“Vaikom Muhammad Basheer used to sit under a mangosteen tree in his house in Beypore and narrate stories to the many people who’d come to visit him. Some people even refer to him as the ‘Beypore Sultan’ because he used to say, ‘I’m the sultan of my two-acre plot of land’,” laughs director of Under The Mangosteen Tree, Rajiv Krishnan from the production outfit Perch.
Basheer, an outstanding Malayalam writer, was best known for his simple, yet profound stories. “Anyone in Kerala, from a tea shop vendor to an intellectual, would know his genius. His style of writing was so accessible,” says Rajiv. Perch’s journey with Basheer began over a decade ago, when the crew travelled to Beypore, in Kerala, to know more about the writer and get insights into his life through those who knew him.
They found that a lot of Basheer’s own experiences were distilled into his stories, making the writer a part of many of his works. In the 1930s, Basheer had to leave Kerala because of an arrest warrant issued in his name by the British, owing to his writing. He then travelled the length and breadth of the country, doing a variety of jobs, including working on a ship, fortune-telling, teaching English in Kamathipura, the red light district of Mumbai, and living as a Hindu hermit. “His life was more colourful than his writing,” says Rajiv.
In 2008, Basheer’s centenary year, the troupe staged Sangathi Arinhya! (Have You heard!), based on seven short stories by the writer. The play, staged for the first time in Chennai, was closed down briefly in 2010 and later revived as Under the Mangosteen tree. It has been staged all over the country since then and is back in the city for its golden jubilee performance this weekend.
“The play is an interweaving of stories; it’s not a linear narrative. A big challenge was finding the right sequence of scenes,” says Rajiv, adding that while most of the stories in the play are entertaining and humorous, they’ve also tried to show the sheer variety of themes the writer’s written about.
When rehearsals started in late 2007, the crew selected the stories together, while Paul Mathew, who portrays the role of Basheer in the play, read out the original text in Malayalam while everyone else followed the narrative with the English translations in hand. “We wanted to get a flavour of the Malayalam Basheer used in his writing,” explains Iswar Srikumar, the actor who plays a young Basheer, among other roles. Aparna Gopinath, who plays four roles herself, reveals that all the actors involved in the production, save for Paul, play multiple roles. She laughs, saying that showing up on stage at the right time, in the right costume, is quite the challenge. “Sometimes, when you stage a play several times, you get used to it. But not this one. It’s had us on our toes since day one,” says Aparna.
Under the Mangosteen Tree will be staged at The Alliance Francaise on April 25 and 26 at 3.30 p.m. and 7.30 p.m.
Tickets are priced at Rs. 200 and available at www.eventjini.com and www.bookmyshow.comFor details, call 9445961425.