Spend an evening with celebrated Russian author and playwright Anton Chekov in a new play and also find out why the protagonists are bowed down by nagging women in their lives
Spend an evening with celebrated Russian author and playwright Anton Chekov in a new play and also find out why the protagonists are bowed down by nagging women in their lives
Do you feel that your life is a mess all thanks to your ladylove? Well, then you are not the only one.
This weekend, three men, bullied by their nagging wives are coming all the way from Russia to Bangalore to share their life's woes.
These characters belong to three of Chekov's short pieces which will be brought on stage by Anmol Vellani, the executive director of India Foundation for Arts.
Any idiot can face a crisis, it is day-to-day living that wears you out believed Anton Chekhov and that is what Anmol brings out in the play titled An Evening with Anton Chekov.
"These pieces are meant to bring into light the long forgotten Chekov plays. These particular plays are hardly staged. All of them explore the dynamics of the man-woman relationship," says Anmol Vellani.
The Harmfulness of Tobacco, A Reluctant Tragic Hero and Swan Song are the three short plays that will be staged.
The light and humorous narration of each play merges into the other lending the performance a complete structure.
The play begins with The Harmfulness of Tobacco, where a wife, who owns a boarding school, asks her husband to go on stage and give a lecture on the ill effects of tobacco.
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However, once on stage, in absence of his wife, the husband tells how his life is doomed because of his bullying wife. Ultimately, the husband faces a breakdown and then tries to find a way to revive his dignity.
The story then moves on to the next piece, A Reluctant Tragic Hero in which, a man is frustrated with his job of running errands and his dominating wife. He tries to share his pain with the audience.
In Swan Song, an old comedian is drunk and falls asleep in the theatre. He wakes up and finds himself on a dark and empty stage with only a prompter for company. He narrates to the prompter how the love of his life, an actress brought about his decline.
Though all these monologues are presented in a comic fashion, they satirise the man-woman relationship and bring out the layers of complexities and nuances inherent in it.
Relying solely on his actors' talents, Vellani has tweaked Chekov's works to suit the time and place but has retained the original flavour.
"These are actor's pieces and the director's role is only to be the watchdog. It has no radical conceptualisation.
We have just tried to maintain the flow so that the audience can relate to it," says Vellani.
Though set in Russia in the 19th century, the plot of
the play is real and believable. It shows how through generations, all over the world, men have at times felt that life could have been much better without a woman.
Vellani not only brings out the universality of Chekov's wisdom but also sprinkles it with wit to give you a weekend full of mirth.
At Ranga Shankara
Onu00a0u00a0 April 24, 7.30 pm,
and April 25, 3.30 pm
Call 98456 02265
Ticket Rs 100
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