too much to the clichés which YUVAA has triumphantly restrained itself from falling prey to, in the past.

While there is an attempt to make sense of the status quo which we find ourselves in, potent references like ISIS and Batman and classy Western sequences on screen appear squandered for a failed theatrical outing.

A spoiled brat of a terrorist guns down several people at a theatre complex which also has alongside it the apartment building in which a doctor lives with her corporate honcho husband, a corrupt female lawyer takes the terrorist’s case (for a lot of money of course), the corporate honcho’s wife treats the terrorist and it turns out that the terrorist in turn had a fling with a girl-next-door, days before he did the deed.

So the three convoluted relationships play out - a coquettish, successful, short-dressed lawyer who shares a playful evening with the married, mean CEO of the steel firm; the CEO’s wife, a doctor, has her moments with the chained, handcuffed convict who wielded that gun in the beginning but stays loyal; the terrorist – Sammy as he is called in the play – in turn has emotions for Sheena who had a racy social networking fling with the terrorist, charmed by his profile and looks, unaware of his deadly and violent intentions (an affair the lawyer is keen to exploit for the case).

The mad, bad Sammy – Ankur Sharma’s mouthpiece – loves the cold metal and the havoc he can wreak with it, he is a great fan of Batman and his Gotham, and it turns out in the end – is mad at capitalists for quietly watching the decay of society and at the common man for sitting quietly and doing nothing about it. But even as he rightly asks her to ask the valid questions – where did he get the guns from? And why are those with the big money not using their resources to prevent more bloodshed – Sharma fails to etch out his character effectively - his motives appear contrived and unjustified pretty much like the rest of the play.

The love quadrangle is ridden with clichés which the Jalandhar stage had fortunately been bidding a goodbye to. There are too many arched brows and long-drawn dialogues and little chemistry among the couples. Until the time Sammy mouths his end piece, and the point one had been waiting for finally emerges, the audience is already edgy and fidgety. While Sammy’s performance clearly stands above the rest, among the slew of YUVAA’s vibrant hits, this one needs rework.