Ajith Hande, director of Stale News, the latest production of the Badal Sircar play that was first performed in 1979, wonders if we are really progressing. As many of Sircar’s plays, it stood to reflect the ugly face of the system, of oppression. “It happened in certain ways then, it does in certain different ways now,” Ajith says, speaking on the relevance of the play in today’s times. The director, who has worked in theatre as well as television and film, and his team are giving final touches to the script. The core idea of the play, Ajith explains is retained, while the team has developed it to make the narrative current. We will still hear the story of the Santhal Tribe revolt that the play originally talked about, some nuances make it work even today for a different generation of audience.
Basi Khabar (Stale News) is based on Badal Sircar’s concept of the Third Theatre, a form that tried to bring theatre closer to the common man back in the 70’s. Although the form is seen as rejecting the Western proscenium stage, Ajith points out that the play “had been performed in the proscenium format even in its early years. The context of the play does not change in an urban space. This is what excites the team about the play.”
With newer interpretations, it is the point of view of a contemporary person belonging to the “city-bred, educated middle class community that we want to put across. And this is how the team links the revolt to the present-day reality. In the process of developing the script, we set out with questions of where the human race stands as the world comes closer than ever, at this point in technology, after so many revolutions.”
And with their performance they seek answers, “of what is required of us, of what we need to be thinking about.” To achieve this end, the team that consists of Ashiqa Salvan, Amaan, Kanchan Bhattacharyya, Pooja Shankar, Bhavna Rajendran, Nikhil Bharadwaj, Venkat Shastry and Balaji Manohar has been working extensively on devising the play in terms of performance. Using different devices and formats to tell their story, they have gone well beyond what was originally penned down. “One doesn’t have to stick to a particular line. We can stretch out and push ourselves to see what we can do,” says the director who loves the flexibility that the script makes possible.
Ajith believes that at a time when the easy way out while taking up a project is to pick a comedy, they have chosen to challenge themselves. But he quickly adds that he does not want the play to be termed as grim. “It does have funny moments too, perhaps moments of satire. We don’t want to laugh it off and let the audience laugh it off either. Hopefully they will have something to take away from it.”
The play will feature in Jagriti Season 2014, between October 31 and November 9.