Gurleen Judge's new production takes on the politics of hunger
A scene from The Hunger Artist
For her new production, theatre director Gurleen Judge looked at Franz Kafka's 1922 short story, A Hunger Artist, and today's paper. Kafka's story spoke of a public performer who fasted for 40 days. He was supervised by teams of watchers to ensure he didn't eat in the duration. But, eventually, the public lost interest, and the man shrunk away while no one was watching. Judge read this story a few years ago, and couldn't shake it off. "Striking stories stay in your mind," says Judge. "I was thinking of a new project to work on, and the farmers' long march happened. Everything that I was concerned about for a very long time just came together in this particular piece."
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Judge's The Hunger Artist is an episodic production, with actors Mandar Gokhale, Suhel Banerjee and Vikrant Dhote. The three episodes approach hunger from three different perspectives. "The stories don't have a direct relationship, but they're all interlinked," says Judge. "For instance, one of the stories has Irom Sharmila's story. So, it's the story of hunger as protest. Another story is about the mid-day meals, and about the generations of farmers [from one family] that have committed suicide.
Gurleen Judge explains a scene
The same region that has farmers' suicides also has higher dependency on mid-day meals. It's a circle. It was a few years ago when the governments of Maharashtra, Telangana and Karnataka announced that schools will be shut because of a heat wave. The mothers came on the streets, saying, 'You can't shut schools for two months because that's the only meal my child is getting.' Malnutrition and hunger are consequences of the agrarian crisis. The third story is set in the future."
The story weaves in words with movement, for which Judge brought in Manipur choreographer Surjit Nongmeikapam. "Surjit has a way of imagining and creating materials with the body. We do have words; it's not purely a physical performance. But, it gave me the liberty to use text when I felt the need to, and take it away when I didn't." While devising the production, Judge enrolled in Studio Tamaasha's residency programme, which was a "huge, huge help, because it gave us 10 days to concentrate on the project." When we ask her if she had to contemporise Kafka's story, she corrects us. "Contemporising implies that the text is dated, which is not the case. I have taken the essence of what Kafka was trying to say, and look at it from various points of view. Look at it in Cubist way. I'm asking the same questions that Kafka is asking, but from different contexts."
When: November 3 & 4; 6.30 pm and 9 pm
Where: G5A, Laxmi Mills Estate, Shakti Mills Lane, Mahalakshmi
Entry: Rs 500
Log on to: www.bookmyshow.com
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