BENGALURU: Whitefield: Swami and Friends is one of those books that is deeply entrenched in the minds and memories of anyone who has read it. Malgudi, the fictional town created by R.K. Narayan, has landscapes that readers will already have mapped in their own heads. They will have mentally trod the path from Ellaman Street to the Sarayu river through Nallappa’s grove. Readers have met Narayan’s quirky characters and have ideas about how they look and what they might say. So how does one recreate a story and an ethos that has already been imagined and reimagined multiple times? Visual Respiration, a Bengaluru-based theatre group will create these landscapes onstage as a compelling 90-minute performance at the Jagriti Season 2015. As with any adaptation for which the source material is a popular classic, the challenge first lies in winning over the fans.
How did the whole journey begin and what has it been like?
Aruna Ganesh Ram, the director of the show conceived the idea six years ago. ‘Three chapters into the book, I already started seeing stage visuals. The challenge has been in creating a design that will bring Malgudi alive for the audiences,’ she says. Manasi Subramaniam, who adapted the book into a stage script, says, ‘Writing this adaptation sometimes felt like trying to cram as many chocolates as possible into my fist. The novel is so filled with wonderful moments that it was hard to decide what to keep and what not to keep.’
The play has been created with a Bengaluru-based cast and crew. Ishaan Pai and Shridhar Kulkarni play Swami, the curious 10-year-old. Shridhar prepared for the role by establishing close and multifaceted relationships with his family and friends within the play. The cast-members often drew on their childhoods to recreate the youth and innocence of the characters they portray, their quirks and the good-natured charm of growing up in pre-Independence India. With a multi-talented cast and crew, the play promises to transport people to the old-world charm of Malgudi. With original music composed by Aditya M.T to bring in a South-Indian flavor, the play also uses smells to kindle the audience’s senses and impressions. Aruna is a student of The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, London where she specialised in devised work and immersive theatre. Her Bengaluru based theatre group Visual Respiration focuses on creating unique audience encounters with very powerful stage visuals.
Bengaluru's audiences have been very receptive towards immersive and participatory theatre. In her previous shows, she has used senses of taste, touch and smell to engage audiences.
With Swami and Friends, she explores the concept of heightening the sense of smell within a proscenium. “I think smells can trigger powerful memories and transport you into another world. With Swami and Friends, I imagined what it means to take an audience to a traditional South-Indian household and the smell of coffee was then introduced into the performance.
For Aruna, the challenge in theatre has been to draw new audiences. With Swami and Friends, she is sure to attract a completely diverse audience group. “From eight -year-olds to 80-year-olds, I feel there are different ways for audiences to connect with Swami, Malgudi and R.K.Narayan”
The play runs till October 11 at Jagriti Theatre, Whitefield. Tickets are priced at Rs 400 and can be purchased on bookmyshow.com.