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Probing human vulnerability afresh

DIWAN SINGH BAJELI

Noted theatre director Bhanu Bharati on his play ‘Teji Brar’ that will be mounted at the Bharat Rang Mahotsav.



From a classic A scene from the play “Teji Brar.”

Eminent theatre director, Bhanu Bharti, is busy these days with the rehearsals of “Teji Brar” which will be presented at Kamani auditorium early next month as part of forthcoming Bharat Rang Mahotsav being organised by National School of Drama. Adapted from ‘Hedda Gabler’ by Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906), the Hindi version is written by Sindhu Mishra who is also playing the lead role.

Written in 1890, the original play is described as “a character study pure and simple.”

Bhanu calls it a play of psychological realism which deals with an ambitious and articulate woman’s inability to come to terms with the stifling atmosphere and bigotry of small town.

Obsessed by a dangerous impulse of revenge, bored by a doomed society, the central character takes a self-destructive course.
The right ambience

Bhanu, who feels Allahabad has the right ambience for the dramatic action, says, “In fact, Hedda Gabler has some fundamental characteristics that transcend Ibsen’s time and national boundaries. The modern society is choking to death because of the morbidity of self-seekers who are taking advantage of human vulnerability and there is no place for human values and emotions. I see a great relevance of this play at this juncture. What matters to me is a valid theatre, which has relevance to my time and audience, not the style or the genre for that matter. Hedda Gabler presents a very profound theatrical expression. That is why I have decided to present it at Bharat Rang Mahotsav.”

Though Bhanu’s artistic credo is to create a distinctly Indian theatrical idiom, at various stages of the growth of his career as a stage director, he has been fascinated by Indian and western masters.

Over two decades ago, he did another play of Ibsen, ‘The Wild Duck’ for the final year students of National School of Drama.

“There is more poetry in both the Wild Duck and Hedda Gabler. But I am more interested in Ibsen’s psychological realism and his poetry of words. His plays of stark realism like A Doll’s House and An Enemy of The People have less appeal for me.”

Talking about Hedda Gabler as Teji Brar, Bhanu says, “She is the victim of the upper class upbringing and is a most misunderstood character. Her zest for life and emotional make-up are held against her.” There are seven characters in the play. Teji’s husband is a colourless fellow. She is in possession of her father’s pistols which symbolises her frustration and in her explosive irrationality she takes revenge on her former lover she has rejected.
The undercurrents

Some of the scholars believe that there is no social message in Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler.

Bhanu comments, “They have failed to comprehend the undercurrents of the play. Ibsen is not writing about freaks; he is writing about humans as they are. It is a psychological study of a people caught up in a peculiar socio-economic milieu. Of course, the social message is not palpable. Its subtle message is that it is social environment that shapes people’s consciousness which is manifested at a deeper level of the play.” While conceiving his production of the play Bhanu is paying attention to realistic detail, to create a right ambience to enable his performers to reflect the inner conflicts of their characters. Bhanu is known for his productions of the plays that belonged to the Theatre of the Absurd.

He is the first director to discover Bhuvaneshwar Prasad, a pioneer of short plays in Hindi, and his plays that have powerful elements of the Theatre of the Absurd written before this genre became known in Europe through the works of Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco and Jean Genet and his deep grounding in the philosophy of existentialism.