Lessons from history

As an impressionable 17-year-old, Sunil Shanbag had seen Satyadev Dubey’s production of Girish Karnad’s Hayavadana. “It was this play which gave me the motivation to be in theatre,” recalls the theatre director. So, it’s ironical that in his career spanning more than four decades, he never got a chance to direct a play written by Karnad. Until now. 

Dubey is directing Drama School Mumbai’s student production, Rakt Kalyan, the story originally written in Kannada as Taledanda by Karnad in 1989. Shanbag was looking for something challenging for the students as well as for himself, when he came across a translation of the play. Amazed by the power of the text and its contemporary relevance, he decided to go ahead with it.

Set in 12th century AD, Taledanda tells the story of Basavanna, a poet-saint who brings together a likeminded community of people who don’t believe in the caste system. The king of Kalyan supports the community, and all seems well, until a Brahmin girl is engaged to be married to a low-caste boy. A massacre follows.

“That’s what’s happening today. The caste question needs to be addressed. The play is a historical, so you can take a slightly objective view,” says Shanbag, adding that he advocates reading history so we don’t repeat the mistakes we have made in the past.

The cast rehearses for the play

For somebody who loves working with youngsters, this has been a win-win of sorts for the veteran theatre artiste.  “It’s a challenge and a lot of hard work for them as well as for me. It’s the process that’s important,” he adds. The students, he reveals, are hoping to see Karnad himself in the audience when they open in Bengaluru later this month. “It will be a moment they won’t forget. Watching Hayavadana at 17 was a defining moment for me. It’s these moments that motivate you to work,” he concludes.

Where: Drama School 

When: March 9 and 10, 7 pm 

Where: G5A 

When: March 15, 7.30 pm