Cries of "Arsalan, Arsalan," ring through the air followed by boisterous laughter. The fun, frolic and laughter are part of the rehearsals where a mixed group of Afghans working with theatre director Corinne Jaber are giving the final touches to their play, an adaptation of The Comedy of Errors. They have about a month before they set out to perform at what is being hailed as the mother of all theatre festivals — the Globe to Globe festival that marks the Cultural Olympiad in London, where all 37 of Shakespeare's plays will be staged at the Globe theatre in 37 languages. Unlike the other 36 groups who are perhaps rehearsing in the comfort of their hometowns, the Afghans have travelled 2,554 kilometres to the south Indian city of Bengaluru to rehearse their play in the Arts Residency located in a village called Hesarghatta 50 kilometres outside the city.
The journey from Kabul to Bengaluru hasn't been without incident either. Faced with threats and violence, the group hoped to find refuge and complete their rehearsals at the British Council in Kabul until it was bombed, leaving nine dead. A decision was then taken to move the rehearsals to Bengaluru. For most of the actors it was their first time in India although almost all of them understand (and some fluently speak) Hindi thanks to the popularity of Hindi films in Afghanistan.
The Arts Residency in the expansive campus of Nrityagram (dance village) was built for this very purpose — for artists to live in and create new work. The actors look carefree. As they move through the arched stone doorways of their rehearsal space, which is in fact a dance gurukul built by famed architect Gerard Da'Cunha, it seems like the actors have left their problems behind. Their feet are stained a dark maroon from the thick clay-like earth in Nrityagram that clings to the sole.
"We like the red earth and the beautiful campus, it's a perfect place to make a play like this," says Parwin Mushtahel, one of the actors. Amid the lush greenery surrounded by flowering plants and fruit-laden trees laughter is infectious, probably because it has been held back for too long. It is difficult to think of this fun-loving and gentle group dressed in regular T-shirts and cargo pants as war-ravaged, or having been subjected to an ultra conservative regime — until you look carefully in their eyes. These are eyes that have witnessed hurt and misfortune, and the wounds probably run deep, for there is a shadow hovering around the smiling faces.
"The Globe initially suggested we do Richard II. But there was no way we wanted a play with war and destruction; there has been enough tragedy in Afghanistan. We had to have a comedy and The Comedy of Errors was perfect," says Corinne Jaber, the director of the play.
Jaber, who is based in Paris, set up the Afghan theatre company Rah-e-Sabz (Path of Hope) in 2005 when she worked with a group of actors to create Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost in an open garden. It was among the few times in Kabul that actors of the opposite sex touched hands and the women performed scenes without head scarves. Comedy-e-Eshtebahat or Comedy of Errors will be performed in Dari, a dialect of Persian spoken in Afghanistan. The play has been specially adapted for the Globe and will have local names and places — Antipholus of Ephesus will now be Arsalan of Kabul.
Shakespeare's shortest farcical comedy will now be transposed to the bustling back streets of modern-day Kabul, places of laughter and joy that few foreigners ever get to see or hear about. "There is too much talk of tragedy and self-pity. Afghanistan had a culturally rich, glorious past and we must reclaim it. There are problems all over the world, but we need to overcome them and move on," says Shah Mohammad who plays the role of Bostan, or Dromio of Ephesus, slave to Antipholus.
The play will open with an India Tour and will be staged in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune and Delhi. According to Jaber, this initial round, though unplanned, will give the group the much-needed performance experience before they reach the Globe. After the Globe this month, the play will head to Hatfield House and the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford.
There is so much curiosity about Shakespeare being performed by Afghans that it has resulted in another tour of Germany; talks are on to take the show to France and to round off the season with shows back home in Kabul. In their homeland many people consider the play a chance to reclaim Afghanistan's cultural heritage.
"We will play an important role in reviving and fostering Afghanistan's theatrical legacy," says Abdul Haq, who plays Arsalan, the émigré.
Incidentally, apart from Hindi, Haq is fluent in German, having studied theatre and puppetry in Berlin. "There are lots of Afghans who prefer to live abroad and there were many opportunities for me to stay back in Germany, but there was nothing I wanted more than to go back to Kabul. Yes, it's not easy, but who said theatre was easy. Or life," he says.
Jaber has her hands full this month, getting the actors and the play ready. The costumes have all been designed in Kabul by Zolaykha Sherzad, one of the leading designers to bring back the "fashion show" to war-torn Kabul; Sherzad also works at reviving local textiles and providing livelihood to women in the textile industry. The lighting designer for the play will be Lynne Fernandez, the director of Nrityagram. Musicians include Ostad Gulam Hussain (rebab), Adil Shah (zirbaghali) and Abdul Latif (flute).
Devon Jackson, from Canada, is the assistant director. "He's much more, it would be difficult to function without him," says Jaber, whose son, little Antoine, has come to India to be with his mother and goes to the local village school when the group is in residence. The entire group dotes on him, and he considers them family. "It's the first time he's been part of such a big group. We don't have extended families in the West, and he adores them," Jaber says.
One of the biggest problems Jaber has been facing with this production is in getting her actresses to emote. "They don't have as much experience as the male actors. It's a vicious circle because they have to deal with so much more. It's a dream to be able to get them out of their homes to a dedicated space to rehearse," she says.
Jaber has years of experience as an actress and a director. In India, she is best known as one of the actors from Peter Brook's immortal play and film, The Mahabharata. She has been visiting Kabul and working with local actors for more than seven years. "It was a nightmare looking for actresses. We can't audition and have to rely on word of mouth, and the poor women have to brave too many odds to act in a play," she says.
Farzana Sayad Ahmad, 21, is the youngest in the group and plays Rodaba (originally Luciana). "It's common to get threatening calls from unknown people, even distant relatives. I've convinced my parents that I need to act, but there is a bigger disapproving society out there. I hope things change for the future generations," says Ahmad, who is married to a filmmaker.
The actresses are, in fact, heroines in real life, having battled tragedy and horror, the kind that people outside the country would never understand. For instance, Parwin Mushtahel has worked with the national television and in films and has performed in several theatre productions over the years in spite of the dangers. She has been threatened and attacked on the streets for pursuing acting. Things took a turn for the worse four years ago when her husband was threatened and asked to stop his "wife from acting". When the warnings went unheeded, Mushtahel's husband was brutally murdered.
"The years following his murder were the worst in my life. I took my two children, fled the country and found refuge in Canada," says Mushtahel, who continues to be part of theatre performances in Toronto. The heroine of the play, Abidah Frotan, who plays Sodaba (Adriana), speaks halting Hindi but can expertly sing songs from Hindi films.
"I have seven children because I was married off before I was 14," says Frotan, who is 32 now. "I went to school and college carrying one child on my hip and one on my back. And if I'm allowed to work as an actress it is because I support all my children and my husband's family with my earnings." Abidah works in television soaps, appears in commercials and teaches Dari in local schools and colleges.
Jaber remembers how all of Frotan's children — the oldest is 13 — came to the airport to see her off and sobbed uncontrollably. "We were all in tears as the eldest daughter promised to take care of her siblings until her mother returned," she says.
The journey is far from over as visas are still pending and the group's journey to London seems fraught with obstacles in spite of the combined might of several British ministers and the entire British Council behind the project.
Haq says, "When I went to Germany to study and told them that I was an actor, people there seemed surprised; ‘You mean there are actors in Germany?' they asked. I hope that has changed in the last ten years, and when we perform at the Globe, I hope we can give the world a slice of Afghan life, as Shakespeare would have seen it, filled with chaos and joy."
Nirmala Ravindran is a writer based in Bengaluru, India.
Premiere
- The world premiere of Comedy-e Eshtebahat will be held in Bengaluru on May 12 and 13 after which it travels to Mumbai, Pune and Delhi. The play will be staged at the Globe Theatre in London on May 30 and 31.
