QUEEN'S ROAD: The moon is often linked to romance, but Shapeshift’s most recent production, playing in Ranga Shankara this weekend, uses it to explore the impossibility of love.
A devised play, it began with the idea of exploring the feeling of longing, virah. One idea led to another, says Sujay Saple, who’s directing the piece. After a workshop and months of improvisations, it became Moonfool.
“The difficulties of love have been compared to a love story between the human and the moon — an object impossible to attain,” says the director of the Mumbai-based theatre company. Hence, the title.
The piece is also about the moon — the object that inspired the first calendars, not to mention many festivals and rituals. Research had them (the director and actors Arpit Singh, Dipna Daryanani, Himanshu Singh, Maithily Bhupatkar) poring over myths and folk tales from different cultures, and Sujay found a Chinese tale in which the sun falls in love with the moon particularly sweet.
“He proposes to her and she agrees to marry him on one condition: that he bring her a robe that fits perfectly. He’s seen her, so he comes with a robe the next day.”
But the moon changes shape every day, so every day, the sun goes back because the robe never fits.
“Possibly, the sun knows that the robe will never fit, and the moon loves the sun but wants to hold her own. But they both love the ritual,” he essays at an explanation. And that’s what love is.
Love is also faith, the faith that the one you love will come for you one day, and a more tragic folk tale from South Africa illustrates that.
When she’s little, the parents of a girl tell her stories of the strong Moon Warrior. In her teens, she falls in love with him, and later, refuses to marry anyone but the mythical man. She’s past her prime, and is still waiting for him. In her twilight years, she wanders out in the night.
“People ridicule her, so she has gone from love to obsession,” supplies Sujay.
One night, it’s so dark and still that she mistakes the reflection of the moon on the waters of the lake in the woods for the Moon Warrior.
“So she walks to the middle of the lake and drowns, becoming one with the image of the Moon Warrior who can never come down to earth but is looking on. He’s very happy with her and creates a flower in her memory, a flower that blooms only at night. And the stronger the moon the stronger the fragrance,” he says.
Largely visual, the performance uses lighting, dance and music to communicate. “It could be called visual or physical theatre. It’s funny in some parts, emotional in others,” says the artiste, who has trained in physical theatre with Adil Hussain in Hampi.
This apart, the 75-minute play has some English text, some Hindi and bits of Marathi and gibberish. But the universality of the theme transcends language, Sujay says. “We premiered in Auroville last year, to an international audience, and no one had any trouble understanding the performance.
Moonfool, at Ranga Shankara this Saturday and Sunday, at 3.30 pm and 7.30 pm. No interval. Not suitable for children below 12.