Clowns fascinate theatre lovers who are also known as wise fool and court jester. In the Sanskrit theatre they are called Vidushak. Clowns just do not serve as comic relief but reflect on social dichotomy and human destiny. In Shakespeare’s plays fools convey their philosophical musing. But a theatre with all clowns is something rarely seen on the Delhi stage. The opportunity to watch such a theatre was offered to the audience by director Rajat Kapoor when he staged “I Don't Like, As You Like It” at Kamani this past week to a capacity hall. Presented by Cinematograph, the clowns act in a variety of roles evoking laughter, loud and long. The main source of humour is the antics of clowns, use of slapsticks at places and one-liners. However, there is little reflection on the issues raised in the play. Director Kapoor needs deeper exploration to comment on what lies beneath laughter.
Featured as part of Aadyam Theatrethe script of the production is evolved by the director. Kapoor has produced in the past plays written by Genet, Beckett, Albee, Bertolt Brecht and Karnad. In quest of a new theatre language through clowns, he has directed two plays by William Shakespeare –– “Hamlet” and “King Lear”.
The play is aptly titled which is drawn from the dialogue of a worried director who exclaims, “I Don’t Like it, As You Like it”. The title also reminds Shakespeare’s pastoral comedy “As You Like It”. The script includes some ideas from the “As You Like It”, some memorable quotes, gender issue and complexities and madness of lovers, but these remain on surface and don’t leave an impact on the audience.
In broad terms, this is a play-within-a-play. A theatre company with an all-clown cast wants to produce a play. Clowns are rehearsing. Offstage, they have their love-hate relations and in the play they suppose the delineate love theme. A worried director finds it hard to handle clowns. However, the rehearsals are over and the clowns are happy to perform the play on the stage. But the director does not share the optimism of the clowns. He says, “I don’t like it, as you like it.”
The names of the characters are funny and it is not possible for the audience to identify with them. The director has taken some ideas from Shakespeare’s “As You Like It”: girl disguising as boy and a boy in the guise of girl. There is room to explore these gender reversals to reflect on contemporary gender issue. We are glad to hear the oft-quoted dialogue delivered in Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” by Jaques, when he says, “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances...” At another place Jaques reflects, “The fools should be so deep-contemplative..O noble fool! A worthy fool!” The production should have a solemn kind of atmosphere to give serious meaning to the serious nature of the art of clowns.
The use of huge white piece of fabric like material as backdrop is suggestive of the forest of Arden in which Shakespeare's “As You Like It” is set. The denouement is enacted with red fabric on the either side of the stage, denoting the reunion of lovers. One of the elements taken from the original is the way clowns address to the audience at places.
In the opening sequences the director receives a call on his mobile phone, conveying that the rehearsal space will be grabbed by a builder to construct a mall. The news is received by the members of the company with a shock. The scene is closed abruptly. If the director had further explored this grabbing of land in cities, destroying cultural space, the production would have established some immediacy with the audience. The director needs to explore the theme of gender reversals. This issue is dissected in depth in the mythological story of Ila. The late Hindi playwright Shanker Shesh in his celebrated play “Are! Mayavi Sarovar” has dramatically treated the question of gender change. “Ardhnarishvara” is a classical theme on gender issue with universal message.
The pace of the production is slow. However, the acting space is aptly used that provides enough room for the performers to improvise and move with freedom and most of the vital sequences are enacted down stage that made viewing effective.
From Vinay Pathak to Aadar Malik, the members of the cast are qualified and in tune. As clowns they offer hilarious moments to the audience. Faezah Jalali gives an excellent performance as clown, often changing her gender by changing clothes of a boy in full view of the audience. The discerning audience of the Capital has seen her “7/7/07” which was featured at META not long ago, remarkable for innovative presentational style and deep empathy for Reyhaneh Jabbari, a young woman convicted of murder. Cyrus Sahukar as melancholic clown with a hand puppet impresses. Joy Fernandes as the exasperated director of all-clown theatre is the only performer who acts in a realistic style.
