Ratan Thiyam Wahoudok enthrals audience

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Ratan Thiyam's Wahoudok enthrals audience at New Delhi

Manipur Info Centre *

Ratan Thiyam's latest production – Wahoudok (Prologue) kicked off the 18-day long 10th Bharat Rang Mahotsav, the Indian International Theatre Festival organized by the National School of Drama on January 04th, 2008 at Kamani Auditorium, New Delhi.

After the opening ceremony of the Festival where Ebrahim Alkazi, former Director of National School of Drama and the father of contemporary Indian theatre lighted the ceremonial lamp, the spectacular one hour and ten minute long play - Wahoudok followed before the over-crowded audience of the 632 seated theatre.

Ratan Thiyam speaking at the opening of 'The Shrine'.

Many theatre lovers stood for more than a hour along the gang ways of the auditorium to watch the play. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit, Ebrahim Elkazi, Raj Babbar and other noted theatre personalities were among the audience.

Colourful visual designs of costume and light highlighted the magic of the Manipuri play and enthralled the audience.

Ratan Thiyam who had been yearning for a beautiful and peaceful life, tries to bring back the past golden days of beautiful life, in his latest play.

His earlier plays Imphal Karushi, Chakravyuth, Chinglon Mapan Tampak Ama, Hey Nungshibi Prithibi scripted and directed by himself and adapted plays - Khurukshetragi Pirang , Ritu, Amamba Yug, Uttar Priyadarshi expressed his yearning for peace and beautiful life.

Wahoudok (Prologue) is the first play of Thiyam's Manipur Trilogy — Chinglon Mapan Tampak Ama (Nine Hills One Valley) and Hey Nungshibi Prithibi (My Earth, My Love) being the other two.

Wahoudok links myth with reality as it encompasses a wide spectrum of human evolution right from birth of the universe to the modern times.

Cast as an allegory, the four scenes string together a narrative on the creation of the Man, the Earth and the Society, going on to document the pitiable plight of humanity and concluding with a reiteration of a deep faith that is grotesque and destructive.

Mother earth is bountiful and it is in the beholder to perceive its beauty and to perpetuate it. Scene one begins with the narrator singing the glory of the Almighty and the story of the creation of universe.

Thiyam invokes the Divine Mother by reading out from ancient manuscripts. The Divine Mother and her seven manifestations spring out of the book and join the narration.

The different stages in the creation myth unfold with various species like frog, monkey being created and ultimately man comes to life.

In the second scene, the Divine Mothers bless him and feed him ambrosia. It is an age when humanity and divinity together enjoy the bounties of Nature.

As national resources shrink and the world is ravaged by scarcity of food and water, diseases spread, wars break out; the seven Maichous (the Seven Wise Men) predict a bleak future for mankind in the third scene.

'Man will turn into beast.
They will stop loving one another.
Man will devour Man.
Fire-breathing mouths of rich nations will annihilate the weaker nations.
Fortresses will start fighting one another.
Fire will start burning with earth as wick and water fuel.
Killing and wanton murder and kidnapping will be rampant;
news of war and devastation will reverberate in all four directions.
Wrong pens will start inscribing on official scrolls.
Purses of dignitaries will burst at the seams'.

Though the beliefs and customs of modern man has undergone a complete change, they gaze at the relics of the past, uncomprehendingly. The play ends with a paean to the beauty of Mother Earth.

About the production, Ratan Thiyam said, "The innumerable versions of the creation myth has always held a tremendous fascination for me because of the cultural specificities one can discover in each of these.

"The Shrine" located at Uripok Samushang, Manipur

While the creation of man and the formation of societies have been built into one part of history, the gradual destruction and collapse of civilization forms another, with speculative assessments on how a civilization came to an end".

"The reasons might be variednatural calamities, socio-political and economic reasons.", Ratan Thiyam said. "To my mind, war has always been a major annihilator of civilizations.

The monumental ruins of the Mayan civilization in Europe, and the Indus valley Civilization in Asia tell the tale of the happy days when these ruins were bustling with activity, and of the societies they fostered," he added " In my perception of history as it stands today, I cannot wish away the sinister clouds of a nuclear warfare and a suicidal ecological degradation that loom over us."

He remarked, " In this globalized world of ours technical progress has reached new heights in every field of knowledge. Yet mankind reels under pain and suffering. There lies irony," he explained.

Ratan Thiyam had another thrilling moment when his play Wahoudok could be presented before his Guru Ebrahim Alkazi.

When the theatre doyen Ebrahim Alkazi saw Ratan Thiyam's Chinglon Mapan Tampak Ama, he once remarked, "It's always very gratifying when a student you have taught gets ahead of you in a production, but with this one play, I am very proud to say that Ratan Thiyam has surpassed my entire career".

* Manipur Info Centre provided this information through The Sangai Express . This review was webcasted on January 07th , 2008 .

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