Bharati Pawaskar
To commemorate the World Theatre Day celebrated every year on March 27 by the International Theatre Institute (ITI), Abhivyaktee, a theatre group from Goa will be presenting Hindi play ‘Yatra’ which is an adaptation of South African playwright Athol Fugard’s ‘The Road to Mecca’ on March 30 at Sunaparanta, Panaji. Written and directed by Saish Deshpande, the Hindi version is slightly altered to fit in the Goan context.
The original English play is an exploration of artistic freedom, where the light of thoughts, ideologies and expression flow from all directions. It is about the revolt of a woman who has been a social outcast in her village. It is about her journey towards self-realisation and freedom. The play was inspired by the story of Helen Martins, who lived in Nieu-Bethesda, Eastern Cape, South Africa and created The Owl House, which is now a National heritage site.
‘The Road to Mecca’ dramatizes the life of Helen Martins, a South African woman living in a Christian community. She refuses to go to a nursing home, choosing instead to build her personal ‘Mecca’ in her yard. It’s implied that she kills herself at the end of the play. Saish recalls having ‘The Road to Mecca’ for his syllabus during Natya Vidyalaya days in 2006-07 which he produced in Marathi at the Theatre Festival 2015 in Goa.
“The original play has a sad ending which was also in my Marathi version. However, in my current Hindi version (of the same play) I have taken the liberty to make an end on a positive note. I did this by adding an extra character (that of an adopted son) who symbolically represents the ideology of his deceased mother and takes forward her progressive and independent thinking,” shares Saish.
‘Yatra’ symbolises our journey of life. Each one of us walks our path to the destination of our choice. We should be free to choose our goal. To make this journey of life a happy one is everybody’s right and no one can deny that. The central character Helen in the play is constantly in search of light and happiness and remains adamant to her goal, come what may. “That’s the central theme of this play, and I have only tried to make a happy ending, instead of the original sad one,” adds Saish.
The 75 minute play ‘Yatra’ has casts, Anagha Deshpande, Ruchira Verekar, Nitin Kolvekar, Anuj Poyekar and Sagar Haldonkar. “We have tried to utilise the space available at Sunaparanta with the brilliant scenic design created by Yogesh Kapadi. The light design by Dhananjay Falkar is incredible too. All the other arrangements have been done by Sunaparanta and our play ‘Yatra’ is open to all and free. This is our first Hindi presentation,” briefs Saish. As the Marathi version of the play had good response from the audience and Abhivyaktee team is expecting similar positive feedback this time too.
