WHEN YOU SEE the last vestiges of tolerance and empathy dying all around you, what do you miss the most? A saviour to redeem and make amends for the vices, or the solution to the ever-growing conflict between the right and the wrong? Perhaps, it is the humanity within us, as Pearl S Buck would have said.
Carrying forward the legacy of inherent human kindness and empathy that her works embody, is Kasba Udbhab’s latest production Suleiman, a symbolic adaptation of Pearl S Buck’s famous short story The Enemy.
The play centres on the conflict, which develops when we are faced with an ethical choice, over a convenient one. Suleiman, much like The Enemy, is based on a plot where Raj Narayan, a doctor and his family, provide shelter to Suleiman, a battered journalist who is being followed by Shaheb’s men.
While on the one hand there is Shaheb, a despotic king who likes unquestioned obedience, on the other is Raj Narayan’s family, who are divided in their minds and hearts about giving refuge to a stranger, which might cost them their life. The seven-act play explores the journey of each of the characters — from the time that Suleiman begins to stay with them, to the time he disappears. The narrative creates a tension that reveals a different side of each character, whether it is Raj Narayan himself, his wife Sreelekha or his son Bibhash, and proves how empathy and kindness can win over hatred.
“Suleiman can be anybody and everybody. When we started out, we had decided to focus on communal riots and had named the central character accordingly. But later, as the script developed, we realised that the narrative fits into the larger context of incidents, happening all around us, as it reminds you of all the incidents of social injustice that takes place every day,” says Shubhankar Karmakar.
“You can also find traces of Rabindranath Tagore’s Tasher Desh here, but we have maintained that the final message of the play remains humanity. The only saving grace in the world that is gradually moving towards unrestrained violence and intolerance,” adds the student of microbiology.
“The most challenging part though was to convert such a timeless text into a play and still keep up the sense of tension, or conflict building up within the situations. We have also tried to create a break in alienation at the end of the two-hour play,” he adds. The set has been designed by Aratrik Bhadra and Shubhankar Karmakar, the lights have been co-ordinated by Indrajit Kundu and Bhadra, and the music has been coordinated by Tithi Chattopadhyay, Ramit Saha, and Pijush.
At Tapan Theatre. July 4. 6:30 pm.