Neelam Mansingh’s plays always have a telling effect on audiences and critics alike. With works like Nagamandala , Yerma , Phaedra, Kitchen Katha and The Suit to her credit, she has pioneered theatre movement in Punjab and also taught at the Department of Theatre, Panjab University.
The alumnus of National School of Drama who was trained by the legendary Ebrahim Alkazi, is back in the Capital with her group, The Company’s latest production, The Dark Borders. To be staged at India Habitat Centre this weekend, it is based on the stories of one of the greatest raconteurs of 20th Century, Saadat Hasan Manto, such as Toba Tek Singh , Hundreds of Candle Power Bulb , Tamasha and Padhirya Kalama. It explores the devastation brought upon women and families during the political and social disruption. Busy with rehearsals of the play, Neelam took time out to talk about what attracts her to Manto, her journey and more.
Excerpts:
On taking up Manto’s works for the play
Saadat Hasan Manto does not tell polite stories as he was constantly challenging the deceptions and hypocrisies of the society. In an environment defined by divisiveness, rage and migration, he forced us to ask moral questions. In Dark Borders , we have tried to explore the devastation brought upon women and families during the time of political and social disruption. These are the lives of the forgotten people, those who exist on the margins of society, to whom Manto gave a voice, an identity. The way he could plumb the depth of human misery and give voice to the voiceless, the disenfranchised and the marginalised, makes him extraordinary. He talked about the little people who did not enter into the consciousness of history or of development. They are people whose lives were completely torn asunder by Partition and migration, especially women and children. These are the unrecorded testimonies that he records through his short stories.
I have been working on Manto since the last four years. This could be viewed as part of a trilogy, as my last two productions with the National School of Drama were also based on Manto stories dovetailed with some crafted/devised stories. Bitter Fruit and Naked Voices both done with third years students, roughly followed the same impulse of improvisational, non linear way of working.
Neelam Mansingh
On the structure of the play
We had no definitive script to begin with. A collection of stories by Manto, was our starting point. I saw this play as episodic, a story emerging out of another, narratives without any obvious connection. In between stories we created images, not directly related to the narrative, but an attempt to create “relief moments” in the bleak landscape of people brutalised and marginalised by circumstances and extreme poverty. Some of the stories have been shuffled and repacked in a way to either underscore a moment or highlight a narrative.
On how the stories continue to be relevant
I don’t think Manto can be affixed to a particular time and space. His voice rings true today as it did when he wrote the stories. I did not take any time or context into consideration when I choreographed the stories. Manto's work, free of religious biases and national zeal is firmly rooted in the culture to which he belonged and overtime the sharpness in his stories resonate and relate in ways, that are as searing today as were when written.
In fact, I don’t think people have changed or brutality has changed. Today, brutality is more defined and it is seeping through our threshold. Manto’s work could relate to any time because man’s savagery has not in any way been reduced. For example, the story Tamasha was written after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre but the image of shoes, the holocaust and contemporary Syria merge into one another.
In some way, I am indirectly responding to what is happening in our times. My work is not a militant work or a recording of events. It is not overtly political but somewhere it is a reflection and response to things one feels.
On her association with theatre
Theatre has been a place where I can see the world with different eyes, where truths can be tested. Theatre is a disturbing and exciting space, fuelling dreams and provoking fundamental questions about our lives. But having said that, a small question constantly nags me. Do I really matter? Does my work matter? Did I somewhat add value to what already exists? I work in theatre because it helps me articulate my daily life, challenges me, helps me to take decision, teaches me how to reject and also be part of a community.
I have been able to lead multiple lives through my works. Working on my plays was my way of leading many lives, of becoming many people and understanding myself.
On her association with traditional actors, Naqqals
The first time I met the Naqqals they were performing in a village square singing dancing ad-libbing, and telling stories. A mixture of pop art and natural fun was their chosen vocabulary. The stories they enacted were pan-Indian myths conjoining local myths, transformed and renewed for local meaning.
During my meandering (journey) I started working with the Naqqal performers and actors from Chandigarh. I was not interested in the form as something ‘material’ to be cited and imitated, nor was I looking for some exotic leitmotif to decorate my work. What interested me was if actors coming from different worlds could work together.
On herinfluences
Many things and people impacted me. Being a student of B.N. Goswamy and Ebrahim Alkazi, collaborating with B.V. Karanth and the poet Surjit Patar, my years spent at Bharat Bhavan, teaching at the Punjab University...the list is long.
(To be staged at Stein Auditorium on August 26 and 27)
