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Entertainment
Local milieu captured well
A scene from "Wood" ... excellent team work.
MASQUERADE UNDERSCORED a decade of performances by opting for an Indian script. Written in English, Gautam Raja's "Wood" sets the scene in any art gallery in Chennai or Bangalore. It is the opening night. The artist (Krishna Kumar) is a little edgy. Insecure too! How will his work be received? Gallery Manager (Nikhila Kesavan) hellos prospective buyers and oversees the drinks. The artist feels nettled in the face of inanities and interpretations from "high-society females with money and no mind" (Usha K. R.) or executives (A. Krishnan) who spend corporate funds to cover office walls with art. Activist intellectuals (Ramana Siddharth), the guardians of morality and decency, are outraged by the depiction of nudity. In the midst of all this hodge podge, the artist finds his emotional stimulant, Ela (Rashmi Balakrishnan). She is the reason he will paint again. She can create for him angst and exigencies.
The central piece is titled `Wood' and hangs upside down. The lopsidedness offers clarity of perception and through it, freedom. Organised activists flaunting saffron scarves tear down the place. At full throttle, one even strips down to his boxer shorts, in his rage, naked as the painting he had come to destroy.
In the post-storm calm come strange twists. The artist gathers that he would rather live and die in poverty than have his work cover the wall of an office. The gallery manager comes out of the closet in acknowledgement of her sexuality and finds a partner in Ela. The artist comes into his own. Vandalism and outrage for him are positive responses. Maybe he will paint, maybe he won't. The difference between banal and brilliant is a matter of perception. It is time for silence, the last refinement of speech.
"Wood" was not the best of scripts. There was a heavy overlay of the intellectual, which made it vague (abstruse) and at times pushed it beyond comprehension. New ideas and issues kept popping up without any provocation. All the same, the recognisable and familiar setting made it interesting.
Despite the drawbacks, one must agree, director Krishna Kumar (KK) and his team did a good job of it. It was well rehearsed, and showed good team work. Every member of the cast did her/his role well. KK was particularly good as the artist and brought to the part, his stage skills. That perhaps contributed to holding the group together. It wouldn't be a bad idea to have him on stage more often. The gallery manager and Ela were also very well done. The combination worked smoothly. One remembers with interest Usha's performance of the pseudo art patron, Ramana Siddharth outraged as the better member of society and Krishnan's indifference and condescension as the corporate executive.
However, the production could have done with some polish. A ticketed performance deserves a more cared for sets. Sadly, it took away from the impact of the performance. The cellophane filled frame, which hung down centre stage and through which one was expected to watch the action of the play unfold was a very interesting mental device. Perhaps the Alliance Francaise auditorium was not the best place for it. The frame constantly hid the action and the cast... a little too much for comfort.
The vandalising of the exhibition could have been choreographed better to avoid the absurdity of the paintings remaining untouched through all the hell that was unleashed. However, at the end of the day, what one remembered was that Masquerade appeared most comfortable with an Indian script. One hopes that KK will continue rummaging for scripts that illuminate the local reality.
ELIZABETH ROY
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