Celebrating a decade of their Ibsen Festival this weekend, theatremakers Ila Arun and KK Raina talk about their encounter with the Norwegian playwright, the works, and its evolution through the decade
Ila Arun and KK Raina share a moment of discussion
Ila Arun is busy giving out orders as we enter the Andheri studio. “Keep silent,” she quips. At first glance, it is easy to mistake her for the director of the play. But that role belongs to the unassuming KK Raina, who sits calmly reading a script on the ottoman. The urgency is understandable as the founding duo of Surnai Theatre and Folk Arts Foundation is prepping for the opening day of the 10th edition of their Ibsen Festival at Prithvi Theatre this weekend.
An unlikely duo
The cast is rehearsing Hardit Kaur Gill, an adaptation of Hedda Gabler, on the day we dropped by to their studio in Andheri. The ‘female Hamlet’ finds herself transported to an Indian metropolis, and is played by Dilnaz Irani. “Hedda has to be set in a metropolis where the independent young woman has everything in her hands, yet is lost. Not in a place like Jaipur or Agra where family is still the point of strength. The central focus is the notion of a family in a world of amorphous relationships,” she explains. “Hedda is a bit of all of us women. She is complex but relatable,” Irani adds.
The cast performs a scene from Hedda Gabler. Pics/Shadab Khan
Gabler is the fifth work by Ibsen adapted to the stage by the duo’s production. This edition of the festival will feature three works — Ajaatshatru (An Enemy of the People), Hardit Kaur Gill, and Peechha Karti Parchhaiyaan (Ghosts). Arun is already thinking of the next, Wild Duck.
“It all began when Nissar Allana invited me to Delhi to adapt Ibsen in the traditional form in 2010. I devoured everything I could find, and it expanded my intellect,” recalls Arun. Allana was hosting the Ibsen Festival in New Delhi. In 2015, Arun and Raina were backed (and still are) by the Norwegian Royal Embassy in Mumbai, as they opened the festival in the city.
Ila Arun at Henrik Ibsen’s grave in Oslo; (right) she stands beside the playwright’s famed statue at the National Theatre in Bergen, Norway where he served as artistic director. Pics Courtesy/Ila Arun
An affair with a stranger
But why Ibsen? The 19th Century Norwegian playwright can be meandering and complex for the average reader. Raina admits that his first encounter with the playwright was as an assignment for the late Ebrahim Alkazi at the National School of Drama. “He asked us to write a two-page observation on Ibsen’s Peer Gynt. I did not understand a thing,” he laughs, adding, “Ibsen speaks of corruption, social injustice and patriarchy. He is the father of Modern Drama, and so relevant. But he can be very Norwegian.”
The cast of Hedda Gabler poses ahead of the 10th Ibsen Festival
This is where Ila Arun’s metier shines. Since adapting Lady From The Sea into Mareechika, set in a village in Rajasthan, the writer has brought a folk idiom to the Norwegian’s works. “After a show in Rajasthan, a few women in ghunghats met me backstage asking to meet Ibsenji,” she recalls, with a smile.
In the last decade, she has made three trips to Norway visiting the playwright’s residence, the fjords, and his grave. “In my autobiography, I called it a love affair with a stranger,” she laughs.
A dated photograph of Ila Arun in Agni Lekh directed by KK Raina. File pic
The trick, Raina shares, is to find a core focus. “The structure already exists, all you need to do is find the central focus.” Easier said than done. “There have been times when script pages have flown off the desk; there have been shouting matches,” Arun says tongue-in-cheek. “Is there any family that does not fight to make things better,” Raina asks charmingly.
Ila Arun at the rehearsal
Now, this is more like the Ila Arun we know from her daughter, Ishita’s reels. Fun, teasing, and sometimes sassy. “I am a serious writer, but I am not intellectualising. I want to speak to my society, I enjoy that,” she says, just as the crew returns and Raina points out another scene.
TILL September 28; 5 pm and 8.30 pm
AT Prithvi Theatre, Juhu Church Road, Juhu.
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