Lalit Gupta
JAMMU, Dec 29: Performance of the Urdu translation of Henrik Ibsen’s well known play ‘Ghosts’, marked the maiden production recently formed theatre group of winter capital, Rangyatri, here at the K L Saigal Hall, here today.
Translated by Mohammad Kazim and directed by Mushtaq Kak, the play revolves around one Helen Alving who is about to dedicate an orphanage she has built in the memory of her dead husband, Captain Alving. She reveals to her spiritual advisor, Pastor Manders, that she has hidden the evils of her marriage, and has built the orphanage to deplete her husband’s wealth so that their son, Oswald, might not inherit anything from him. Pastor Manders had previously advised her to return to her husband despite his philandering, and she followed his advice in the belief that her love for her husband would eventually reform him. However, her husband’s philandering continued until his death, and Mrs. Alving was unable to leave him prior to his death for fear of being shunned by the community. During the action of the play she discovers that her painter son Oswald (whom she had sent away so that he would not be corrupted by his father) is suffering from inherited syphilis, and (worse) has fallen in love with Regina Engstrand, Mrs. Alving’s maid, who is revealed to be an illegitimate daughter of Captain Alving, and thereby Oswald’s own half-sister. The play concludes with Mrs. Alving having to decide whether or not to euthanize her son Oswald in accordance with his wishes. Her choice is left unknown.
By performing Ghosts as its first production, Rangyatri has tried to make a statement about its commitment to innovation and experiment. This was also obvious from the design of the set, which unlike conventional frontal approach, was designed as a room with four transparent walls around which the spectators were made to sit and watch the inside dramatic action.
Today’s performance sponsored by Ministry of Human Resource, New Delhi, due to the limitation of small space of K L Saigal Hall, provided an intimate actor/audience relationship where in the subtle nuances actor’s voice modulation and body movements were closely observed and enjoyed.
Delight Sarah William in the role of widow, Mrs. Alvin, was impressive for diction, especially the delivery of Urdu-English mix of dialogues. Aparna Kapoor as Ragina Engstrand, Mridual Raj Anand as Osvald Alving, Sandeep Verma as Pastor Manders and Sunil Sharma as Jacob Engstrand gave good performance. An overall good performance which had all the novelty in set design and props, the only jarring note was the flatness of dialogues which at time gave a feel of monotony thus letting down the good work of director, to some extent.
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