Waiting for the NIFT auditorium to be filled by the slow trickle of people arriving to watch the performance of Patjhad staged by Kolkata's Little Thespians as a part of the Qadir Ali Baig Commemorative theatre Week, you are left with ample time to contemplate what S.M. Azhar Alam's adaptation of Tennessee Williams' classic might be like. The minimal sets give nothing away except that the play is set in a middle class household in India. A photograph of a man hangs in the corner, its presence highlighting the absence of the man himself. This sets the stage for the performance the audience is about to witness — the story of the Pradhan family where roles of mother, son and daughter have been stretched to fill the void left since the father's desertion.
Patjhad is the second Indian adaptation of The Glass Menagerie. The first, critically acclaimed Malayalam film Akale, directed by Shyamaprasad is set in 1970s Kerala in an Anglo-Indian household. While the D'Costas of Akale are closer to the characters in Williams' original than to the average Indian family, the Pradhans embody all the idiosyncrasies of the countless middle class families in the country. That Azhar Alam has weaved into the script an undeniable ‘Indian-ness' without interrupting its flow is a testimony to his skill as a writer and director.
The scenes of the play are drawn from the memory of the narrator, Indivir Pradhan played by Surendra Kapoor who effortlessly alternates between the frustration of the young factory worker and the composure and detachment of a man who has had the benefit of retrospection.
The story is about a doting mother Gayatri Pradhan, portrayed brilliantly by Uma Jhunjhunwala, who is trying to do the best for her children. Brought up in a world far more opulent than the one she now inhibits, Gayatri's story is that of a woman who still clings to her glorious past while denying the impoverishment of her present existence.
The story catches her at a time when she is doing everything she can to find a suitor for her daughter who is crippled and painfully shy; Hiena Parvez's body language spoke more for her character Yamini Pradhan than the lines themselves. Her silence and restraint contrasts with Gayatri's hysteria to bring out the tension in their relationship.
The efforts of the cast were complemented by the lighting and music. Joydeep Roy showed excellent use of light and shadow to maintain the aura required for the play which alternates between memory, illusion and reality. The scene which showed Indivar's character atop the dining table deserves particular mention in this regard.
With Patjhad Azhar Alam completes three consecutive performances at the Qadir Ali Baig theatre festival; he has previously staged plays - Chehre and Question Mark . The night did not end without Azhar Alam paying his tribute to the Qadir Ali Baig sahab, ‘the doyen of Hindustani theatre', whom he remembers as an institution personified. The other plays staged for the Commemorative Theatre Week, organised by the Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation were Surabhi's Pataala Bhairavi and The Primetime Theatre Company's Dance like a Man.
