Author: Seema Sirohi
Publication: Outlook
Date: August 29, 2011
URL: http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?278055
Introduction: The Ramayana gets a very American
makeover. Does the flavour survive the melting pot?
It is Ramayana lite, a short and sassy interpretation
of the ancient epic, which transports instantly, teaches variously and satisfies
ultimately. Can the whole wisdom and vastness of the Ramayana be distilled
into a two-hour, 15-minute play staged on a minimalist set inside a small
theatre by a US theatre company? The answer is a most resounding 'Yes'.
The Constellation Theater Company, a relatively
new entrant on the scene but already an award-winner, has created a distinct
buzz with The Ramayana, drawing mainstream American audiences and enjoying
the benefits of the prevalent "India is cool" mood. The play has
sold out on its second run, the critics are wowed and director Allison Stockman
can't stop smiling. Vivid, energetic and funny, it is a dramatic burst of
an adventure, different but accessible. No time to catch your breath as action
piles upon action, divinity collides with the dark side and a monkey army
performs its duty. Sugreeva and his band even break into rap, leaping into
the present. But the production's periodic one-liner wisdom keeps audiences
rooted in the experience of watching something sacred.
The masks and costumes of the demons are artistic,
yet edgy, with Soorpanakha and her clique sporting a modern-day slutty look.
Jim Jorgensen as Ravana nails the difficult meld of evil and frivolity with
ease. Resplendent in his silk achkan, it is, quite literally, a case of the
devil wearing Prada. Misty Demory as Mandodari, Ravana's wife, manages to
convey her inherent goodness in the circle of evil as she pleads Sita's case.
Rama is played by Andreu Honeycutt, a blue-dyed African-American, who oddly
enough roams the forest in silk, not a dhoti. Hanuman is touching and complex,
especially when he stands at the ocean's edge, slowly realising his power
and potential to fly.
Stockman said when she was looking to mount
an "ensemble play with innovative visual design", which would harness
the incredible music-making talents of Tom Teasley, a one-man band, she had
not even heard of the Ramayana. But once someone suggested it, she found the
story to be universal in its appeal. A student of comparative religion at
Princeton, she was at home with Christianity, Buddhism and Judaism but Hinduism
was wholly new to her.
"Rama is God in human form. He reminded
me of Jesus," says Stockman. "To me, the monkeys represented humanity
and Rama brings out the best in them. The response (to the production) has
been very positive and it is a powerful story." She chose British playwright
Peter Oswald's adaptation, first performed by the Birmingham Repertory Theatre
in 2001 to critical acclaim.
To condense ancient epics is to invite the
possibility of committing blunders that are just as epic. Oswald's The Ramayana
is a smart and quick take, encapsulating all the essentials-devotion, duty,
loyalty, courage. It picks up the story from Rama's exile and ends with Sita's
agni pariksha. It simplifies, sometimes too much, but manages to convey the
rich metaphors so comfortably familiar to most Indians. Some jarring changes
do grate-Soorpanakha's breasts, not her nose and ears, are cut off by Lakshmana.
At times the language is offensive, especially in a scene when Ravana's son
Indrajeet describes, in graphic detail, imaginary encounters between Sita
and his father to incite Lakshmana. In Oswald's defence, he's trying to create
the starkly different worlds of gods and demons and the truth of both must
be conveyed. Ravana brings out the dichotomy himself when, while wooing Sita,
he asks: "Is Rama God? Then what is God? Not perfect. Since he created
me, the great wrongdoer! So his own imperfection will destroy him! But what
is God? A wish requiring proof. I prove myself each moment of the day by acting
on my desires as they occur."
Some Indian-Americans took exception to the
play when it was first staged last year-to full houses-but comments on the
theatre's website have thankfully been civil. A particularly outraged member
said Oswald had "humanised" Rama to such a degree that his divinity
were lessened. It is true that when Ravana's fellow demons are talking of
Rama and Sita, they use the basest of imagery. At one point, a she-demon describes
Rama's insatiable appetite for women: "He needs a million every day,
a dancing naked milky way."
But as Gaurav Gopalan, the Indian dramaturge
who helped with the production, explains, such scenes-and there are only a
couple-are effective precisely because they "do justice to the moment".
There is nothing tasteful about the kidnapping of Sita and what follows. "The
cringe reaction is appropriate. We must remember that just as good thoughts
empower good people, bad thoughts empower demons." Gopalan, who has directed
the Washington Shakespeare Company and is passionate about Indian culture,
familiarised Stockman and the cast with the Ramayana, its message and nuances.
He says he didn't like the script at first but it gradually "grew"
on him.
"Oswald has taken some liberties but
he has tried to get at the essence. If it were done the way we do it in India,
the cultural references would not convey and the metaphors won't translate
in an effective manner," Gopalan says. Though there have been pockets
of criticism from the community, Indian-Americans who ventured to see it,
by and large, felt the adaptation met the tough standards of interpreting
a layered Hindu epic into a language westerners could understand while retaining
the 'Hindu-ness', if you will. To complain, as some have, about there being
no Indian actors is like saying only a Levantine should essay Jesus in any
Indian production.
Stockman's production is a feast for both
the mind and the eyes, moving effortlessly on the rails of live music by Teasley,
who conjures up a medley of sounds, including Indian beats, on an array of
instruments. Sitting calmly in a corner, Teasley creates the winds, the ocean,
the battle and the drama, all aiding to transport the audience to another
place and another time. It's clear why he was the recepient of the prestigious
Helen Hayes award this year for outstanding sound design for The Ramayana.
On opening night, an American professor was
heard telling Stockman that she should now tackle the Mahabharata. While that
implies India is merely a passing fad, the suggestion represents a genuine
interest in its cultural wealth.
Title: Setu on The Potomac
Author: Seema Sirohi
Publication: Outlook
Date: August 29, 2011
URL: http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?278055
Introduction: The Ramayana gets a very American
makeover. Does the flavour survive the melting pot?
It is Ramayana lite, a short and sassy interpretation
of the ancient epic, which transports instantly, teaches variously and satisfies
ultimately. Can the whole wisdom and vastness of the Ramayana be distilled
into a two-hour, 15-minute play staged on a minimalist set inside a small
theatre by a US theatre company? The answer is a most resounding 'Yes'.
The Constellation Theater Company, a relatively
new entrant on the scene but already an award-winner, has created a distinct
buzz with The Ramayana, drawing mainstream American audiences and enjoying
the benefits of the prevalent "India is cool" mood. The play has
sold out on its second run, the critics are wowed and director Allison Stockman
can't stop smiling. Vivid, energetic and funny, it is a dramatic burst of
an adventure, different but accessible. No time to catch your breath as action
piles upon action, divinity collides with the dark side and a monkey army
performs its duty. Sugreeva and his band even break into rap, leaping into
the present. But the production's periodic one-liner wisdom keeps audiences
rooted in the experience of watching something sacred.
The masks and costumes of the demons are artistic,
yet edgy, with Soorpanakha and her clique sporting a modern-day slutty look.
Jim Jorgensen as Ravana nails the difficult meld of evil and frivolity with
ease. Resplendent in his silk achkan, it is, quite literally, a case of the
devil wearing Prada. Misty Demory as Mandodari, Ravana's wife, manages to
convey her inherent goodness in the circle of evil as she pleads Sita's case.
Rama is played by Andreu Honeycutt, a blue-dyed African-American, who oddly
enough roams the forest in silk, not a dhoti. Hanuman is touching and complex,
especially when he stands at the ocean's edge, slowly realising his power
and potential to fly.
Stockman said when she was looking to mount
an "ensemble play with innovative visual design", which would harness
the incredible music-making talents of Tom Teasley, a one-man band, she had
not even heard of the Ramayana. But once someone suggested it, she found the
story to be universal in its appeal. A student of comparative religion at
Princeton, she was at home with Christianity, Buddhism and Judaism but Hinduism
was wholly new to her.
"Rama is God in human form. He reminded
me of Jesus," says Stockman. "To me, the monkeys represented humanity
and Rama brings out the best in them. The response (to the production) has
been very positive and it is a powerful story." She chose British playwright
Peter Oswald's adaptation, first performed by the Birmingham Repertory Theatre
in 2001 to critical acclaim.
To condense ancient epics is to invite the
possibility of committing blunders that are just as epic. Oswald's The Ramayana
is a smart and quick take, encapsulating all the essentials-devotion, duty,
loyalty, courage. It picks up the story from Rama's exile and ends with Sita's
agni pariksha. It simplifies, sometimes too much, but manages to convey the
rich metaphors so comfortably familiar to most Indians. Some jarring changes
do grate-Soorpanakha's breasts, not her nose and ears, are cut off by Lakshmana.
At times the language is offensive, especially in a scene when Ravana's son
Indrajeet describes, in graphic detail, imaginary encounters between Sita
and his father to incite Lakshmana. In Oswald's defence, he's trying to create
the starkly different worlds of gods and demons and the truth of both must
be conveyed. Ravana brings out the dichotomy himself when, while wooing Sita,
he asks: "Is Rama God? Then what is God? Not perfect. Since he created
me, the great wrongdoer! So his own imperfection will destroy him! But what
is God? A wish requiring proof. I prove myself each moment of the day by acting
on my desires as they occur."
Some Indian-Americans took exception to the
play when it was first staged last year-to full houses-but comments on the
theatre's website have thankfully been civil. A particularly outraged member
said Oswald had "humanised" Rama to such a degree that his divinity
were lessened. It is true that when Ravana's fellow demons are talking of
Rama and Sita, they use the basest of imagery. At one point, a she-demon describes
Rama's insatiable appetite for women: "He needs a million every day,
a dancing naked milky way."
But as Gaurav Gopalan, the Indian dramaturge
who helped with the production, explains, such scenes-and there are only a
couple-are effective precisely because they "do justice to the moment".
There is nothing tasteful about the kidnapping of Sita and what follows. "The
cringe reaction is appropriate. We must remember that just as good thoughts
empower good people, bad thoughts empower demons." Gopalan, who has directed
the Washington Shakespeare Company and is passionate about Indian culture,
familiarised Stockman and the cast with the Ramayana, its message and nuances.
He says he didn't like the script at first but it gradually "grew"
on him.
"Oswald has taken some liberties but
he has tried to get at the essence. If it were done the way we do it in India,
the cultural references would not convey and the metaphors won't translate
in an effective manner," Gopalan says. Though there have been pockets
of criticism from the community, Indian-Americans who ventured to see it,
by and large, felt the adaptation met the tough standards of interpreting
a layered Hindu epic into a language westerners could understand while retaining
the 'Hindu-ness', if you will. To complain, as some have, about there being
no Indian actors is like saying only a Levantine should essay Jesus in any
Indian production.
Stockman's production is a feast for both
the mind and the eyes, moving effortlessly on the rails of live music by Teasley,
who conjures up a medley of sounds, including Indian beats, on an array of
instruments. Sitting calmly in a corner, Teasley creates the winds, the ocean,
the battle and the drama, all aiding to transport the audience to another
place and another time. It's clear why he was the recepient of the prestigious
Helen Hayes award this year for outstanding sound design for The Ramayana.
On opening night, an American professor was
heard telling Stockman that she should now tackle the Mahabharata. While that
implies India is merely a passing fad, the suggestion represents a genuine
interest in its cultural wealth.
