Four Major Plays ( A Doll House, The Wild duck, Hedda Gabler, The Master builder) - Henrik Ibsen

My reading has many gaps, and insufficient reading plays and drama are one of the glaring short coming. To claim to have read a minimum understanding of this genre, it can't be achieved with out getting into the world of Ibsen. The master playwright of the late 19th century, is one of the foremost if not the best writers of this medium and his plays continue to attract crowd in the theater for their contemporary relevance and values. This collection comprising of his four major plays is thus a great step to my attempt to familiarise with Ibsen and enhance my pursuit into this area of literature. Written at various points of his illustrious writing career, this not only bring some of the best of his writing, but are also representative of his progression as a writer. The Doll House written in 1872 while he was in Italy, begins the collection and ending with The Master Builder, which was written in 1892.

A Doll house, for its revolutionary ending, which send ripples to the moralistic, conservative European society, where the lead character abandons her husband and their two children, for pastures of her dream to discover herself. So much was the controversy, that Ibsen had to re-write the ending for the adaptation in German Theaters. He called it disgrace to the original play and a 'barbaric outage'. The play starts with Laura, wife of Torvald Helmer, a mother of two, returns from her Christmas shopping,  Torvald is now appointed as the manager of the Bank and he expected to take charge pretty soon, bringing all the difficulties related to finance and blossoming a dream of better living. Torvald is what you call it as an ideal man. Perfect husband loving and caring, respected in society, with a job to envy for, a person hold high moral. When every thing seems to be in perfect setting, what is the cause of concern?  It was Nils Krogstad, who apparently working in the same bank in a low rank, a man with a shady past in the eyes of moralistic society, is threatened by dismissal by Torvald, to help Mrs Linden, Nora's friend. Krogstad is not a bad man, he has broken the law once, but is now trying to inch his way back to the social stream. The dismissal will further damage his reputation and his attempt to redeem himself and thus he fight back. Nora, has borrowed some money from Krogstad, towards the medical expenses of her husband in the past. A deal, where she forged the signature of her ailing father, a deal she kept secret from her husband. "If need be, I shall fight as though for my life to keep my little place in the bank. . . . It's not only for the money: that matters least to me. It's something else", assures Krogstad to Nora. The money affair is something Nora kept to herself for a long time and she saves money to pay back. Opening her secrets to her friend Nora asserts she had to save her husband by taking him to Italy and she is saving every penny to repay the debt,  "When Torvald gave me money for clothes and so on, I never used more than half of it; I always bought the simplest things." The threat from Krogstad is serious and fearing the status of her husband ( if a scandal breaks out), she pleads and tries all that she could to restrain her husband from dismissing Krogstad. As expected this has to explode, and when the final moment comes, Nora is ready and prepared. Despite her husbands harsh words, she was prepared to save him from the bad names by killing herself. It was then Nora realised that she was wrong, and her place in the household of Torvald is not that of a woman of equal strength, but that of a play thing, a doll. Her inner conflict and realisation was so strong when she says to Torvald 'You have never loved me. You only thought it amusing to be in love with me', before leaving him and the children. A phenomenal play, and there is no wonder about its ever growing popularity. A new adaptation of this ( the first being in 1923) with Ben Kingsly in the lead is expected in 2014,

The Wild Duck, is very disturbing and intriguing play.  Gregers Werle is back home after many years of self-imposed exile, on a day when his father is throwing a dinner. His mother is passed away long back, carrying a suspicion that her husband is having some relationship with other women, a suspicion Gregers continue to carry. He realises some of the back ground of his fathers growth in stature is also to do with his ill treatment of one of his friend and business partner, Lieutenant Ekdal, who is now doing few copying jobs for his father. It was also revealed to him that Ekdal's son and his classmate Hjalmar  is married to Gina, who was once his fathers associate. Refusing to live in the same house with his father, he decided to pursue a life of his own, rejecting the offer to divide the property into two halves  by his father. His father is known to have an affair with the care taker of the house,  Mrs. Sørby , which on a later scenes she confirms. Deciding to pursue this matter further, Gregers, leaves home and take shelter in the household of Ekdals. A complex household with an external calmness, wants Gregers to expose his father. He invites Hjalmar for a walk, and supposedly reveals the secret of his father to him. Hjalmar, returns home drunk, confronts his wife.  Mrs. Sørby's arrival with a letter from Gregers father, declaring pension for  Lieutenant Ekdal, which later extended to Hjalmar's daughter, increases his suspicion on his wife and his daughter. Dejected, he returns to his friends to drinking, In a tragic end, Hjalmar's daughter, in a symbolic gesture sacrifices herself by shooting herself ( instead of the wild duck) to the shock. A very sophisticated play, where the written text hide a lot more than what it reveals. There are many scholarly readings, symbolising the 'wild duck' and the attic where Hedwig and her grand father, spent the day.  Gregers is driven by idealism and his hatred towards his father. His attempt to reveal the truth to his friend, is largely directed towards his father, but his meddling of the affairs of Ekdal's family had destructive effect. The father might have done two crimes towards the Ekdal's , by impregnating the servant Gina and then marrying her off to Hjalmar, and sent the elder Ekdals to prison for his own wrong doing. Trying to rectify the guilt of his father, the step further by completely destroyed the Ekdals. Father did amends by restoring the Ekdals to some level of comfort by offering job to the elderly man, and by setting up a studio for the son. In an attempt to settle the score with his father for the death of his mother, the real victims happened to be the Ekdals and a young girl.

Hedda Gabler, probably isn't as grand as the other two. A young couple returns to their new house in Oslo, after six month honeymoon, which apparently did not go all well. George Tesman, is an academic and is interested in research of old manuscripts. Hedda returns in bad humour and she did not hide her displeasure in her interactions with Aunt Julie, who dropped in to welcome them. Mrs. Elvsted, a friend of Hedda,  arrives soon after announcing the return of Eilert Lovborg, to the town recovering from the alcoholism that saw him off for more than two years. Mrs.Elvsted makes a mention of her liking of Lovborg, despite being a married woman, but is aware that Lovborg did have a girlfriend and a possible break of that resulted in his notorious behaviour. Hedda wants to invite Lovborg to their place, and gets George to send the letter requesting his visit. Judge Brack, who came in and in the conversations let Tesman know that the new book published by Lovborg has been a huge success and there is a potential threat to George's dream of becoming the professor at the University. By now, it is clear to the readers that the long lost love of Lovborg is Hedda, which Hedda cut off by threatening to shoot him. Lovborg comes in with a manuscript of the new book, a continuation of his best seller, and wanted George to read them. Hedda, cleverly manages to send both her husband and Lovborg to a party thrown by Judge Brack. George return with the manuscript saying it was found abandoned in the pavement after Lovborg lost them, after an altercation post reckless drinking. However, Lovborg had a different story to tell, he did not loose it but shred the manuscript into thousand pieces. Hedda did not reveal her possession of the manuscript, instead send him to his possible suicide. He burns the manuscripts in an attempt to protect her husbands interest, but Mrs.Elvsted and George tries to rebuild the manuscripts from the notes written by Lovborg which Mrs.Elvstd possess. In the meanwhile Judge Brack returns with the news of the death of Lovborg, and identifies the pistol used by him belongs to Hedda. He also informs Hedda, while there might be circumstantial evidence that saves Hedda from influencing suicide,  only he can keep the secret from falling into the ears of the Police. Realising she has fallen into the hands of the Judge, Hedda goes into the next room and shoot herself.

Hedda comes out as a highly manipulative individual. We observe she continue to use her father's surname and not changed it to Tesman, post her marriage. Clarifiying this Ibsen wrote, "My intention in giving it this name was to indicate that Hedda as a personality is to be regarded rather as her father's daughter than her husband's wife". Hedda as a character is for drama in the true sense. Depending upon the interpretation ( apparently there was a version in an Australian production where Hedda is portrayed by a male), she can be portrayed as a victim of circumstances, a ideal feminist, a cruel manipulative villain or a devout heroine working towards the betterment of her husband.  It provides ample moments of character twists, and dramatic moments. Trapped in the constricts of the family after her wedding, Hedda is already bored and is in look out for options to shake herself free from the imposed clutches. She makes her intention clear to the judge that she wants a friend, not necessarily a lover, beyond her husband whose interests limits to his academic pursuit. Despite her rejection, she continue to have her sympathy for Lovborg and could not come into terms with Mrs.Elvsted's advances towards him. It is from this she manipulated the intricate threads of dependencies, to send both her husband and Lovborg to the party, waiting for their return in her room. It was this control she wanted over destiny, of hers her husbands and the rest, she pushed Lovborg towards committing suicide. It was the same thoughts that lead her to her own death, when she realised that her life will now depends on the Judge Brack, who guided by his profession,  could make in roads to the machinations of a intelligent mind.

The master builder, written in 1892, the first play after Ibsen's return to Norway, talks about the eventual fall of a master buider. A young 24 year old woman shows up dressed in mountain attire, with no change clothes, in the house of a middle aged builder of repute. Demanding the promise he made to her ten years ago, when he built a church tower in her home town, during which he supposed to have forced himself on the young girl calling her his princess and promising to return in ten years and build her a castle in the air. A story he did not remember or as expectedly ridiculed, but the young lady Hilda, manages to impose the story upon him through her seductive charm and flirt. Vulnerable, having an unremarkable married life with Aline, Master builder Soleness, fallen prey to her charm and was easy being manipulative. On the other hand, Soleness, worried for his place, as the young generations trying to advance in every aspect. To continue leading the front, he has recruited young architect under his wings, and refuses place and time for his personal growth as an independent architect. The arrival of the young women, saw him dismissing the young man from his clutches, allowing him to find a path for himself. We understand that he is building a new house on the land which once belonged to his wife and where they lost their kids around 13 years ago in a fire. Despite knowing his suffering form Acrophobia, Hilda encourages him to climb on the tower to the topmost to inaugurate the new house, as he has done in the past. As he climbs up to the ascend he looses foot and falls to eventual death amidst the large group of people gathered to see the new house.

Arguably a play which has the maximum autobiographical elements of Ibsen's life. The old architect, threatened by the young generation, an unhappy married life, a flirtatious affair with young women. He himself talked about his short lived affair with a young apprentice, who was later known for tis behaviour. He added, she did not use me, but I used her in my play. To me this play works in three planes. One the flirtatious middle aged mind easily vulnerable to the charms and manipulations of the young woman. The second the insecurities or the mid-life crisis that every professional undergo, as he watch the younger generation, threatening to take over from him and a fragile family life whose foundations were shaken with the death of the children. The mother soon withdraw to her own reclusive self, with blocking the two way communication, limiting to mundane daily grind. Ibsen brings all these three elements together with a brilliant proportion, adding his own personal experiences and inhibitions.

Four remarkable plays of Ibsen, selected from his later stages of his writing career, arguably the best representation of Ibsen. Non-absurdist, realistic plays taking on social issues and deep understanding of the inner thoughts and actions of the characters. Marvelous..

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Four Major Plays - A Doll House (1879), The Wild duck (1884), Hedda Gabler (1890), The Master builder (1892)

 Henrik Ibsen ( translated from Norwegian by Rolfe Fjelde in 1965)

Signet Classic

384 Pages
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Doll House :  Guardian, UCB, Wiki
The Wild Duck : Ibsen Voyages, wiki
Hedda Gabler : Shmoop , Wiki
The Master Builder : Guardian, Ibsen Voyages, Yahoo.com , Wiki

The Shadow of the Tiger and Other Plays - Chandrasekhar kambar

Kambar's plays have to be absorbed through the stage performances, they aren't the literary kind of plays, they are for performances, and the words and language have importance over the substance or the macro level content that one look for. Most of them aren't profound from the style and substance point of view but from the folkloric style of adaptation into the Indian context of  theater ( those familiar with Sanskrit playwrights of last millennium) while staying true to the roots of folklore and local myths with modern realities.

The collection of three plays, have these clever mix of selection. The first is an easy adaptation of the Persian classic, with the indigenous introduction and screen setting. It did not create any special interest in me as a reader, but I could visualise the original kannada version and the 'conversation' and the lyric used in the original creating an impact in the audience.  The drama, begin with a setting of Ganesha Festival with a boy stealing the 'laddoos' kept for the lord in the play to be enacted, and brilliantly easing his way to the Persian Alibaba and 40 thieves. Ganesha the God , who had hidden large number of laddoos under his 'cloak' is kidnapped by the leader of the thief and switching the plot from here shifts to Alibaba, and a clever closure with the reappearance of Ganesha in the end, mixing Indian myths to the Arabian tale.

The second, which carry the title of the book is an outstanding play. Playing along the thin line of 'truth and deception' he create an atmosphere of magically build up realism. This by far is the best play of the collection. The village chief, decides to go and capture the tiger that causes havoc in the lives of his village folks. Despite the warning of the stars, the anxiety of his wife who had a bad dream, the offer of his son to accompany and support him, against all bad omen, he set forth to lead the expedition ( . However, the failed attempt gets him lost in the wild separated from his supporters. However, he returns magically to the village, claiming to have killed the tiger whose carcass he supposed to have disposed off at an abandoned well in the forest. He ban his followers to go and look for it as ill fortune is sure to befall on them if anyone dared to go and peep inside.  Kambar, writes :

         Gowda returned after everyone else.
          He was tired.
          He had come carrying something on his back.
          The hunted tiger, we said, perhaps.
          Or perhaps not, we felt.
          For into the disused well outside the village
          He threw it and came.
          Not a call of a horn
          Nor band and music!
          It wasn't as if the tiger was hunted
          Nor as if it hadn't been.
          He's got in like a thief
          And we accepted him as such.

However, the situation in the village change drastically post the event. The idol of the village goddess is found split into half and other misfortune one after other befall on the villagers. An old lady , incarnation of the goddess herself possibly,  unveil the 'vision of the reality' to the son of the chief. The 'demon'ic influence in the life of the villagers is represented through the Chief himself, who is now under the influence of the devil ( the devil himself is come in the chief's body after killing and dumping him in the forest well). Chief's son, who is now entrusted to clear the air, is as confused as the rest  'Now everything appears to be split into two. I am seeing two of myself. How can I put both truths to test?...What is truth? Which is false?' . It is here the mastery of the writer comes out in open. Brilliantly traversing between illusion and reality, he creates an ambience with his magnificent wordplay, lifting the reading experience to a higher level. And in that context, this lift itself above the Kannada proximity to a larger global relevance.

Thukra's dream, takes us to the days of British Raj. Symbolically representing the nameless, wordless millions of India, all Thukra has in control is his dreams, but in reality he is forced to suffer and in the end face death. As the resources of the land is held under the control of the wealthy, and the authorities are hand-in glow with those with money and power, poor Thukra and the likes has one one way forward. To rebel, and use the identity of the rebellious folks elsewhere to their own. But before doing this, he tries to escape the land of his misdeeds, and tried to be par with the land lord, by travelling far and wide to Bangalore, attempting a few jobs and more thefts. But on return he realises that the hands of the mighty is stronger and his attempt to equal them is only short lived. In an interesting tragi-comic narrative, often bordering the silliness, it leaves a lasting impact in the end.

I write. In writing I build what I feel. My feelings are my experiences and I build with words, which are stories, pictures, pieces of tales, all off of which have been part of my experiences" says Kambar in his foreword to the  book. His plays are part of the same process of "relate to environment both in time and space,  through  stories, the fantasies, the images". Neither his characters not his plays are for the upper segment of the society. They seems to be aligning with the common man, the non pretentious , those in his words 'he celebrate'. To me, reading this in Kannada and seeing it in Kannada will have much more deeper impact on me. Having said that the efforts in translation is commendable, despite few unevenness one observe as we read on. Interestingly, each play is translated by different person(s), and probably that was one reason of the unevenness.

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The Shadow of the Tiger and Other Plays( 1980 / 984/ 1991)

Chandrasekhar Kambar ( translated from Kannada by Sandhya S, Padma Ramachandra Sharma ,O L Nagabhushana Swamy  in 1999)

Seagull Books

162 Pages
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C K Meena, Purushothama Billimale

The Sunset Limited - Cormac McCarthy

Cormac McCarthy's play starts before the pages and his writing. A Professor ( identified as White here) is rescued by am ex-convict now on the path of God ( identified as Black), from jumping in front of a speeding train. White is brought to the apartment of Black and he attempt to dissuade him from committing the sin of suicide trying to win him over with his arguments.

White, a propagator of meaninglessness in the life. Margining towards the 'existentialist sympathies, he don't see any reason in living which leaves him in despair. Black on the other hand seems to have gone through this and rediscovered faith. An ex-convict, spent time in jail for murder, now spent his time on the ways of God ( a change from the hospital bed, at the verge of loosing his life). Black is convinced that it was that God who got him there and rescued the White from the mouth of death. He believes that its his duty to save White. He is trying to convince White on the power of God as much as White is trying to deny the existence of the same.

The book is a triumph of beautiful word play. Simple and short sentences , yet profound and intelligent. The poise and control over the flow and the artificially created tussle between two forces trying to convince one another with some clever writing. May be this artificiality plays against the book overpowering the creativity of the writer.

There are a lot of possible quotes like this one, mostly from the intellect of White, rather forced many a times.

"I yearn for the darkness. I pray for death. Real death. If I thought that in death I would meet the people I've known in life I don't know what I'd do. That would be the ultimate horror. The ultimate despair. If I had to meet my mother again and start all of that all over, only this time without the prospect of death to look forward to? Well. That would be the final nightmare"

At times they were mere words gets to you as very superficial and meaningless. Unless they are intended to covey the hollowness of the Professor. So, is the Christian spirituality from the mouth of Black. "Do you really think your Jesus is here in this room" , "No I don't think he is in this room" "You don't" " I know he is in this room" kind of writing, for example.

I am not sure if this can be considered a major play. Here more than the plot and the dramatical incidents, the dialog seems to be important. Its the words that control the progression. Hence from a traditional 'play' to be staged, this is different. The books says a novel in dramatic form. Even there, one can not draw comparison to "Kiss of the Spiderwoman" by Manuel Puig, where a similar attempt was done to a much better effect. But the other typical qualities of a play, the constant tense atmosphere, the attempt to provoke the reader at every point, the unusual responses we see in the absurdist plays, the minimalism, the silences are pretty good . What is also good about this book is the deliberation and dual between two forces. The duality of believes, of social and intelligent levels ( which often shifts places as the play progresses) and the indicative colors of Black and White, the use of accent and the words.

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The Sunset Limited ( 2006 )

Cormac McCarthy

Picador

143 Pages
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Wiki Entry, The Telegraph

Caligula & Cross Purpose - Albert Camus

Reading Camu almost after 20 years has been a new experience. This time, reading his plays. These are written in the early days of his literary career, before the celebrated novels and his raise to stardom. As I understand from the introduction, Camus was deeply involved in the theater movements in Algeria, and played a prominent part in founding the so called Theater du Travail, in Algiers. This collection of two plays brought together by Penguin are my introduction to this aspect of the writer.

Caius Caesar Caligula, the third of the 12 Caesars, ruled Rome from AD 37 to AD 41, from the age of 25 until his assassination. He was known as a cruel ruler, He was known to have incestuous relationship with his sister Drusilla, and was intended to marry her. An untimely death of her prevented this, but he was a changed man after that. Often absconding from the palace for days, spending sleepless nights in the streets and in the open, he planned and plotted his cruel actions against the citizens. He killed and tortured many of his subjects so that the patricians finally came out in open rebellion and assassinated him.

Camus intend was not to present the 'monster in human form' the the audience, but to examine the nihilistic response of individual and its not so obvious reasons. One do not see a bad character here, but a Ruler carried by his own actions trying to find a logical conclusion of his misdeeds, knowing the repercussions could be his own death, even manipulating the events that leads to his own death.

" I'm the only man on earth to know the secret - that power can never be complete without a total self - surrender to the dark impulse of one's destiny. No there's no return. I must go on and on, until the consummation."

Despite the knowledge of the conspirator among his men, his close friends, Caligula is unperturbed. As the plot thickens and the eventual end of his life

"Then there must be two kind of happiness, and I've chosen the murderous kind. For I am happy. There was a time when I thought I'd reached the extremity of pain. Bu,no, one can go farther yet. Beyond, the frontier of pain lies a splendid, sterile happiness. Look at me."

Even as the dagger thrust and gasping for his last breath, he goes down with a shriek "I'm still alive".

Originally written in 1938 , as a similar nihilistic ruler was gaining control over large part of Europe, his play seemed to be having a prophetic outlook. Unlike his novels that came out later, these do not seems to have the existentialist overdose. Mostly going by the French and European absurdist style, Camus too presented his plays as expression of ideas, of moral dilemma rather than the judgmental and morally decisive.

Cross Purpose , written in 1943 ( as The Misunderstanding ) is Camus idea of the absurd. Jan, the prodigal son, who had been living abroad for more than 20 years, returns home to his mother and sister. Widowed mother and sister, now making a living by providing lodging to travellers and then murdering them, taking away all their processions. Not recognizing Jan as their son and brother, they continue their act, as usual. Jan, on his hand deliberate the idea of announcing himself first, but decide to surprise them later. Having realised their mistake of killing their own family member in a rather cold manner sans any emotions, mother commit suicide by drowning in the river and the daughter followed her by hanging herself only after advising Maria, the wife of Jan, " to pray God turns her to stone or kill herself too". Maria cries to the heavens for help and in what is supposed to be an incarnation of the power of the world, the old man servant appears and conclude the play with an emphatic 'NO".

Camus once remarking that this play "resembles me the most", While not reflecting on the philosophical nature of the human, Camus seems to have written this during his time as a propaganda agent for the French Resistance during the Nazi occupation. It must have influenced by his own live in distant land leaving behind his wife and family in Algeria. Cross Purpose, interestingly is the reversal of the classical prodigal son's story of the bible.

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Caligula & Cross Purpose ( 1938)

Albert Camus

Penguin Plays

156 Pages
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Caligula, Cross Purpose, 

Sivaratri - Chandrasekhara Kambara

"On that night, in Kalyana, nothing was in the right place and right order. None had any trust in others; and each one listened to others with suspicion. Every one's words had two meanings; the apparent and the hidden. On that night, the dark night of Shiva, Kalyana didn't sleep; but it wasn't awake as well, as the rituals required...."

It was the time of great turmoil at Kalyana, the capital city of the King of Bijjala, of Kalachurya dynasty. The man hunt for the Sarana's are at the full swing, after the fall out of Basavanna with the king. The struggle of control, or the changing power equation has made them fall apart. The once trustworthy and beloved minister and the King. Basavanna ( as he is now fondly called) and his clan of Shiva devotees are spreading in size and in influence. Basavanna, himself as established the 'mahamane' ( or big house) and is now a gaining popularity as a social reformer with "his preach against casteism, blind rituals, animal sacrifice and other such social evils".

Chandrasekhara Kambar, one of the masters of Kannada Literature, is turning his attention to the life of 12 century reformist, the leader of Shaiva sects ( the Lingayats) in one of the important events of the history of state. The 6 act play focuses on the manslaughter of the Saranas ( the followers of Basavanna) by the Kings men, and the resulting murder of the King on an eventful day. The build up through various insignificant events through out the evening, the play culminates at the place of the local prostitute, whom the King frequent, in a verbal dual between the King and his once trusted minister who turned a foe.

"I can't believe this, Basavanna ! The king anf the respectable minister of the country, meeting each other in the house of a prostitute ! Is this just a coincidence ? Or Does it signify religion and politics coming together ?"

Damodara, son of the court priest was prompted by his father to steal the Gold necklace of the queen from the palace, disguised as a 'Sarana ( desciples of Basavanna). The 6 act play, moves along the gold necklace from place to place as Damodara escapes the guards taking refuge at a Dalit's house, later at the house of the prostitute. The lady refuses to accept the gift as it is not earned by her labour. The visiting King see the lost necklace as the events unfolds. Kambar, managed to compress the historical events into a single night without loosing its significance , despite shifting actual times.

Kambar's skill and craft come at best here. It is a tricky subject and is sensitive in nature. One has to know the historical and religious background of the life and times of Basavanna, to appreciate the play in its power. Kambar uses these symbols cleverly. He builds up the play in shorter acts through the lives of common people, associated with the kingdom or with Saranas. The social structure is changing. Basavanna, defying all the earlier religious norms, encouraged inter caste marriages and social living. The followers of Basavanna is now increasing. It was important for the higher ups in caste and in power to control the growing influence of his people, hence the act of arson and murder. It is to this scene, Kambar turns this mirror towards us, to our present days and era,with clever intentions.

"That's true, My lord. Fresh breeze had begun to blow; and thouse who breathed the fresh air of new life desired change. They declared they were also human. The sacrificial victim got voice and sang 'vachanas'. But your system continued to breathe the same stale air of thousands of years. How can it survive ? Won't you think on these line, my loard?"

The translation (The English translation of this was released in December during the Bangalore Sahityotsava) was smooth for most of the part, and I can guess the difficulties to translate some of the local idioms to English. It did occur a bit vague at places, but was commendable on the whole. The book was written an year ago, and Kambar continue to use the traditional Indian style of Stage act using the time tested methods of old Sanskrit plays of Bhasa and the rest. The "outsiders" ( the mad women in this case), the traditional sutradhara and the vast members of support actors as we see in the plays in India, a vast difference from the modernist drama of the west. As a result, its with large number of cast for this short play, and hence the leading characters Basavanna and the King are thus reduced to a smaller part of the book. Hence, as an act you wouldn't have scope for on stage charisma or improvisation, but as a book, it gives a greater value and strenght to the character of Basavanna, and the importance of the play in the present times.

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Sivaratri ( 2011)

Chandrasekhara Kambara ( translated from Kannada by C N Ramachandran )

Abhinava Imprints

116 Pages
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The Hindu , The night of Awakening

The Bald Soprano and The Lesson - Eugene Ionesco

One of the masters of absurdist play,  Eugene Ionesco was always a playwright I wanted to read. It was thus important to start with his most celebrated plays. The new translations of his two most important plays , could possibly have been the best way to begin. I'm a great fan of the absurdist plays. Having read this book, I am still a bit hazy about the book. While the Lesson was superb and far too easy to comprehend and appreciate, The Bald Soprano was a bit of cause of concern. May be it demand another read.

The Bald Soprano, apparently the first play written and staged by Eugene Ionesco, has a connection with his learning English. Two English families, the Smiths and the Martins ( who visit the formers at their home) , evidently goes through the 'often irrelevant  conversation.  Joining by the local Fire Chief ( supposedly the lover of Mrs. Smith) joins the conversation of the group with his own stupid tales and the collective recital of some meaningless poems.  The trivial conversation turns into a group chant, post the departure of the fire chief, with the team shouting in unison "Dont say they are there. I hear they are here". The play ends with the Martins taing over the role of Smiths with an evident continuation of the same with a newer set of entrants.

The Lesson is more structured in language and flow. While the end is the beginning ( as in the case of The Bald Soprano), its fairly more straight forward. The timid Old Professor receives a new disciple for tuition. As the 'education' and 'testing of the intelligence' continue, the change of attitude and style of the professor takes gradual change, ending with the murder of the student. To me this is more of an actors play. It's the changes in the character progressively altering from timid to a angry , unhappy man  over a short span of time was brilliant., and the confident youth turning into a meek , quiet student.  The third cast , the maid of the Professor, is a silent witness to the whole thing, although she continue to warn the professor, not to take that path of discussion. As expected, the play ends with the beginning , with professor awaiting his next victim.

Both these are one act plays and have this 360 degree continuation of the plot, thus making it a never ending repetitions. Both these, part of his early stages as a playwright, uses the language and conversations as a major tool.  The Bals Soprano is a funny play ( though it comes to us as an Anti-Play) and is with often ridiculous and disconnected dialogues especially towards the end. May be its the inability with the language, the words, that causes the catastrophe. May be he was trying to imply the limitations of language in communicating to one another. They talk, talk nonsense, to themselves and to the audience. While the Lesson ( called a Comic Drama), is nothing comic about it ( except may be the mathematical lessons of counting).  The professors frustrations with his students inability to understand, the anger on his own inability to pass the knowledge turning his frustration to anger resulting in the death of the students. On the students part, the early confidence of her age and youthfulness is slowly giving way to fear as she is exposed to her own limited capabilities. 

The Lesson is brilliant, The Bald Soprano.. well, I don't know yet.
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The Bald Soprano and The Lesson ( 1954)

Eugene Ionesco ( translated from French by Tina Howe 2006)

Grove Press

96 Pages
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The Baldo Soprano, The Lesson

Night of January 16th - Ayn Rand

I am not a great fan of Ayn Rand. Like most I had also gone through the phase of Atlas Shrugged and Fountain head. Hence when some one suggested this play, I was not greatly enthused. This play was a product of her early works of Ayn Rand, much before those two celebrated works.

A court room drama of a murder mystery is with all its possible twists and turns is what is the theme of this play. It cleverly deploy the concept of audience inclusion into the act.  Karen Andre is on trial accused of murdering her employer, erstwhile lover, the business tycoon Bjorn Faulkner. The entire 3 act play , while debating on her part and the judgement there of , on convicting her of murder, also goes through the other possible motives and other conspirators in the theory. Appearing as witnesses to the trial, Faulkners newly married wife ( who employ a private detective to track Bjorn's movements) , his father in law, a billionaire who provided Bjorn with much needed funds for survival, a NY based criminal gang leader and others goes through the upheaval of the cross questioning ordeal between the defence lawyer and the prosecutor.  In the end the selected members of the jury from the audience is expected to decide on the verdict. The play ends with two options depending upon the verdict.

There is all the twists and turns and the changes of fortune to the accused. While on the first read it is not evident that the crime is committed or not and if there are any real motive of murder ( see, I have decided for the jury) , the plot progression is in the very very predictable way and can provide for cheap thrill.

What is more interesting to me is some of the observations in the foreword by the author herself.One concerning the changing of the name of the play from its original name given by the writer herself

The original title of this play was 'Penthouse Legend'. This is still its best title; it gives some indication of the play's non-realistic, symbolic nature.But it was changed twise, first to 'Woman on trial' and then to 'Night of January 16th. In both cases, the producers assured me that my original title would be a serious handicap to the play......... Today, I regret it. Night of january 16th is an empty, meaningless title. It was however, the least offensive one of those suggested to me at the time. I could not change it later; the play had become famous.

and the other on her take on the film adaptation of the play.

'The movie version of this play is another horror story. I had nothing to do with its screen adaptation. There is nothing of mine in that movie,except the names of  some of the characters and the title ( which was also not mine). The only line of dialogue from my play which appears in the movie is 'The court will now adjourn till ten O'clock tomorrow morning". The cheap, trashy, vulgarity of that movie is such that no lengthier discussion is possible to me.'

In all, it was an ok read with some interesting insights about the creation itself by the author. The product wasn't all that impressive. It does not stand in comparison with the other great plays I've read.

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Night of January 16th ( 1933)

Ayn Rand

Signet Books

124 Pages
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Wiki

Six Plays of Strindberg - August Strindberg

The recently concluded Bangalore Theater Festival, staged Stindberg's master piece Miss Julie, performed by an amateur troupe from Delhi. The book was with me for over a month and I thought this was the right time to read Strindberg. Unlike some of the older play you read, what impresses one with these plays are its relevance despite a century passed since they were originally written and staged. This is my first read of strindberg and I guess, these are the best and essential reading of Strindberg.

Six plays in this collection are written between 1887 and 1907 , reflective of his progress as a writer. Though all the plays are good, I was deeply impressed with 'Easter' and 'The Father'. Influences of "Expressionism" and "naturalism" of the 19th century artistic concepts are evident in his plays.

Both 'The Father' and 'Miss Julie' work around the 'battle of sexes' theme, where the feminine gender perceived to be taking upper hand often in the negative shades. In 'The father' we see the husband and wife trying to take control of the life of their only daughter. husband wants to send his daughter away fo rhigher education and the progressive way of living. Fearing , she will loose the hold on her daughter, the wife conjures up plans to scuttle his decision playing around the basic nature of the husband-wife relationship. Her attempt to protect her authority goes as low as creating doubt in his mind about the parentage of the child. She even manages to work around the rest of the crew in making them believe about his mental state and manipulate every one, In then end the father succumbs to the loss of his daughter, his pride and his senses dropping dead with a  heart attack.

Miss Julie, again work on a similar theme. Miss Julie, heir apparent of a wealthy baron, uses her charm to to work her magic with her valet. In her attempt to shake off from the monotonous life and add little fun, she dances at the servants midsummer eve with Jean. The play act get serious with she following him into the kitchen, where Jean's fiancee Christine is cooking. The politics of power thus play out between the trio. For Julie, being the upper class and daughter of the count, has power and control over the others. Jean on the other hand has the male authority over the rest, but also learned through his wide travel across Europe. Christina and Jean are also free from the prejudice of the upper class. The battle for superiority, in subtle form continues through out the night which began with flirtation progressed into a love affair. In the end, unable to shackle out of the maze of existence, the only way out suggest was the suicide of Julie.

Stronger a one-act play is loosely based on his own experience. At the time of writing this play, it wsa said that he was having an affair with a 17 year old actress, while entertaining another two love relationship. However, his wife seems to have stood by him through out this and at the end of each affair he returned back to her. Madame X, middle aged lady trying to save their marriage, by working it out with Mademoiselle Y. A play starts with cordial interaction between two ladies, changes into a powerful monologue of anger, hate and desperation by Madam X, at the end of which she thanks Y for teaching her husband to love.

Starting on a Maundy Thursday through to Easter Eve, "The Easter" goes through the despair and hope of a family riddled with debt , whose future is in the hands of the vicious creditor. To add to their woes, the mentally unstable sister comes back from the sanatorium. As the days progressed, the changes and hopes in their life is visible through the changes in the external world. Winter is over and the ice is melting. Sun is slowly seen in the outside and autumn is setting in. The day of crucification (his father was arrested and jailed for false crime) to the day of resurrection is obvious. To me this setting and the indirect , very subtly symbolic expression of hope was the highlight of the play.

A dream play was very different from the rest. Daughter of Indra ( the leader of Gods as per Hindu Mythology) comes to earth to understand and experience the human predicament. "because I want to know about human being and life-to find out if it is really as hard as they say".  Indra agrees:

Descend and see, and hear, then come again

and tell me if their lamentations

and their complaints are justified

Through several encounters and experiences, she tries to learn and understand the human conditions before returning to heavens. The characters are symbolic and depicts various facets of life. There are people representing various professions and believes, people in different social structure. As is the performance, the characters emerge, dissolve change shape in accordance to the scene.

The Ghost sonata, an experimental play is much more complex in nature. An accidental encounter of a student, who apparently performed a brave deed, with an old man changes their lives for ever, On the invitation from the Old man, he accepts to attend the dinner at the colonels residence where he meets a hoard of characters each expresses their life experiences. It is here he realises, after falling in love with the colonel's daughter, that he has ended up in a dead house. I guess, there could be various interpretations and understanding of this play. I could also sense some continuation from 'the Easter' in few characters and schemes.

Phenomenal set of plays from one of the masters of modern theater. The eternal relevance of his theme makes these play enjoyable even after 100s of years.

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Six Plays of Strindberg ( The Father(1887), Miss Julie( 1888), The Stronger(1889) , Easter(1900), A Dream Play(1901), The Ghost Sonata (1907) )

August Strindberg ( translated from Swedish by Elizabeth Sprigge 1955)

Anchor Books

304 Pages
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http://www.theaterpro.com/Strindberg.html

The Rival - Richard B Sheridan

Rich hero and even more richer heroine. However, heroine hate richness and wants to marry someone who do it not for her fortune, but some one who loves her. She is willing to leave every thing and live with him,if need be, in condition which are not of her status. Here come the suitors, most of them undoubtedly for her wealth. Knowing her intentions, hero comes in disguise as a no one, poor in wealth but rich in charm. He play the duality of characters in his impeccable style in front of the lady he love ( however the audience is aware of his disguise, but they like to see her falling for his conceit). The plot reveals itself ( you can invent any possible reasons), there is anger and sense of cheating and the lovers fight. In the end, every thing is clear and clean and they come together again and live together happily. Haven't we seen this in various forms and style and interpretation through out many generation of artists?

Richard Sheridan's master piece, written and originally performed in 1775, possibly would be the first of the same, which numerous other less capable artists and directors shamelessly tried to give their own version. Lydia Languish, heir apparent of a huge wealth, is determined to marry someone who is not doing it for her fortune. She is currently under the suppotr and guidance of her aunt Mrs. Malaprop. If she decides to disobey and marry on her accord, half of her wealth will be lost. Mrs. Malaprop is trying to find her the right boy, as the girl is grown and started showing tendencies of rebellion of girls of her age like reading books from libraries, Baron, Sir Anthony Absolute wants his son, currently serving the Royal Army to marry her and are in advanced discussion with Mrs. Malaprop. The overall confusion prevail as he speak to his sone about the proposal while he on the other side flirting with the same lady in disguise. There are other suitors, and a villainous Irish Baron Sir Lucious O'Trigger to cause further complication. As is expected, every thing clears out in the end for the lovers to join and live together.

Reading the book after nearly three centuries, still gives you the charm of a major works. However, the impact , I think, could be more on stage, for its dramatic moments and postures than one experience while reading. Sheridan wanted to write a comedy and including the selection of names, the plot, the schemes were obvious to have a comical effect. He might have crossed the line with the Irish back ground of Lucious O'Trigger, when his first show was interrupted by unruly audience and had be stopped. The same was modified, reducing some of his rhetoric, before re-launching the same in 15 days. Since then ,this has been one of the most staged plays in the modern era, changing his fortune forever.This book also gave a new word to English dictionary as 'malapropism'.

The book does not give you enough to justify the dual role of Ensign Beverly and Captain Absolute to the readers satisfaction. The conversations, however are to the true nature of the characters. The ploy is open in the first page and no curiosity is carried. However, the dramatic moments are galore, with various conversations between Anthony Absolute, Ensign Beverly, Mrs Malaprop and Lydia. As said before, an on stage version will have better appeal than the book.

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The Rivals ( 1775)

Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Nick Hern Books

98 Pages
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Encyclopedia Britannica , Project Gutenberg, Wiki Entry

The Room and The Dumb Waiter - Harold Pinter

The room, originally written and played in 1957 is the first work of Harold Pinter. The familiar absurd, ambiguous yet disturbing plots and scenes did originate from his earliest work itself. Having read a few of his plays already, I guess this was easier to get into. However, the same disturbing conversations( and monologues), the end page twists and the contradicting narratives makes it very interesting to read. While not getting into the summary, one can get the glimpses of the 'suffocating life' that Rose and Bert living in the small room. Her constant reassurance of her life with cosiness and the warmth of the room, is enough to make it obvious that the reality is the opposite. Never leaving her room, she take solace in her state of mind with the status of others. Captive and restrained her movement within the room by her husband, while he takes his evening drive, Bert is trying to protect her from something. The arrival of the mysterious man living in the basement, creates curiosity in her when he sends across his intention to meet her, through the land owner. The Blind Negro Riley, comes up to the room, while Bert was away, asking her to "come home to her father". A possible escape from her detained life to the open world, which she possibly had lived before her living with Bert. In the end, Bert returns after his evening drive and murders the Blind Negro, possibly to protect Rose from her disturbing past ( which few theories associate Rose to be a prostitute and the Blind Negro her pimp).

The dumb waiter, to me is more profound in its arrangement. Two supposedly hit-men are waiting in a room in the basement for their job assignment. The hierarchy of the two member team is clear with Ben acting as the senior member and Gus the junior. The wait is perennial, and while there Gus is questioning Ben on their job, even their role in the assignment, when Ben is immersed in the newspaper, often reading few snippets ot Gus. As the tension mounts, between them , there is a mysterious 'dumb waiter' the floor above, who sends across food orders to the duo down below. Surprised over the choice, two men, sends across the few food items that left with them, which has no co-relation to what was asked. As the tension increases with the wait, the duo gets to physical assault. Through the waiters 'talking tube' comes the signal , while Gus is in the bathroom, about the arrival of the victim. In typical Pinter style, it turns out that, as Gus enters into the room, he is the one who are to be eliminated by Ben. It is sort of evident that the instigators of violence are the victims of the game, at the end. I've read elsewhere that the caste was two Irish actors as the hit-men, giving it a political angle.

Small book, with two of his early plays, is the typical Pinter affair, which I like. Absurd, often comical conversations, the gallant twist to the end and the after effect that linger over a long time. Fabulous.

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The Room and The Dumb Waiter ( 1957/1959)

Harold Pinter

Methuen Co Ltd

71 Pages
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Wiki - Dumb Waiter, Wiki - The Room , Guardian, The Crimson

Six Characters in Search of an Author and Other Plays - Luigi Pirandello

Luigi Pirandello, Italian Play-wright was in the fore front in establishing the direction of 20th century drama and theater. To many one of the initial practitioner of the 'modernism' in literature and a strong leader of the 'absurdist' plays. Winner of the nobel Prize in 1924, pretty son after two of his most reputed and celebrated plays were written and staged in 1921. Haven't read none of his works earlier, this compilation of the-most-known plays of Luigi Pirandello was a welcome receipt. I had to make some amends to my rather poor reading of plays in general. Three plays, translated by Mark Musa is compiled in this book. His most famous and controversial "Six Characters in Search of an Author", Henri IV and "So it is (of you think so)" are considered some of his best.

Six Characters..., starts with the the rehearsal of one of Pirandello's play by his theater group with the director leading the artists and the support staff to the stage. Six characters , member of a family literally invade the stage, demanding their story to be taken up and written. The leader of them, the Father, tells the director that their story is unrealised and they need some one to conclude. Intrigued by the scenario, Director give them the chance to narrate. The family story of betray and the complex relationship between father, mother, their son, the second marriage of the mother and her daughter all comes at once to narrate their part of the tale. The act of switching between the characters and the actors who are expected to portray them begin. the reality and the realisation now get entangled, as the characters wanted them to be appropriately portrayed.

Cant you see all the trouble lies here ! In the words ! All of us have a world full of things inside us, each of us his own world of things! How can we understand one another, sir, if in the words I speak I put the meaning and the value of things as I myself see them, while the one who listens inevitably takes them according to the meaning and the value he has in himself of the world he has inside of himself.

The play is more than the structural and theatrical possibility of the extension of the boundaries of the stage. To me it also examines the unknown or unspoken relationship between the characters, the actors who portray them, the theater hands including the director and the audience. In the whole sequence of performance, each owe to play their own parts to perfection.

According to Pirandello, the interpreted meaning of the characters being portrayed on stage has more truth than the character's reality. Its is the realization of the characters through the artist completes their existence.

miracle of a reality that is born, evoked,attracted and formed on the stage itself and which has more right to live here than all of you, because it is much truer than you ?

But for an author, he only have to let the characters do the task of telling the story, he is merely someone who documents what the characters do independently.

When characters are alive, truly alive before their author, he has only to follow them in their words and actions which they precisely suggest to him... When the character is born, he immediately assumes so much independence, even from his own author..

In the theatrical experiment, Six characters has much larger scope of expansion.

Henri IV ( enrico IV ) , looks at the madness of an actor resulted from a fatal fall from the horse. Believing himself to be the 11th century King Henri IV, he was looked after under a closely guarded room, with his relatives imbibing the appropriate characters to match his illusion. Having spent 20 years thus, his family is trying to revive him and bring him back to normalcy, with the help of a doctor. As the scene progresses, it become unclear to the readers and audience, on who is insane. Henri IV, declares to his helpers that he is indeed sane, and he is getting the rest to act to his will by behaving this way and he believe it is better to act insane in the 20th century and live in the world created by him, than to live among the others who believe themselves to be sane.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I am cured because I know how to play the part of the madman to perfection, right here; and I do it quietly. The trouble with you is that you live in your own madness with such agitation that you do not even know of see it !

The subject is very interesting and can be interpreted and modelled to the time and place of its stage. Once you are prepared to play the role of insane, the rest appears to be in your control. It is you who decide the roles and actions of those around you. So, for the 'Henri IV' , he prefer to remain insane, even after he reveal his true nature to his assistants. Now, the true nature is known, he goes back to the role he chose for himself. I find this idea brilliant and the narrative multi layered and with scope of multiple scope of interpretation and understanding.

So it is, tracks the Ponza family mystery through the prying and curious eyes of the town people. Ponza, moving into the town as a clerk to the Governor , having lost the entire relatives in a natural disaster. He also brings his mother in law to the town and place her in the room in the same compound as his superior. He along with his wife moves into an apartment located in the 9th floor of a nearby building. The rumour spread on the mother and daughter and their relation. According to the gossip, mother and daughter do not meet each other and the son, being the only link between them divides his time between the mother-in-law and his wife. Various theories emerge and the lady folks in town in general are curious. It is now become the responsibility of the authorities to demystify this to the public. The complication starts with the version of mother in law and the Son, both claiming the other to be mentally instable and they are acting this way to keep the other in their current belief. Ponza claims that the lady's daughter, whom he had married, had died long ago and he had married for second time. however, knowing the medical condition of his erstwhile mother-in-law, he wants to keep things as it is with the lady, pretending to be married to her daughter. Bringing them together, can unveil the whole build up thus causing unwanted issue. However, according to the mother-in-law, the illness is to the son, and her daughter and she had planned to this to keep him sane, getting him married to the same women twice. As the listeners are divided in their opinion, convinced with the respective versions, the Governor now get involved to solve the mystery, summoning the wife of Ponza.

Pirandello is a master in extending the possibilities of the stage beyond its construct. Six characters explore this possibility brilliantly. The characters and audience and the behind the stage hands all become part of the experiment. Characters claims that they have an identity and the artists are only trying to portray only part of it. Written almost a century ago, and having seen its imitation in various forms, I thought it still has a freshness that is unique. Henri IV, to me stands much better in terms of its adaptability and interpretation. The often blurred line of sanity and insanity is examined here brilliantly through the character Henri IV. Who is acting sane and who is really insane is becoming subjective to the time, space and the situation. 'So it is' is more dramatic and appears as cheap suspense thriller. It goes through the melodrama , the anti-climax and the reflection on the of the society ( which is not new) in typical theatrical style.

Both Six characters and Henri IV is written after some he had some personal tragedies. His daughter attempted suicide and his wife went insane towards the end of second decade of the 1900s. These personal tragedies supposed to have hugely influenced his creative output during which some of his all time great works are originated. Outstanding..

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Six Characters in Search of an Author and Other Plays ( 1921)

Luigi Pirandello ( translated from Italian by Mark Musa 1995)

Penguin Books

206 Pages
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The Government inspector ( Play) & Five stories - Nikolai Gogol

Chanced upon an old book published by Raduga Publishers (when the erstwhile USSR had an influence in these parts of the world ), with a relative of mine. Interesting combination of one of the famous play ( The Government inspector) and five of the popular short stories of one of the most popular writer in the 19th century Russia, Nikolai Gogol ( along with Pushkin and  Checkov ).

The Government Inspector, written in 1834, is supposed to be written after an anecdote by Pushkin, takes on the St.Petersburg aristocracy and the government machinery in general under the Tsar's rule.  After the first performance of this play in 1836, the Tsar Nicolas I, supposed to have commented "Hmm, what a play! Gets at everyone, and most of all at me!"

A remote town bureaucracy, is shaken one day by the news that a government officer under disguise is arriving in the town. The clandestine operation, the feared, is to witness and report the corruption and wrong doings of the officials to St.Petersburg. The who and who, of the bureaucracy under the leadership of the local mayor had an emergency meeting to take the necessary steps, to welcome the unknown visitor. This includes, hiding their petty crimes of corruption, cleaning up of the town, making sure that the prominent places like the jail, the school, the local hospital , the court etc are in clean and presentable.

Soon, it was reported by two local land owners ( Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky) that the local inn have a distinguished guest, with suspicious behaviour. They have concluded that , he is the inspector, and a delegation under the leadership of the Mayor goes to receive him. The guest, Ivan Alexandrovich Khlestakov, a St.Petersburg clerk is having a tough time with the inn-keeper, for not having paid any money for this stay and food so far. The inn-keeper refuses to feed him and threatens to take action. To this scene comes the Mayor and team. On Mayor's insistence Khlestakov, agrees to stay in the house of the Mayor as his official guest. Having realised that he was mistaken for some senior official, he decides to play along and make merry. In the brief time in the house, he manages to collect a large sum of money from various people, flirts with the Mayor's wife and daughter ( promising to marry her) , and fled the place taking the best horses available.

The five short stories collectively called as "St.Petersburg Stories". Like the play above, here too, Gogol focussed his satire on the St,Petersburg society.   Nevsky Prospekt talks about the glitter and glamour of uptown St Petersburg and the temptation of two youths. Piskareve, a young artist, falls in love with a beauty who turns out to be a prostitute. He commits suicide in the end. While Pirogov, the lieutenant survives his life after his love with a German immigrant, only to be despatched by her husband.  Second story 'The Nose' is  absurd and funny. Collegiate Assessor Kovalev, realises one morning, that he has lost his nose. The place where it belonged, is now empty and ugly. His attempts to find out and get the nose back in its place is the event of the story. Kovalev, has seen the nose walking on the streets and he failed to collect him and get him on its original place. His attempt to put an advertisement in the herald was rejected, for the fear of public by the editor, his attempt to file a complaint at the authorities was also failed. In the meanwhile, his barber finds the nose, in his soup the same morning. He was unable to recollect any incident while shaving him the previous morning. 

The Great coat and the Portrait are the best of the stories.  Akaky Akakievich Bushmachkin, is a short man, and is the target for his colleagues jeer and ridicule. All day he sits at one place in the office and copy papers. His only materialistic need is to have a new coat. His existing coat is so old and worn out, that the threads are not able to hold together. his tailor refuses to fix the coat saying any attempts to correct this will only make things worse. He suggest that a new coat be made.  So, he starve and collect money from his meagre earning and finally the coat is made. His happiness was short lived as he was robbed of his coat. His desperate attempt to seek help from the authorities failed as "the important personage" was not willing to listen. Despair and cold lead to his death. Poprischin, of Diary of a madman , is like the characters of the other stories, is poor and insignificant. But he wonders why there is so much unjust in this world. Why is all the good things goes only to the generals, he asks. This in fact is the crux of Gogol's writing. Gogol, looks at things from the poor man's angle and uses his writings to ask the questions to the society and the authorities.

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The Government Inspector & Five Short Stories ( 1834-1840)

Nikolai Gogol  ( translated from Russian by Christopher English & Gordon McDougall )

Raduga Publishers , Moscow

318 Pages

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Four Plays - Gunter Grass

I havent read any works of Gunter Grass and he is not famous for his plays. Nonetheless, I have this book with me and it had been a while since I read a play. Gunter Grass started his writing career as a poet and a play write prior to his popularity as a novelist. These four plays were written during the 50s , as Germany was recovering itself from the WW II.

Flood: Noah with the help of his co-sister are trying to rescue what is the only valuable he has from the raising flood. His daughter and her boyfriend are on the floor above unconcerned about the events down frolicking and multiplying ( as Noah puts it), waiting for the flood to recede. Still above in the on the terrace are two mice, staying hungry. To this comes Noah's estranged son and his friend, for a temporary relief from rain. Against the natural disaster is where the team trying to cop up with. There is anguish, there is also hope of the stop of rain with receding of flood. 4 pairs are in act against the odds affecting their life. For Noah and his co-sister, it is recovering what they have earned over the years, for Yetta and her girlfreind, it is time to be together, waiting for the sunshine days, for the rat couple it is the survival , for Leo and his buddy, it is the temporary halt from their adventure, to start again from where it began.

Mister, Mister : Loosely based on a serial killer, who gets himself tormented by the innocence of childhood. Cunningly, constructed, moving from scene to scene with Broilin playing his acts of a murderer. It is in front of the youngsters where he is out of his wits, unable to handle the questions of two teenagers.

Ten minute to buffalo, is a short play about two engine drivers, in their stationary wagon, with the illusionary speeding across the landscape.

Wicked cooks, talks about the remedial recipe, to bring back the days of glory of the set of cooks. The Count, is supposed to have the secret. They will go to any extend to get it. They are willing to separate the lovers Sheen and the Nurse to achieve this. All the plotting and planning to get this does not yield result, even after sending the nurse to tender to The count as his lady. But the effort ends with the suicide of the count by shooting himself and the nurse ( presumably, as there were two shots heard !), with only input, that the ingredient of a good recipe, is "experience of a lifetime".

Four absurdist plays from the initial days of the writing career of a prolific author of twentieth century. Typical of plays, use of the minimum use of words, each sentences carry its own power and weight.
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Four Plays ( Flood, Mister Mister, Only ten minutes to Buffalo, The wicked cooks)
Gunter Grass ( Translated from German by Ralph Manheim and Leslie Willson)
Harvest Books
289 Pages
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Few reviews about the on stage adaptation of these plays ; mister,mister ; flood ; the wicked cooks

Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf - Edward Albee

Edward Albee's 1962 play, Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf , is one gem of a piece. Very powerful and emotional, extremely disturbing at the same time. A play in 3 acts over one night among two couple, one middle aged and the other young. Nick and Honey comes to the house of George and Martha as guests one night, after an evening party hosted by Martha's father and the owner of the institution where George and Nick works. As the night grew over them, and the alcohol consumption, the game of humiliation and insult and the internal struggle among the families are brought forward in all its dirty form. As it takes turn from one participant to the other to be the victim of the hour, bringing people to the verge of breakdown and physical abuse. A night long battle, betrayal , confrontations and mental torture makes every one exposed , and reconcile as the day break upon them.

Both Martha and George has to let out their accumulated bitterness of life. They both carry a huge burden of their past. Martha, a fathers daughter, grown up without her mother. Every attempt of her life to come out of the influence of her father failed. A failed first marriage, the compromise marriage with George who is six years younger to please her father and her subsequent failure in realising George to challenge her father. She wanted George to be smarter, take the reign of her fathers empire, to stand up to her father. To her disappointment, George failed to grow to that stature. Their inability to conceive and have children, which is her last resort in settling with her father only adds to the pain. George on the other hand has his on baggage to get rid off. His parents are died ( I killed them , he says) when he was young. Taking the moral responsibility of the death, he even writes a novel with this as a theme, only to be ridiculed and trashed by his father-in-law. His emotional and physical impotency plays a major role in his relationship with his wife and the world. In the end he invents a "son" for them and kills him in an accident as he has written in his novel, to decisively conclude the issue of potency and child with his wife and to succumbs to the fate. Even under this circumstance, we can see the glimpses of the fondness and affection between them surfacing often.

I cry alllll the time; but deep inside, so no one can see me. I cry all the time. And George cries all the time, too. We both cry all the time, and then, what we do, we cry, and we take our tears and we put 'em in the ice box, in the goddamn ice trays until they are frozen and then...we put them ... in our drinks.

The insult and abuse does not spare anyone. In the second act, it turns towards Nick and Honey, exposing them with the bitter truth of their life. The story of Nick and Honey is not very different. They too are fighting the battle of of their own. Honey doesn't want a child but to remain a child herself. They know each other from childhood, and eventually marry each other. As the act progresses, they too comes out vulnerable and unhappy over the turn of things. They are not only witnessing the war between the other couple, but the're witnessing their own future unfolding.

This is one play with multiple interpretation possible. It could be a family drama or anger, frustration and despair, where the hidden feelings are brought to the open by the situation. There was also one interpretation here comparing it to the cold war era, the stand off between US and USSR. One of the idea could be to bring out the conflicts, turmoil, hope and despair of the people, hidden beneath their appearance, thus giving them the relief. At the end, as everyone is bruised and battered, the life opens to a new dawn.

One fantastic book, and regret not giving enough of my reading time on plays over the years.
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Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf ?
Edward Albee
Pocket Books
242 Pages
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Here are two superb essays on this book by Bill Johnson and Shirley Galloway

The Living Room - Graham Greene

Multi-storied building, where most of the rooms are closed, currently occupied by three old people. Two sisters ( Theresa and Helen)and their wheel-chaired brother James ( a Priest by profession), assisted by Mary a paid per hour servant.

Rose, a twenty year old, is brought back to her aunts and uncle after the death of her mother by a friend of her father(died long ago). What receives her here are the closed rooms and the catholic aunts with closed mind. After the death of any member of the house the room is closed permanently for reason not known to any; ( Quote: " I always think of ghosts, the dead who cant sleep"). The entire action takes place in the one available Living Room.

Rose, and Michael , post the funeral of her mother had chosen to stay at the village for the night before coming over to her aunts, having a little affair. Michael , nurturing an unhappy marriage, finds love in the young Rose against the Catholic believes of the aunts. Rose wanted to leave the house with Michael, and by various cunning tactics in the pretext of religion, Helen manages to stop them. She makes Theresa ill, forcing Rose to stay on until she is recovered, later brings the wife of Michael to the house causing a scene, playing with the vulnerabilities of people. Defeated, Rose commit suicide , consuming sleeping pills left over by Mrs. Michael. The Living Room is also has to be closed now, after the death of Rose. Limiting the free movement of the remaining people to the constrict of two rooms.

The play is short and covered under 4 acts. The first 2 acts of Rose's arrival with Richards one evening and the next morning and the second a similar afternoon and the next morning after three weeks.

While there are no obvious bad characters here, most of the characters are very sharp and distinct. To me Helen stands out. She acts according to her belief routed in Catholic practices and does not approve love and affair outside the marriage. The Fact that Rose is a 20 yr old and Michael is a 45 yr old married man, does not stand good in the court of religious justice. She does not approve their relationship and plots everything possible to thwart the same. She send the maid Mary to Spy on them at their secret rendezvous place at every afternoon, she manages to inform the wife of Michael and stages a show of suicide and cries, gets Theresa to believe that she is sick and falling and need nursing by Rose to prevent her from leaving. While her acts looks very villainous, her intentions were pure and in accordance with her religious belief. The fact that Michael is not a Catholic can only add more vigour to her acts.

Michael is another difficult character. An unsatisfied husband, no love with his wife after the death of their child. Works as a Lecturer of Phycology in the University , where "he can understand the mind, and not love the mind". Rose was a seduction for him on the night of the funeral. As the 'executor' of the will, and the friend of her father, he also had the proximity and authority to her, however the family tried to stop him. But he also realises, that he is not able to abandon his wife. He consoles himself that 'she will not do anything stupid, she will be at home' after her dramatised attempt to commit suicide. While his love for Rose is strong, he is unable to take any bold decisions in its favour. The closest he is coming is to take time till "the day after tomorrow".

Father James, is the less Catholic of the three old. He is more in the realistic world and is considerate to both Michael and Rose's feeling. But he does not loose his believes. He is also not happy about the closed rooms where the ancestors are died. He does not subscribe to the reasoning of Helen. He is able to think more clearly in both religious and philosophical way. He is the only one who can engage in conversation with every other character.

Theresa is a lost soul. All she can do is sympathise. He existence depends on the support of Helen. Helen decided her actions. She takes the responsibilities for the undue behaviour towards Rose. "..I seemed to frighten her. It's a nice house. We aren't bad people. I don't know why there should be so much fear around."

Rose, is young and live. She is at an age where she is not intelligent, and she is not the raw. She need help and she need love. She fails to get any from all. To Michael she is only a passing seduction. For the Aunts, she is the protection of the family values and name. Father James, can only advise her to prey. She gets followed and spied on. She gets accused of breaking up families. She is an orphan in all senses.

Fantastic play in mere 80 odd pages. As Director Perter Glenville explains in the introduction, "This play is not for or against Catholics , it's about them - or rather about certain individuals Catholics who find themselves in a terrible dilemma; a dilemma pushed to its farthest limit ". As Father James remarks , "You see it's nearness to God that withers a man up. We are all such long comfortable distance away."

While this play was a huge success in London, where it ran for 38 weeks, it was failure at the broadway according to this report. The first play by Graham Greene , is an outstanding piece of work.

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The Living Room
Graham Greene
Penguin Books
87 Pages
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More Read : Guardian