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 Lady Macbeth - Erasing borders and establishing balance - Dr Lakshmi Ramaswamy e-mail: sriram.dance.7@gmail.com October 21, 2023 The quintessence of art is its universality and profundity. Bangalore based Kathakali artiste Prabal Gupta presented his well-researched work 'Lady Macbeth' based on Shakespeare's Macbeth as a one hour production, for Alliance Francaise Chennai's 70th year celebration on 7th October 2023. The fully packed audience in the Black Box theatre consisted of young age group rasikas, most of them watching a Kathakali performance for the first time, alongside artists and connoisseurs who knew that they were in for a visual treat. The medium of Kathakali which is known for the transcendental effectiveness to present mythological episodes was plied thoughtfully by Prabal, to suit the Shakespearean play.  Prabal Gupta (Photo: Suresh PS) In his own words, "I was a student of English literature and this story was in my mind, right from the first time I read it. While young, when I expressed my wish to make this as a Kathakali presentation, it was ridiculed. But the velocity of the storyline and the burning desire falling in line with my special interest in stree vesham, made me take it up and I staged it in 2014 with music by Sadanam Shivadas. As one can understand, the entire story had to be first brought into a poetry form, for which I chose Sanskrit and knit the episodes with English narration. It was a pleasant surprise when I got a call to present it for 'Erasing Borders', a well-known festival in New York, where I did it as a 30 minute production. With Lady Macbeth as the protagonist, what was conceived as a solo theatre presentation, evolved into a duet presentation when I revisited my work in 2022. This time, I had also reworked on the music with Bhairavi, Varali, Shankarabharanam, Ahiri, Begada and Gauripanthu which not only added colour but also matched with the depth of the work." The presentation began with the traditional tiraseela with the character being introduced from behind the curtain. The chenda and maddalam created the required aura to the presentation of story which was arranged in 4 scenes. The first scene that followed the tiraseela portrayed Lady Macbeth saying the prophecies of the three witches, that Macbeth would soon become the King of Scotland. Followed by that, Lady Macbeth poisons the mind of her husband and devises a plan to kill King Duncan. She invokes the ghosts and vampires to possess her, so that she becomes ruthless enough to instigate Macbeth to commit the crime. An honest Macbeth is caught between his wife and his loyalty to the king. Little by little Lady Macbeth makes him agree to commit the murder and it so happens, that he is put in a position to continue murders to finally claim the throne and crown. Lady Macbeth on the other hand, later falls into guilt and is not able to sleep. She is overcome by her own misdoing and finally kills herself. A woman is generally known as a mother and kind hearted to care for her baby. But here, Lady Macbeth portrays herself as a wicked woman, who is ready to kill a baby drinking milk from her breasts by throwing it on a stone and crushing its brains. The ruthlessness, greed, love for power, taking control of situation, praising and enticing Macbeth, instigating him, sense of victory when the king is killed and finally undergoing the trauma and guilt leading to death were all emotionally powerful sequences presented with ease and artistry by Prabal. The flurry of emotional display of the character of Lady Macbeth was well complimented by silent balance and restrained calmness by Sadanam Vipin Chandran, who played the role of Macbeth. The disagreement of his conscience to do something wrong, unable to deny his wife, finally falling prey to the ambition and greed were all knit seamlessly through the scenes that moved swiftly, ably connected with English compere.  Sadanam Vipin Chandran & Prabal Gupta (Photo: Vaigalathur Venkataraman Hariharan) The costumes, selective props, the powerful nayanabhinaya bringing forth the whirlwind of various emotions, the thoughtful lighting - all laid a wonderful spread of delectable artistry. The concept and music arrangement, direction and choreography of Prabal Gupta was ably supported by recorded music with vocals by Sadanam Jyothish Babu and Sadanam Sai Kumar; Chenda, edakka and thimila by Sadanam Ramakrishnan; Maddalam by Kalamandalam Prasanth and lights operated by Victor Paulraj. Quite often there are opinions raised about the relevance of the age old art in the current times, nevertheless there are artists who with their fresh creativity are able to cook a delectable spread using the medium of the traditional art to bring forth such outstanding work that reassures that it is not only the art but the artist who stands up wearing the tag with undiminishing love for the genre.  Dr. Lakshmi Ramaswamy is a respected Bharatanatyam exponent, researcher, teacher, author and curator of NatyAmrita Manthan. Her institution Sri Mudhraalaya is 30 years old. Her books 'Shall we know, natya', 'Indhiya Paarampariyathil Chuvai', 'Bharatanatyam - theory, history & technique' have been appreciated as must keep and serve as reference books to teachers. |
