“Do not be satisfied with the stories that come before you. Unfold your own myth,” said Jalaluddin Rumi, one of the most influential storytellers who lived in the 13th Century. Our inherent love for listening stories was the backdrop of recently staged Once Upon a Time directed by Sujata Soni Bali. Staged at the Stein Auditorium, it was a thread of five hard-hitting short stories based on human emotions and relationships. Each story in the production had its own gripping take coupled with the careful use of lights and melodious music.
Shareefan , the opening story, tells how vicious circle of abuse and violence keeps revisiting human societies in different forms and no matter what the political scenario is, the opportunistic instinct and vengeance of human beings always comes out during hard times. Originally written by Saadat Hasan Manto and told on stage by veteran theatre actor Tom Alter, the poignant story narrates how a father who set out to avenge her daughter's death during the time of Partition riots end up doing the same to another girl and in the process of revenge, life comes a full circle. “Manto’s all stories are written in a way that they can appeal to all and they are relevant to all times. It has been many decades since Shareefan was written but many such stories are happening around us, and riots are still a reality. Is it what we wanted from Partition?” questions Alter. He contended that short stories have a unique narrative quality of reaching reader’s mind directly and more such contemporary short stories should be published with the help of big publishers. “There is a need to educate the new generation on the importance of listening stories as it is a two-way process as one needs to empathise while listening to it and totally immersed in it while telling it. With short attention span these days, empathy and patience to listen are the areas where youngsters should work on,” says the actor.
Myriad situations
Every story in the production opened a window to experience the myriad situations offered by our world with some offering a humorous take on relationships while others narrating epiphanies of everyday living. Twenty Questions , staged by veteran television anchor and media educationist Sunit Tandon and actor Charu Shankar, is a contemporary story that shows an interesting conversation between two people who meet in an arranged marriage set up. From instances where the play used the usual stereotypes of associating Sindhis with good accounting skills to building a trope to using psychology as a leitmotif for the validity of questions, the story took viewers to several ‘humorous’ high points. “Dramatised storytelling has a lot of takers and people are more interested if some known actor whom they know enacts it. Usually, people who have done work in films and coming back to the theatre are doing it and because of it, older forms like dastaangoi has become a new favourite form of storytelling in urban spaces,” says Sunit Tandon. He also emphasised the need of contemporary stage writing and bringing stories from the regional parts of the country to mainstream. “There is diversity in audience and there should be stories from different genres so that everyone sitting in the auditorium should go home satisfied. Some people come solely for entertainment but if the play manages to give someone a few thoughts to ponder upon, then it is a win for a director,” says director Sujata Soni Bali who earlier has directed several plays including Re-Visiting The Epics and Komedy and Kavis . “More than entertainment, stories have therapeutic advantages as it works as part of stress management. Everyone can relate to stories easily as they deal with human emotions and that is the reason why schools and corporate houses are including storytelling in their training process. And someone may disagree but advertising is using the same storytelling mechanism to sell their ideas to our mind and us unconsciously or consciously are falling for them,” comments Sujata.
