From the spiritual world of Sufi saints and their divine music projected on the stage with subtlety, Sohaila Kapur takes theatre lovers to a different world in her latest theatrical offering “Appointment With Death” presented by Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts Repertory at its auditorium recently which was remarkable for its slickness and sustained suspense with wholly unexpected ending. A multi-faceted artist, Sohaila has produced in the past memorable productions belonging to different genres.
Adapted by Agatha Christie herself from her hugely popular novel of the same title, it is translated into Hindi by Sohaila. The play revolves around an old woman, Mrs Boynton, who is travelling in the West Asia with her family. Other tourists, especially a psychiatrist and a young lady doctor, join her and interact with her family members. The psychiatrist and the lady doctor talk about the weird looking old lady on a wheelchair, afflicted with mental sickness. In a deranged state of mind, a young girl holding a knife in her hand moves fast from one space to another, suggesting that she is searching someone to stab. Her movements tend to be motivated to take revenge. The psychiatrist suggests that the days of the old woman are numbered and the young girl could be cured of her abnormal state of mind. The morbid image of the old woman and another image of the girl with knife aptly set the tone of mystery and hidden terror which intensify with the unfolding of the narrative. We gradually know about the life of the wheelchair bound old woman. Beginning as the governess, after the death of her employer she assumes the role of the mother of the children of her employer and inherits his property. Endowed with morbid psyche, she becomes the dreaded mother, treating grown up children as her captives. Keeping them confined to the house all the time, she treats them like the way a puppeteer manipulates his puppets.
Another element of mystery is added by doctor’s container with a syringe and a poisonous medicine — a source of killing anyone in an instant.
Rejoicing in death
As the characters interact and move on a different locale, we get the idea that most of them hate the old woman and want her death to attain their freedom and lead a happy life. Then the action shifts to another space. The tourists are enjoying themselves. One of the tourists wants to elope with the daughter-in-law of the old woman who has ruined her love life. The young lady doctor is romantically attached to the bachelor son of the old woman. The married son is not allowed to walk alone in the company of his wife by the old woman who stands like a wall between love and freedom. Suddenly, the old woman is discovered dead on her wheelchair near a deserted place. It is a murder, cry tourists, leading to the arrival of police who examine suspects who seem to have strong motive to kill the woman. This fact makes the work of police complicated, confronting one riddle after the other.
The highlight of the production is the set designed by the director capturing the picturesqueness of the backdrop for the action.
Lighting by seasoned light designer Himanshu Joshi is subtle, projecting shades that deepens the sense of suspense. The cast gives brilliant performance.
The director has cast male actor, Saksham Shukla, to act as the old woman, revealing the various layers of the morbidity and satanic traits of a complex character in a restraint manner.
