A theatrical classic and a never-solved mystery, Waiting for Godot was staged yesterday in it's Malayalam avatar. We caught up with the cast and watched them perform and urge you to watch the play today

We're sure Samuel Beckett, for the life of him, wouldn't have ever dreamt of his play being staged in a tongue as foreign (to him) as Malayalam. I was equally intrigued by the idea of such an intellectual classic being produced in an Indian tongue. The fact that this was in Malayalam did not surprise me one bit though, for our Keralite brethren seem to have a way with the 'western' classics.
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The stage and the props were meagre, just how it ought to be and the costumes -- well chosen and far from garish. What caught my attention however was the cast. A set of five actors who deserve a huge round of applause for their performances that kept me quite occupied during the almost 100 minute long play.

Now, Waiting for Godot is no simple piece of theatre. Even in its script form, the play often amuses even the most well read, by revealing new meanings at almost every performance. I have seen the play twice, over a period of three years, by very varied theatre troupes and came out understanding the play very differently, each time. This time was no different. The only difference seemed to be the fact that the presence of a narrative in Malayalam seemed to somehow uncomplicate the otherwise cryptic play.

So did Malayalam do the trick? Was it because the play was in a vernacular that it seemed to make so much more sense? I guess, I'll never know. What I did get to know however was that the director had initially planned on adapting the play into a Kerala landscape, but decided against it, for obvious reasons. I am quite happy he did so, because while it seemed funny to watch a play in Malayalam with people in hats, the actors successfully pulled off the alien geography. I was left quite satiated at the end of the play and that's something appreciable.

If you understand God's own language and are dying for some theatre, then I would encourage you to go and watch this play. If nothing else, I promise you at least pure entertainment for an hour and a half from a cast with brilliant comic timing and character performances that you will definitely take home.

At: Ranga Shankara, J P Nagar
7.30 pm onwards
Call: 2659 2777

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