An inclusive glimpse into the lives of surrendering saints

CHENNAI: To give a spin on the stories of saints from yesteryears, Arpanam — Total Surrender, a production by 200 artistes with disabilities, was staged in the city at Narada Gana Sabha recently. It was organised by a 60-member team, as a part of Ramana Sunritya Aalaya’s (RASA) Theatre for Holistic Development, and directed by Ambika Kameshwar, founder director of RASA.

Arpanam — Total Surrender signified the merging of rivers with the sea, and surrendering to the flow of life. Talking about her process and ideation, Ambika says, “It came to me as an inspiration to ask what it means to surrender to a force, just like the river goes back to its source by merging with the sea. So, I identified moments from the lives of saints, where they realise their oneness with god, and wanted to depict it.”

In each scene, about 25-30 artistes were on stage, showing the lives of Amarapali surrendering to Buddha, Andal surrendering to Krishna, Pusalar to Shiva, Panj Pyare to Guru Gobind Singh, Abhinava Vidyathirtha to Sringeri Swami, and others. “You see the artistes — some with visual, hearing impairment, or cognitive impairment — also becoming one with the lives of these saints. It’s a beautiful moment. Sometimes they would even come up with an interpretation that I hadn’t thought of, which would be more apt to the scene,” shares Ambika.

The production featured artistes between the age group eight to 60 years. While most of them were persons with disabilities, she also decided to include children from lower income groups. “The aim was to be inclusive, and as a concept, inclusion is to try and create a space where everyone has a homogenous level of functioning,” she shares. “Of course, to some of them, you need to keep repeating a few things, but if I don’t go to the level of the child, what use is my work?”

In her 35 years at RASA, Ambika has worked with persons with disabilities, to realise that theatre accommodates life and conflict in a way that no other form does. “We rightly say that the stage is a ‘slice of life’. Artistes feel empowered here. And with my life’s work, I have seen that conflict resolution on stage, for any person, is enriching because all challenge becomes very small and solve-able.”