HEY SINDHU SARAS (THEATRE SHOW)

Moscow Art Theatre on Kolkata stage

Rangapat’s newest theatre production ‘Hey Sindhusaras’ is based on the story of the making of Chekhov’s play ‘The Seagull’... trying to re-live, the time and essence of the Moscow Art Theatre, the pioneer of Modern world Theatre, founded in 1898 by Konstantin Stanislavski and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko— as a revolutionary move against the sentimental, entertainment-oriented commercial theatre of Russia of that time. Konstantin Stanislavski was introducing his revolutionary naturalistic ‘Method acting’ and Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) was practicing realistic literature and plays at that time. Chekhov was romantically involved with Olga Knipper (1868-1959), a celebrity actress, through their exchange of sensitive creative ideas that gradually built intimacy, love to consequences, 1901 to 1904 – a short life.

The play narrates an unwritten history in the theatre creating tension between individual actors, writers, and directors. Chekhov wrote a medley of seemingly ambiguous events with almost no dramatic twists—only stilted dialogue and unspoken words. Seemingly a sad comedy or a happy melancholy. Chekhov called Stani’s construction and execution wrong. This conflict of belief and vision became an educational institution of modern theatre today. Chekhov was distant from his creative writing, and so was he in real life. He wanted to keep himself away from any repetitive behavioral pattern that cast its shadow even after his marriage. What would it give Olga, his love turned to marriage, to live then, with intense feelings for this man, and play the character written by that man? Does the hurt never heal? A writer needs a stage, an actor, and a director. The discourse is continuous. In this play, a character kills a sea-gull bird, as a symbol to show he is a writer who wants to kill himself. Again the same symbol is used for a fallen woman. ‘What I see as beautiful, I want to see dead’. Who says this...the actor? The Director? Or the Playwright?