It is now the turn of the KPAC to bring to the Malayalam stage a play that has been among the oft-played classical tragedies globally — the tale of King Oedipus based on Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex.
The political theatre group, however, is trying to present the play as if it’s a contemporary political narrative, with chance happenings gaining predominance over concepts of destiny, divination and sorcery.
“When we presented Anna Karenina, we tried to showcase it as a contemporary tale. Much the same is happening here, too, with the focus right on questions about people in power,” says A. Shajahan, KPAC secretary.
The classical tragedy by Sophocles is about how destiny has made King Sophocles unknowingly kill his biological father, the King Laius and marry his mother Jocasta as a war trophy. The KPAC production negates the fatalism that defines Oedipus’s life, but maintains that it is an accidental chain of events that leads to the man’s fall.
“We also ask questions about his atonement, as to whether the new age leaders would be willing to accept their guilt and seek to punish themselves. Then there are questions about the means of self-punishment as well. Have the wrongdoings been atoned by that single act of gouging out one’s own eyes?” asks Manoj Narayanan, Sangeetha Nataka Akademi awardee who has directed the play. “Would it be possible to interpret a play 2,500 years after it was originally written? While Oedipus Rex continues to have several stages the world over, our aim is to contextualise in the political situation of the day in a subtle fashion. And, being a theatre that’s close to the people, we think we have been able to do justice to the production,” adds Mr. Shajahan.
Adaptation
Kalesh of KPAC has adapted the story for the Malayalam stage.
“There’s a realistic approach that characterizes the play, like all of our productions,” says Mr. Narayanan.
The debut staging of Oedipus will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at Karthika Thirunal Theatre in the capital on Tuesday. In a bid to revive some of its lost glory, KPAC has, in recent times, brought to the stage adaptations of Ntuppuppakkoranendarnnu, Neelakkuyil and Anna Karenina.
S. Anandan