| 
"This play is a classic, so the
adaptability is unquestionable. It can suit any country, any language, any people. The
play speaks of transformations -- transformations at different levels, at the physical
level, spiritual level and psychological level. So these transformations play a very vital
part."
Actress Vaishali Kasaravalli, a part of the Kannada film
industry for over two decades, has turned theatre director. For her debut she has chosen
none other than Bernard Shaw's ageless play Pygmalion. Except this version of Pygmalion
is not in the playwright's original English but instead in Kannada.
Sevanti Prasanga is the Kannada adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's well-loved
classic and here Professor Henry Higgins is Bhargava Shastry and Eliza Dolittle is
Sevanthi. Speaking about the play, actor Srinivasa Prabhu who plays the character of
Bhargava Shastry, remarked, "This play is a classic, so the adaptability is
unquestionable. It can suit any country, any language, any people. The play speaks of
transformations -- transformations at different levels, at the physical level, spiritual
level and psychological level. So these transformations play a very vital part."
Adapted from the English classic in 1995 by writer and journalist Jayant Kaikini, Sevanthi
Prasanga was first enacted by the Ninasam repertory theatre, which staged more than
150 performances of the play. Like the original, this Kannada version too is a musical.
According to Jayant Kaikini, "The beauty of this play is that it doesn't take itself
very seriously. It might be very profound, it might be very serious, but the moment you
start taking it very seriously, you lose the balance. You should be able to go a little
ahead, and look at it in a very different way. This play has that quality. So its an
enjoyable experience doing it in Kannada."
It was when Vaishali Kasaravalli assisted theatre director B V Karanth on his production
of Girish Karnad's Hayavadana that the actress first got bitten by the direction
bug. "Though its based on My Fair Lady which is a very popular film, writer
Jayant has made some changes in the play. That impressed me very much. In the play, Sevanthi
Prasanga finally participates in a beauty contest and wins the title, Miss Rajdhani.
The politics behind Prof. Shastry's notion of beauty that is converting a slum girl into a
beautiful and very sophisticated young lady -- that is very relevant," said Vaishali
Kasarvalli.
Shaw's Pygmalion in Kannada went down well with audiences in Bangalore, proving
that even in adaptation the play is a winner. |