Woven around a myth

SD Sharma

Chandigarh, October 26

The two-day Katha Manchan Festival, organised by the Mask Theatre Group and supported by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi, commenced with the staging of the Hindi adaptation of Thomas Mann’s story, “Transposed Heads”, by Anuradha at the open air theatre of Punjab Kala Bhavan today.

Set in the past with characters borrowed from a mythological legend, the play resembled Girish Karnad’s classic play “Hayavadana” despite some changes carried out by young director Ravinder Kumar.

The play tried to bring alive the conflict between mind and body through the story of two friends – intellectual Shridaman and wrestler Nand. Following an altercation both cut their heads at a temple. The playwright created many unbelievable situations like both friends magically brought to life with severed heads but to wrong bodies apparently to moralise certain ethics on relationships and desires, especially that of a woman.