Ranga Manthana by Narayana Raichur
Bhagyalakshmi Prakashana
Although there have been great playwrights and gifted directors in Kannada, theatre-criticism in Kannada isn’t as rich as literary criticism. The primary reason for this could be that while literary criticism is author/text centred, theatre-criticism demands not only a sound understanding of the author/text but also a knowledge of many other components of a stage performance. Hence, today, there are very few competent theatre critics in Kannada, one of whom is Narayana Raichur, the author of Ranga Manthana.
Ranga Manthana is a collection of theatre-reviews, published in Prajavani, Sutradhara, and other such periodicals; and they cover performances that took place during the last two decades of the previous century. A few statistical facts give us the broad range of the reviews: they cover, approximately, 200 performances in Bengaluru alone put up by more than 50 theatre groups, academies, and other such societies; the reviews cover original plays in Kannada, translations and adaptations from different languages. Each review lists, without fail, the author (or the original author and the translator) of the play along with the names of the troupes that put up the performance, the director, major actors/ actresses, and the light-and-sound technician. Most of the reviews display a picture of a prominent scene of the play. In addition to these features, one finds yearly ‘overviews’ of theatre and portraits of gifted directors and playwrights. Occasionally, one comes to know of rare performances one had missed earlier; I for one did not know till I read this book that the great Greek epic Odyssey wasalso staged in Kalakshetra in 1997 by a Paris troupe.
According to Raichur (as he points out in his introduction), the principal criterion of ‘theatre-criticism’ is the distinction between a ‘written play’ meant for readers and ‘stage-play’ meant for spectators. All other differences stem from this basic distinction: while a written play is the playwright’s creation, the stage play is the creation of the director; the ‘text’ is only one of the components of a performance, others being acting, stage-setting, make-up, (optionally) music and dance and lighting. A theatre-critic, Raichur argues, ought to understand and accept the ‘purpose’ or the ideological perspective of the author; otherwise, he cannot do justice to the play. Also, since a good director utilizes a number of modes such as the realistic, the symbolic, the absurd, and such, it follows that a sound knowledge of these varied styles or modes of performance is necessary for the critic too.
Within this sound critical frame, Raichur reviews performances and he does not mince words either in appreciation or in criticism. We can consider two representative reviews of Raichur to justify this statement. The first one is his review of ‘ Dharmapuriya Shwetavrutta,’ staged by a troupe of Kittur. The reviewer first introduces the play as an adaptation of Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle and explains the major motifs and characters of Brecht’s play. Then, the reviewer moves on to analyse the play - its folk-mode, poetic dialogue by Gopal Vajapeyi, the use of folk-performances like ‘ Jogera Aata’ and ‘ Gondaligara Aata’; and then concludes: “Ably utilising 40 artists including five child-artists, [Jayatirtha] Joshi has given us a magnificent performance.”
In contrast, the review of ‘ Tughlaq’ staged by Sneharanga is really harsh. First, he states that the director, Badaradinni, in his attempt to give the play a new interpretation, leaves the audience confused. After considering the other aspects of the play, finally, he concludes: “Smoke curling around Tughlaq collapsed on the floor – a star hanging from above –the entire cast circling Tughlaq – O Director! What do all these mean?”
In short, Ranga Manthana is an invaluable reference work on Kannada Theatre.
Havana by Mallikarjuna Hiremath
Anandakanda Granthamale, Rs. 120
‘Reading’ a novel of this sort which combines authentic anthropological details with major ‘developmental’ concerns like health, literacy, employment and poverty coupled with human emotions like love, honesty, ambition and pathos is always problematic. It cannot be read entirely as a piece of fiction nor can it be considered a record of socio-cultural practices of a tribe. However, if Havana is read as a product of conflicting social and cultural ethos of a marginalized minority nomadic community in the context of the onslaught of market driven forces, the narrative offers exceptional insights into the culturally rich, but economically and politically deprived people and their lives. While the storyline of the novel is mostly on expected lines, the tone of the novel and the texture of the language used offer a unique experience.
Somalya, the protagonist of the novel, represents the aspirations of Lambani people who live in a place called Havana taanda . He hails from a respectable Lambani family which has sacrificed a lot for the community. He is most respected for his words and deeds. Despite his own poverty stricken life, he gets his sons the much aspired college education. While the first one, Hari, settles down as a bank employee in a place called Vijayapura, the second one, Loku, remains in his taanda assisting his father. Somalya’s daughter, Zimri, is also sent to school. He wants his community to be ‘educated’ and earn their livelihood in a hard way by tilling the land. But, where is the land? Somalya who witnesses decadence in his family and in his community, loses his sanity and dies in a dynamite explosion. The novel ends with an ambivalent suggestion for the future generations of Somalya.
There are five different perceptions which are spread around five narratives, but interestingly, the perceptions are not radically different from each other. In fact, they are complementary to each other. They portray the growing irrelevance of traditional values which are cherished by the taanda (represented by Somalya) and the inevitable extinction of them in the new market oriented dispensation. Intermixed with the human drama, Lambani cultural events like Teeja Festival which bind the community to its roots are narrated exuberantly. The celebration of marriage, death ceremonies and the decisions taken at the panchayat meetings mark the uniqueness of the community. The demise of all these with the advent of the new culture is what makes the novel poignant.
An important aspect of the novel is its language. The author has to deal with people (who speak Lambani language) in a particular dialect of Kannada. By and large, the mixing of the narratives of the two languages has been effective. But sometimes the North Karnataka dialect that is used for the narrative clashes with the Lambani language. Despite the glossary appended to the book, sometimes characters do not sound coherent in their speeches. Nevertheless, the problem of locution does not affect the intelligibility of the utterances in a big way.
