Loretta , Sunil Shanbag’s new tiatr-style melodrama, takes on the trappings of the Konkani musical theatre form popular in Goa. There are painted curtains and a live band, satirical side-shows that take over the stage between acts, and the premise of the play revolves around a native concern: marrying someone who doesn’t know Konkani. But Loretta, which will play next at The Hindu Metro Plus Theatre Festival , speaks more of Shanbag’s journey in theatre than tiatr itself.
Set on a river island in 1970s Goa, Loretta unravels from the meeting of its namesake character who is an Anglo-Indian woman from Mumbai, and her boyfriend’s father, a wealthy island resident who demands that she learn Konkani. Like several of Shanbag’s plays, the script draws on a lot of research, and uses energetic melodies and personal stories as a jump-off to explore larger issues. In this case it deals with how language is used as a tool to divide people, and as Shanbag put it, the constant questioning today “about our Indianness based on our cultural identity or language”.
But above all, it is entertaining with a lot of song and dance; part of the draw of using live music for Shanbag is its lively engagement with the audience. His prowess in using music in theatre has led to work that is acclaimed and popular, including 2011’s still-running “Stories in a Song”, a collaboration with singer Shubha Mudgal and Aneesh Pradhan, and 2012’s “Maro Piyo Gayo Rangoon” commissioned for London’s Globe to Globe theatre festival.
Shanbag’s distinct approach to theatre was forged in the politically charged atmosphere of the 1970s. In 1974, he first started working with legendary theatre director Satyadev Dubey, from whom he imbibed an emphasis on rigour, and on using the ideas at the heart of a play to structure its staging. It was in the same period that he was a part of the iconic Chhabildas movement, named for the hall that gave an affordable space to experimental theatre in Mumbai. Shanbag’s leftist bent was particularly influenced by his family—sister Anuradha Ghandy was an underground revolutionary leader, and his parents were communist activists in their youth — and also by the times. “The 70s was the Emergency — you couldn’t get away from politics,” says Shanbag. “And being part of the experimental theatre movement, you had to engage with it. At that time, there was a much stronger connection between politics and the arts, political activists felt it was very important to engage with the cultural space. Today, the definition of politics has widened, it’s not restricted to the relationship between the State and the individual, but also between each of us as individuals.” It is a shift in focus that Shanbag finds liberating.
Shanbag’s first brush with “the cultural politics of music” was “Maihar Raag”, his 1993 National Award-winning documentary on the Maihar gharana of composer Allauddin Khan. But it was with 2006’s “Cotton 56 Polyester 84”, set in Mumbai’s once-flourishing mill district, that Shanbag realised just how much he enjoyed working with live music.
“Cotton 56...” inspired much of what would become Shanbag’s trademark style. It compelled him to use his skills in making documentary films to bring together the strands of a research-based theatre script. It used the prism of two former mill workers to reflect on the politics of the declining textile mill industry and on themes like migration. To achieve a local flavour while reaching a wider audience than its Maharashtrian setting, Shanbag had Chetan Datar translate Ramu Ramanathan’s English script into Hindi with a Marathi inflection. “Cotton 56...” also drew on the colour, spirit and energy of Maharashtrian folk music while employing a contemporary urban staging that his audiences would relate to.
Like other Shanbag productions, though the blend of fact and narrative got unwieldy at times, the production was particularly appreciated for drawing out fine performances.
His emphasis on research-based plays means that plotting and planning the script can take from six months to a year, after which the production is put together in six to eight weeks. “Usually it’s an idea that drives a play,” Shanbag says. His desire to comment on censorship helped develop “Sex, Morality and Censorship” (2009), in which Maharashtrian folk artistes intersperse their narration of the historic case against Vijay Tendulkar’s “Sakharam Binder” with comments on the whitewashing of the tamasha folk form.
“My theatre has always had an awareness of the audience,” Shanbag says — and collaborations are crucial to that success. With “Loretta”, Shanbag explained, “The idea was to do a tiatr play, but have the script reflect a current situation in Goa and have some universality.” He employed Pundalik Naik, a Goan playwright who did not write for tiatr but whose work “has a very strong sense of social awareness”, and got stand-up comedian Varun Grover to script the irreverent side-shows. “The most fulfilling thing about this is the incredible collaborations,” Shanbag says, “These wonderfully talented people contribute different layers and often surpass what you have imagined. ‘Loretta’ was the first time I produced at this scale. I’ve lost five years of my life in the process but it’s very exciting.”
Saumya Ancheri is Assistant Web Editor for National Geographic Traveller India.
The Hindu Theatre Fest 2016
The fest features three plays in Bengaluru between September 6-8.
Sept 6 – Yatagarasu – 2 shows (3:30 pm & 7:30 pm)
Sept 7 – White Rabbit Red Rabbit – 2 shows (3:30 pm & 7:30 pm)
Sept 8 – Loretta – only 1 show (7:30 pm)
All tickets are priced at Rs 200
The venue for the plays is RANGA SHANKARA.
To book tickets for The Hindu Theatre Fest, go to thehindu.com/tickets2016
Keep up with festival news on our social media feeds:
We are on Facebook (The Hindu Theatre Fest) , Twitter (@TheHinduTheatre) and Instagram (TH Theatre Fest). For more information, look up www.thehindu.com/theatrefest
The Hindu Theatre Fest 2016
The Title Sponsor of the event is YES BANK. The Associate Sponsor is Telangana Tourism. The Merchandise partner is Focus Art Gallery. The Mobility Partner is Ola. The Gift partner is Terra Earthfood and the Event manager is evam.
