A dreamer's journey

Mahesh Dattani now directing a stage adaptation of The Alchemist tells miD day whats happening at the rehersalsThe city will witness an Indian avatar of Santiago from Paulo Coelhos famous book The Alchemist this Sunday Mahesh Dattani the first playwright in English to win the Sahitya Akademi award will present the play under Ashvin Gidwani productionsGidwani says Getting the director adaptor artists and production team to adapt a novel to a theatrical production was a challenge Although we have been given creative freedom to interpret it we have to maintain certain guidelines for productionLONG WALK Paul Coelhos novel The Alchemist is all about dreaming and hope and Mahesh Dattani is directing it for Ashwin Gidvani ProductionsThe directors sayWe caught up with the director to share his experience in turning a famous fiction into a playWhy did you choose The AlchemistBringing the Alchemist to stage is entirely Ashvins idea In a sense The Alchemist on stage is his brainchild and I am nurturing it Ashvin believed in it and approached the authors agents for rights long before I came into the picture When he offered the project to me to direct I was filled with trepidation The book was far too famous and popular The stage version was bound to be compared to the bookHowever Ashvins enthusiasm rubbed off on me and I took it on Since it is a very popular book how easy or difficult is to stage it as a form of playThe story of The Alchemist and Santiagos encounter with the man already has enough dramatic potential I decided to treat it as an adventure story on the likes of classics like Ulysses However the visual language for the play needed careful designing I did not want it to be realistic and at the same time I am not very fond of abstruse elements in theatre that more often than not come off as pretentiousAfter several meetings with set designer Omung Kumar Lighting designer Inayat Ali Sami and Sound designer Kabir Singh I gave it an operatic scale that could then encompass the simple journey of the boy across the desert and into his own being A lot of his introspection on stage could have turned out very wordy I decided to have it sungSo we roped in Kaizad Gherda and Kabir Singh to compose original music to be sung To me the music of K and K completed the picture and evoked the right emotions So yes it has been a difficult process but an extremely satisfying one working with such a highly charged creative teamWho translated it Is this the first time you are staging The AlchemistThe adaptation has been done by Deepa Gahlot In fact only on reading her adaptation did I finally agree to take it on Deepas adaptation had the right dramaturgy required for ti to work on stage After a few more drafts it was ready Also I made the actors improvise some scenes to give it a life energy The scene in the African bazaar is entirely improvised by the actorsWho are the actorsWe have Mohan Kapur playing The Alchemist I cannot imagine anyone else in the role Asif Ali Beg is the singing alter ego of SantiagoHe is truly mesmeric And we now have Kaizad Gherda who composed the music and the lyrics playing Santiago Kaizads performance brings a dramatic energy to the production as his character arrives at a moment of epiphany when he turns himself into the windFor how long have you been working at itIt took me about six months of my time from concept to opening nightWhat was most challenging thing while staging the novelTo me the most challenging thing was to make it work as a piece of theatre Very often when novels are dramatized they still reek of their literary strengths The action needs to come alive on stage and the words need to sound spontaneous This was a challenge I threw open to the cast as wellHow do you think an Indian audience will relate to it and have you made any improvisationsI was extremely careful in retaining the original map of Santiagos journey Since the journey is a metaphor anyway I didnt feel it necessary to transpose the setting closer home Indian audiences relate to its timeless and universal appeal It is about following your dreams That is what the new world is about And so a lot of Indians find it speaks to themWhat kind of response are you expectingI am counting on my home town to encourage and support this mammoth endeavour I expect them to show upIs it easier to stage plays of authors from India or abroadDepends on the author Some books simply dont lend themselves to the stage They are meant to be read More books tend to work as cinema rather than theatre primarily because of the narrative style and shifting points of viewWhat inspires you from The AlchemistApart from the universe conspiring to help you achieve what you dream for there is plenty more in the story Making your own decisions yet understanding the language of the world Enjoy the beauty of the world and yet remember to follow your dreams etcAtu00a0 Christ UniversityOnu00a0 November 22 330 pm and 730 pmCallu00a0 98800 36611Ticketsu00a0 Rs 2000 Rs 1000 Rs 500 andu00a0 Rs 300