Inspired by Earnest Hemingway’s celebrated novel “The Old Man and the Sea”, the production “Dhou… The Wave” in Assamese was featured at the 10th Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) recently. Presented by Purbaranga at New Delhi's LTG auditorium, it offered the audience a new interpretation. With an innovative style of presentation, the production is distinctly Assamese in aesthetic appeal.
In 2013, the Malayam version of the same novel was presented at META as “Kizhavanum Kadulum”. This was in a realistic style creating the illusion of a vast sea and the grim struggle of an old man to catch fish, a task he has failed in for weeks together. The old man is out to fish alone. It was a fine example of creating stark realism on the stage with meticulous attention to the right backdrop for dramatic attention. The Assamese version is stylised, colourful, with a chorus that renders songs in soulful voices.
We meet the old man and the boy. On the boat the old man is making efforts to hook fish. Under the deep water we watch an exciting world of fish. Frolicking, the fish move in a variety of choreographic patterns. The scene is a sheer visual delight. The performers in aesthetically designed costumes project visual poetry. But these movements abruptly become fast, indicating the desperate bid of the fish to protect themselves from their enemies -- the old man and the shark.
The character of the shark is distinctly presented with a differently designed costume and fast and vigorous movements. As the old man tries a number of tactics to offer bait to the golden fish, the golden fish becomes aware of his tactics. Both try to outsmart each other. The fish are in constant danger of being attacked by the shark. The director and the performers have captured this struggle of the fish for life and death, effectively exploring the element of suspense.
Another character is a boy who has a deep empathy with the old man and is sorry that he has failed to catch fish. But he is not ready to accept defeat. In his lonely battle for survival, he seems to have been talking to himself, “But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed and not defeated.”
A dialogue between the fish and the old man ensues. The fish asks whether the old man is offering a bait to catch it to make his living, or offering it food to survive. Is he a friend or a foe? By using the device of these dialogues, the play imparts a contemporary ring, suggesting that the ruling class merely offers the masses bait in the form of promises, to capture political power to exploit them. Despite the precautions, the golden fish falls for the bait and gets hooked.
Now that the old man has won the battle, in the moment of triumph, he speaks to the fish, watching it intently. He says that for years he has been dreaming to see and touch it. Now that he has seen it, he is grateful to the fish for teaching him the meaning of struggle in life. He frees the fish to become an eternal source of inspiration to strugglers.
Written by Hillol Kr Pathak, the play is set in the eastern part of Assam, where the community of fisherman is engaged in catching fish on a river that merges with the Brahmputra.
At some distance is a tree that indicates the place where the fishermen keep their equipment. The set by Seuj Priya Borthakur is imaginatively designed to create the right ambience. Lighting design by Gunakar Dev Goswami is highly stylised and imparts to the production an aura of surrealism. Music score based on Ojapali, a ritualistic art form of Assam, deepens the finesse of the ambience.
Directed by Gunakar Dev Goswami, the performers’ movements are remarkable for their intricacy, while the delivery is in harmony with the movements.
The director plays the lead role of the old man, creating a portrait of a fisherman endowed with indomitable will, courage and magnanimity. Seuj Priya Borthakur brings her Marlin Fish in the deep water vibrantly alive with her delicate and stylised movements.
