A cast of 70 essaying around 150 roles. Four different stages. An expenditure of around Rs 1 lakh a day just on sound and lights. Those are some of the highlights of a unique theatre experiment currently on stage in Bangalore - a play that goes on through the night, for eight hours (nine, if you count the time set aside for intervals).
The play is a theatrical adaptation of Malegalalli Madhumagalu (roughly translated as 'bride in the hills'), a 750-page novel written in 1967 by celebrated Kannada author and Jnanpith winner Kuvempu. Scriptwriter KY Narayanaswamy converted this magnum opus into a play, which is now being directed by C Basavalingaiah, a 1985-graduate of National School of Drama.
The novel is set in the densely forested Malanad area of Karnataka of 100 years ago, thus capturing the changes that take place in the feudal villages of that time. "There is no single central character in the novel, everybody is important," says Basavalingaiah, who used to head Rangayana, the state-sponsored repertory company in Mysore. The play, now in its last week, had originally been staged at Rangayana two years back. But it is back on stage as the department of Kannada and culture felt it would be the right production to inaugurate Kalagram, a cultural complex near Bangalore University's Jnana Bharati campus.
More From This Section
Apart from the fact that it's an all-nighter, one of the other unique aspects is that the play is enacted on four stages, in different locations at Kalagram. So the play, which starts at 8.30 pm, shifts to the second stage after two-and-a-half hours, and to the third stage after another two hours. The last two acts are two-hours-long each, ending at 5.30 in the morning.
One can see the damage done by the thunder showers of the past couple of nights. And a pumpset is noisily draining out the water from one of the flooded stages as we speak. But the director is confident that the stage will be ready in a matter of hours, by show-time on Friday night. The effort of the cast and crew is there for all to see. Around 300 areca nut trees were cut and replanted as part of the efforts to recreate Malanadu.
The cast was chosen from different districts across the state. Some, like Rashmi Shellikeri, who essays the role of one of the characters, Nagakka, has had previous acting experience while others, like 19-year-old Abhijeet, who belongs to the Akki Pakki community in Badrapura and cannot read or write, are on stage for the first time. Inculcating the discipline of acting among people who were not used to it was a challenge, admits Rajesh Kundaran, one of the stage managers, but everybody cooperated.
The production was a three-month effort, with the first month dedicated to dialogues, sets and properties. The cast was divided into seven groups, with the actors having the freedom to choose the role they wanted to essay, says the director.
So what happens if two people want the same role? "We also have a second cast which performs alternately," he says. With a production of this long a duration, there was no question of run-throughs, but five days before going on stage, actors started rehearsing through the night.
The response, says Basavalingaiah, has been very encouraging with shows on weekends usually running to a full-house. "People come with tea, snacks and dinner. Since there are 15-minute intervals between shifting to the different stages, members of the audience even get acquainted with each other by the time it reaches the fourth stage," he laughs.
