Themes of the plays
The first major motive of Shumang lila is to entertain people, making them forget their day-to-day lives' tensions and worries.
But it also carries a heavy responsibility to educate people on various issues both local and international.
Phagee lila was out and out comedy, adducing and cooking up of absurd stories on the spot, caricaturing of the king and
the nobles, making funny physical contortions etc. 'Ipom' may be one of these genres. In the beginning both Shumang lila
and stage lila performed mostly historical and pauranic plays which aroused courage and valour among the audience.
Then social dramas came in which were the depictions of various socio-politico-economic issues of Manipuri society. They may be daily
social happenings, family affairs, state administration, rampant corruption, unemployment problems, insurgency problems,
complaints of the disgruntled youths etc.
But the themes can be anything, ranging from heaven to hell since both the genres cannot be bound within certain space and time.
For instance, Shumang lila play 'World Trade Centre', showcases the agony of the loss of basic human relationship in the
aftermath of 11 September 2001 attack of Twin Towers.
On the other hand Ratan Thiyam has been using the red colour as depiction of futility of the war and the comfort
of peace through his various plays such as Chakravyuha (1984), Hiroshima (1996), Uttarapriyadarshi (1996) etc.
This way both the theatres are working as 'infotainment'. Whether they are seriously received or not depends on
the analytical capability of the audience.
|