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Play : Acheekpagi Khongjel
Venue: Shri Ram centre
Date: 16 th Jan
Time : 4.30 pm
Acheekpagi Khongjel. 1 hr 10 mins.
Prod. Paradise Theatre, Imphal. Dir. L Kishworjit.
Story ( Play)
The man is seen running after a woman who vanishes in the air like an ethereal spirit. In a remote site, a woman offers food to a guest, arranges for his rest, and goes into her own room. The man, left alone, traces a strange sound to a flower in a flower pot. He plucks the flower and hides it in his pocket. The next morning, as the man prepares to leave, the woman enters with the flower pot in his hand and places it in a corner of the room.
Another day. The man enters with a bunch of firewood. The woman is touched. She admires his body. In the night, the mysterious sound is heard. The man plucks the flower and puts it in his pocket once again.
The next morning the man practices the basic steps of Thang-ta, with his sword, while the woman cleans the floor. She finds a mark on the floor. They rub it off together. The same night, the man hears the telltale sound again, and peeps into the woman’s room and finds her going through transformations. The man takes the flower out of his pocket and finds its colour turned to brown.
The next morning, as he practices his Thang-ta exercises, he feels drained. The woman enters with the flower pot, and insists on practicing with him till she becomes more and more ferocious, and challenges him to kill her. He tries to kill himself by holding the tip of his sword to his throat. She snatches the sword from him and warns him not to repeat such an attempt ever.
The man would like leave now. The woman tries to stop him. But the man leaves nonetheless. When he enters again and picks up the flute lying on the mattress and blows on it; and shadow of the woman, hanging, flutters on the wall.
The play is adapted from Henry David Hwang’s Sound of Voice.
About the Director
An alumnus of NSD, L Kishworjit Singh (b. 1963) completed a three-year research project on ‘Ethnomethodology of Actros’ Training’ on a Ford Foundation Fellowship, and worked with Augusto Boal for three months at Rio de Janeiro on a UNESCO Bursary in 1995. Has directed more than 20 plays, and acted in several films.
Director speaks
‘The Man and the Woman stand at the core of theatre. Woman, with her multifaceted qualities, attracts and charms man to the point where he is obsessed with her beauty, and cannot think of anything else in life, and is often driven to kill himself. In a traditional society, a woman is taught to repress and hide her natural feelings, and has to bear a load of suffering. The play offers a theatrical experiment exploring the hidden sensuous feelings of a man and a woman in such a traditional society. As the tolerance of a woman is tried to its limits, and she is driven to end her life, the play upholds the need to develop a new understanding between Man and Woman.’
Credits
The Man: L Davidkumar Singh
The Woman: Minakumari Sogolsem
Impersonation of the Man: K Surajmani Singh, G Helendro Sharma
Impersonation of the Woman: N Meera Devi, Y Teleshori Devi, P Shusma Devi, A Reetu Devi
Play: Henry David Hwang
Design: K Bimol Singh
Sets: M Brajabidhu
Lights: G Chaobisana Sharma
Sound: G Imotomba Sharma
Music: P Dhanajit Singh
Musicians: Shri Tiken Singh (percussion), Shri Prem Singh (percussion), Shri Priyo Singh (flute), Shri Nisheswor Singh (violin)
Costumes: L Dhaneshwor Singh
Adaptation and Direction: L Kishworjit
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ART & THEATRE