Showing since 1955

One of India’s oldest English-language theatre groups, The Madras Players, turns to Pakistani literature for their latest production.

When Girish Karnad in the 1960s worked as an actor, director and translator with The Madras Players, the works of Harold Pinter, Samuel Beckett and George Bernard Shaw were brought to stage.

After 54 uninterrupted years of play, The Madras Players — one of India’s oldest English-language theatre groups — continues to perform adaptations of the works of celebrated authors and playwrights. In the last few years, it has also taken into its repertoire a range of popular contemporary fiction.

Last month, Chennai saw the premiere of R K Narayan’s Swami and Friends, directed by Aruna Ganesh Ram and adapted by Manasi Subramaniam. The next work to be  adapted will be Pakistani novelist Shandana Minhas’s recent book, Tunnel Vision, incidentally published by an Indian publisher.

The book based in Karachi, features the the story of young and single Ayesha Siddiqui. The story intrigued Nikhila Kesavan, who then adapted it for stage, which she will also be directing.

Kesavan is a 28-year-old theatre enthusiast who works in a public relations firm in Chennai, but dedicates most of her spare time to theatre and The Madras Players. “I like to work with urban contexts, adaptations in particular. I read a lot of contemporary literature looking for stories. In Tunnel Vision, I was surprised to find that the modern Pakistani woman is no different from [women] in India. It was like reading my [own] story. Our struggles are slightly different, but there are so many points of connect.”

Kesavan’s previous productions, some of which have travelled to other metros like Kolkata, Hyderabad and Bangalore, are Eve Ensler’s Necessary Targets, Jhumpa Lahiri’s short story “A Temporary Matter” from her collection Interpreter of Maladies, and Chetan Bhagat’s Five Point Someone.

The effort to pick popular stories that resonate with an Indian audience is what a theatre group like The Madras Players does best, with its wide-ranging repertoire — from Woody Allen’s Play It Again, Sam to Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes From a Marriage. Noted works of Girish Karnad and Mahesh Dattani also find a place on the list.

In her latest production for The Madras Players, Tunnel Vision, Kesavan seeks to broaden her theme of work. She says that working with writing from a different society has been quite a task. “Recreating another society is challenging. I have adopted a minimalist and stark style for my set design, with a seamless shift of scenes, from the past to the present continuous.”

Kesavan finds an encouraging audience for English theatre in Chennai, though there would be less to complain about were corporate sponsors more numerous, especially when it comes to taking plays to other cities.

Tunnel Vision will be staged at Sivagami Pethachi Auditorium, Chennai, on November 27, 28 and 29