Aryan Theatre: The nerve centre of Manipuri Absurd Drama
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Budha Chingtham
During the 1960s, the waves of European influence in India and Manipur in the field of art and literature were very strong. It is surprising to note how India heartily welcomed the western art movement. The art movements in the West like Symbolism, Expressionism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Absurdism, Naturalism, Theatre of the Absurd, Epic theatre had greatly influenced the theatre in India and Manipur. The epic theatre of Bertolt Brecht and his writing styles, acting and stage production swept the whole Indian theatre. On the other hand, the movement which ruled the Indian and Manipuri theatre for six to seven decades was the Absurd Theatre. Such art movements reached our soil directly and indirectly through the Indian dramatists. The personalities of the contemporary Manipuri Experi- mental theatre of the 1960s and the 1970s tried their hands in diverse forms of western dramas in the form of experiment. They also include the question of ethnic identity, the disillusionment, chaos and anxiety and the conflicts in the middle class society.
The experimental theatre in Manipur had witnessed three impacts which are first, the impact of western theatre, second, that of classical Sanskrit theatre and the third being our own para-theatrical forms. The first western impact was heralded by GC Tongbra’s use of unconventional dialogues and Maharajkumari Binodini Devi’s unconventional characters who brought realistic narratives in their experimental plays. This paved the way to a plethora of experimental plays starting from the 1970s.
The first proper experimental form of theatre which drove the audience to wonder what the play was about and what was the story was late Nongthombam Shri Biren’s “Khong- chat” which was performed for the first time on 28th February, 1970 at Aryan Theatre. Aribam Syam was the one who directed this play which is claimed as the first experimental play in the history of Manipuri theatre. What is interesting is the remark of Elangbam Nilakanta Singh (1927-2000), an acclaimed poet and critic, in ‘Simanta Patrika’, a newspaper published on 8th March, 1970 regarding the confusing effect of the play on the audience: “Shri Biren’s “Khongchat”, an hour length play, was performed in the Aryan theatre on 28th February which showed the existentialism mood through its four characters. The audience remain silent during the play as they are confused and shocked and are struggling to grasp the play. I have read Shri Biren’s manuscript many a time. I still cannot fully understand what he wants to convey. But I can feel what he wants to express.”
This is an anecdote of how the audience get confused after they witness an absurd play. This is not only the case of Manipur. This happened across the globe. There are so many incidents of how the sophisticated audience of France failed to comprehend Samuel Bec-kett’s world famous play, Waiting for Godot. Shri Biren, the writer of Khong-chat, explains: “People are taking Khongchat as an absurd play. Shaping it as an absurd play, I call it a dra-matised poetic vision pro- duced in a poetic manner.”
The drama is considered as an absurd brand which was performed on the Manipuri theatre’s stage following the wave of absurd drama which was spreading its seeds across the world. The theatre group which was playing this play was Aryan theatre which was one of the earliest theatre groups of Manipur. The actors who performed in the play are : Arambam Loken-dra (the Amaba man), Haobam Kaminikumar (the angry man), Aribam Syam Sharma (the dirty man) and Kamala (the woman). Aribam Syam Sharma not only directed the play but also acted as the dirty man. Shri Biren’s Khongchat which he subtitled as “A Dramatised Poetic Vision” was very much different from the conventional realistic play. It followed a very different pattern from that of the realistic play. There is no attempt to narrate a story. There is no definite structure or characterisation. This is a play which is devoid of a definite whole but which is trying to engage a dialogue of metaphysical anguish with the audience. It attempts to communicate through the patterns of poetic image.
In the play, Shri Biren displays the absurdity of life in the conversations and in the anxiety of what awaits in the future. He paints a modern man who has travelled the world and has come to the realisation that he actually does not know who his real self is. He uses the means of surrealism to identify himself. Thus, the plays deals with an unconventional theme.
We can analyse the plot, structure, characterisation, narrative style, poetic image, theme and the elements of western experimental theatre which were minutely monitored and employed by Shri Biren. We find the morally degraded modern man, the loss of human value and identity, the confusion of where we belong and the man who is estranged with the society in his plays. His was the time when absurd literature was famous and was very much followed in almost every part of the world. The impact of absurdism can be witnessed in the work of Badal Sircar of West Bengal, the forerunner of absurd drama in India when he wrote his absurd play, Evam Indrajit in 1962. Sircar’s Evam Indrajit which was originally written in Bengali language was translated into English by Girish Karnad and through this, its existential theme marked its impact across India. Girish Karnad himself employed absurd theme in his play, Tughlaq (1964). From the above discussion, it has become evident that Aryan theatre was the nerve centre of Absurdist Drama.
During the 1960s, the waves of European influence in India and Manipur in the field of art and literature were very strong. It is surprising to note how India heartily welcomed the western art movement. The art movements in the West like Symbolism, Expressionism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Absurdism, Naturalism, Theatre of the Absurd, Epic theatre had greatly influenced the theatre in India and Manipur. The epic theatre of Bertolt Brecht and his writing styles, acting and stage production swept the whole Indian theatre. On the other hand, the movement which ruled the Indian and Manipuri theatre for six to seven decades was the Absurd Theatre. Such art movements reached our soil directly and indirectly through the Indian dramatists. The personalities of the contemporary Manipuri Experi- mental theatre of the 1960s and the 1970s tried their hands in diverse forms of western dramas in the form of experiment. They also include the question of ethnic identity, the disillusionment, chaos and anxiety and the conflicts in the middle class society.
The experimental theatre in Manipur had witnessed three impacts which are first, the impact of western theatre, second, that of classical Sanskrit theatre and the third being our own para-theatrical forms. The first western impact was heralded by GC Tongbra’s use of unconventional dialogues and Maharajkumari Binodini Devi’s unconventional characters who brought realistic narratives in their experimental plays. This paved the way to a plethora of experimental plays starting from the 1970s.
The first proper experimental form of theatre which drove the audience to wonder what the play was about and what was the story was late Nongthombam Shri Biren’s “Khong- chat” which was performed for the first time on 28th February, 1970 at Aryan Theatre. Aribam Syam was the one who directed this play which is claimed as the first experimental play in the history of Manipuri theatre. What is interesting is the remark of Elangbam Nilakanta Singh (1927-2000), an acclaimed poet and critic, in ‘Simanta Patrika’, a newspaper published on 8th March, 1970 regarding the confusing effect of the play on the audience: “Shri Biren’s “Khongchat”, an hour length play, was performed in the Aryan theatre on 28th February which showed the existentialism mood through its four characters. The audience remain silent during the play as they are confused and shocked and are struggling to grasp the play. I have read Shri Biren’s manuscript many a time. I still cannot fully understand what he wants to convey. But I can feel what he wants to express.”
This is an anecdote of how the audience get confused after they witness an absurd play. This is not only the case of Manipur. This happened across the globe. There are so many incidents of how the sophisticated audience of France failed to comprehend Samuel Bec-kett’s world famous play, Waiting for Godot. Shri Biren, the writer of Khong-chat, explains: “People are taking Khongchat as an absurd play. Shaping it as an absurd play, I call it a dra-matised poetic vision pro- duced in a poetic manner.”
The drama is considered as an absurd brand which was performed on the Manipuri theatre’s stage following the wave of absurd drama which was spreading its seeds across the world. The theatre group which was playing this play was Aryan theatre which was one of the earliest theatre groups of Manipur. The actors who performed in the play are : Arambam Loken-dra (the Amaba man), Haobam Kaminikumar (the angry man), Aribam Syam Sharma (the dirty man) and Kamala (the woman). Aribam Syam Sharma not only directed the play but also acted as the dirty man. Shri Biren’s Khongchat which he subtitled as “A Dramatised Poetic Vision” was very much different from the conventional realistic play. It followed a very different pattern from that of the realistic play. There is no attempt to narrate a story. There is no definite structure or characterisation. This is a play which is devoid of a definite whole but which is trying to engage a dialogue of metaphysical anguish with the audience. It attempts to communicate through the patterns of poetic image.
In the play, Shri Biren displays the absurdity of life in the conversations and in the anxiety of what awaits in the future. He paints a modern man who has travelled the world and has come to the realisation that he actually does not know who his real self is. He uses the means of surrealism to identify himself. Thus, the plays deals with an unconventional theme.
Nongthombam Shri Biren (1942-2011) is well known as Shri Biren. He is a recipient of Sahitya Akademi Award and is considered as the forerunner dramatist who deals with absurd drama. His absurdist style of play is a result of direct influence of western adsurdist literature. There is no influence of any Indian writer. He started indulging in absurd plays after he had studied TS Eliot, Chekhov, Eugene Ionesco and Samuel Beckett. Under the influence of his ideology of “A Dramatised Poetic Vision”, he wrote several absurd plays which are Khongchat, Hallakpa, Ani and Keirak. When asked about the influence of western absurd dramatists he said, “ I cannot write if I don’t get the poetic vision. The vision of the non arrival of Godot in Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and the empty chair of Inonesco’s Chair had influenced my plays. They had an impact. That is not servile imitation nor a forced one. I just share their poetic experience.” Shri Biren marvelled at how Aribam Syam Sharma aptly directed his absurd plays which were products of direct influence of the West’s absurd plays.
Shri Biren was an unconventional thinker and an iconoclastic writer of Mani-pur. He was very much interested in writing absurd forms of plays. He frequently questioned the con- ventional form of writing, the exposition of traditional idea, structure and style. He was the dramatist who continuously experimented with different literary forms and unconventional themes and ideas. He was very much engrossed in the writings of the western iconoclastic writers like James Joyce, Virginica Woolf and Samuel Beckett. This is the reason why Shri Biren broke away from the traditions of then Manipuri theatre and introduced a new unconventional way of theatre presentation.We can analyse the plot, structure, characterisation, narrative style, poetic image, theme and the elements of western experimental theatre which were minutely monitored and employed by Shri Biren. We find the morally degraded modern man, the loss of human value and identity, the confusion of where we belong and the man who is estranged with the society in his plays. His was the time when absurd literature was famous and was very much followed in almost every part of the world. The impact of absurdism can be witnessed in the work of Badal Sircar of West Bengal, the forerunner of absurd drama in India when he wrote his absurd play, Evam Indrajit in 1962. Sircar’s Evam Indrajit which was originally written in Bengali language was translated into English by Girish Karnad and through this, its existential theme marked its impact across India. Girish Karnad himself employed absurd theme in his play, Tughlaq (1964). From the above discussion, it has become evident that Aryan theatre was the nerve centre of Absurdist Drama.