Ramayana reinvented for alien times and stage

[Guest guest]

>"Ashok Chowgule"

>"Ashok Chowgule"

>

>Ramayana reinvented for alien times and stage >Sat, 21 Apr 2001

07:53:35 +0530 > >Ramayana reinvented for alien times and stage >By Rashmee Z.

Ahmed >http://www.timesofindia.com/today/19home6.htm >The Times of India News

Service >April 19, 2001. > > LONDON: The Ramayana has come to the London stage

in symbolic obeisance >to a hydra-headed phenomenon the West's fascination with

exotic Eastern >faiths and a growing hunger within young British Hindus to

develop a >strong cultural identity. > > The play, complete with

multi-cultural, multi-religious cast, an >Afro-Caribbean Ravana, Ayesha Dharkar

as Sita and an English Surpanakha >sporting green high heels and conical pink

Madonna-like bosoms, is >running to packed houses, in what its director, Sri

Lankan Tamil Indu >Rubasingham calls "yet another instance of this amazing

ancient story >speaking to a community at its time and place and in a way it

can >understand". > > The end result is a quasi-spiritual version of London

street life, an >exercise the play's writer, Peter Oswald, accepts is a

difficult >"balance between the human and the divine". > > Leading British

Hindus say they are encouraged by the second theatrical >attempt after Peter

Brooks' Mahabharata at bringing Hinduism to a >western society increasingly

searching for faddish oriental solutions to >life's eternal problems. Shaunaka

Rishi Das, a white Irish convert and >practising Hindu priest for nearly 20

years, believes the play will >promote a cultural exchange that will help

British Hindus forge their >own identity and learn about themselves. > > "We

have 1.5 million Hindus here, but they have traditionally kept >their heads

down and gone about their business. The third generation is >very British but

India has a sacred place in its life. They want to know >more about how to

integrate without being assimilated," he said. > > The statistics may be

arguable and perhaps exaggerated by >half-a-million, but it is true that

British Hindus are increasingly >drawn to making a more public statement of

their faith. After >half-a-century of making almost no political bid for

prominence, >community leaders now point with pride to Lord Navnit Dholakia, a

>leading Liberal Democrat peer who bears Ganesh on his coat of arms. > > In

response to a perceived hunger for self-knowledge, the four-year-old >Oxford

Centre for Vaishnav and Hindu Studies is sponsoring Britain's >first Hindu

Youth Festival, visualised as an attempt to give youth >culture intellectual

gravitas from Hindu scripture. Alongside plans for >the festival is the Oxford

Centre's ongoing first survey of British >Hinduism through oral history. > >

They are not misjudging the market. Earlier this year, Channel 4 >brought the

Mahakumbh Mela into millions of ordinary British homes, but >Hindus here

complained about its billing as "the greatest show on earth" >and much of its

focus "on freakery". > > But Das, who converted to Hinduism 22 years ago,

stresses they are not >looking for a market, just to help the young ones find

themselves. "We >are not evangelical. We are not looking for mass conversions,

but The >Ramayana on the London stage might help lead people to more

traditional >sources of the katha". > > A straw poll of the largely white,

middle-aged audience of the Ramayana >reveals mixed feelings. "It's different,"

says one lady. "Is this a >spiritual story, of huge significance to Indians?"

asks another in >bewilderment. "I was expecting a classic," complains a

disappointed old >gent. > > For, this is definitely not Brooks' nine-hour long

epic production of >the Mahabharata, but a lively exercise in cultural

cross-pollination. >Rubasingham, who told this paper that she originally

declined the >project because "this was too big a story", said she ultimately

felt the >Ramayana could symbolise multi-cultural Britain and the confusion of

>Asians living here. > > "I always knew the story, I never remember being told

it, my brother's >name is Lav, this story affects every structure of Asian

life, so I >decided on mixed Kathakali and western theatrical styles and

east-west >music," says Rubasingham. > > She chose as writer Oswald, a

writer-in-residence at Shakespeare's >Globe, whose previous brush with Indian

theatre included Shakuntala. The >two decided on clowning, what Oswald calls a

pseudo-Shakespearean >burlesque and a thorough "integration of religion and

art". > > But in the attempt to make the Ramayana accessible to the West, was

it >necessary for Sugreev to swig beer and Ravana's son, Indrajeet, to leer >at

Sita, who manifestly casts off her divinity? Shaunaka Rishi Das says >he is

tolerant, "The West is ignorant of us, that's why they're doing >this. But the

fact that they are doing it at all is reason to >celebrate". > > Meanwhile,

like carrying coal to Newcastle, there are also plans to >export the British

Ramayana to India. > > > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at

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