EVENT # 2
A Farming Story by Faezeh Jalali

Jalali's two previous plays - 07/07/07 and ​Shikhandi - the story of in-betweens had mesmerised me (see my previous Culture Call posts to read its review). She created a tremendous expectations from her earlier hits. 

One hour 40 minutes play with a ten minute break, A Farming Story, is an English play written by Vineet Bhalla. A kind of fantasy story about the current state of affairs reflecting on human beings' struggle. As the synopsis reads: 
A small community of farming Hummals (human animals) is struggling to survive after environmental conditions have resulted in repeated crop failures. The villagers of this community are in debt to the Estate which owns all the land. Into this world arrive Hummal monkeys, fleeing from devastating forest fires. They hope to find refuge in the village. The villagers are deeply divided about this. When a mysterious disease destroys the community's livestock, the Estate blames  the monkeys, who are then, imprisoned. What ensues is a fight not only for survival, but also beliefs of compassion, bravery and wisdom.Their world eerily reflects ours, with all-powerful corporations, environmental damage, genetically modified seeds, abject poverty and mass migrations to cities. 

Here's my take: the actors were fabulous. The use of props and stage is just relevant and beautiful. The hairstyle and vintage props couldn't have been more apt. ​The fundamental challenge I think is with the script. It looked more of a film script. The first 30 min of the play just dragged and it became a long introduction without music, satire and with too much of dialogues. Some elements were not essential.. for example, the fighting sequence absolutely didn't fit in the play.

I was hoping to see the magic of Jalali. It failed, although not completely.
Something is missing in this play...

One of the female protagonists in a wheel chair brings out an underlying Jalali's signature - gender/women dimension. I didn't find any moment in the play to laugh - though some people in the audience were laughing... it made me wondered what was I missing! 

With my expertise in forest land tenure and gender expert, 'A Farming Story' sounds like a perfect fit for any International Development organisations' outreach message. In other words, there was too much moral of the story and theatrical dimension got lost in the process. 
As such I'd recommend you to go watch it for the sake of the social equity issues - combining migration, forest fire, GMO, community land rights etc - that this play raises. Yet, this is not a direct political theatre about staging a revolution. 
​As for theatrical experience this play could've been fit in 45 min.  The script is the main culprit.
Otherwise, A Farming Story is a relatively nice play even though nothing extraordinary in the storyline. 

Both the events - UrduMehfil@Prithvi and A Farming Story - reminds me of how theatre in India lost its 'social activism' tag, which used to be prominent in 1970 and gradually disappearing by 2000.
Do read this piece 'Staging a revolution: can theatre be an effective form of activism?'.. questioning how the arts effect social change.

Post two back to back events in one evening it was nice to get an opportunity to reflect while we both hogged prawn gassi with appam at Mahesh Lunch home restaurant around 11:45 pm in Juhu! That's only possible in Bombay! 

This post is part of Culture Call www.purabibose.com
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Last year I'd the privilege to watch Faezeh Jalali's play 07/07/07 at NCPA's Experimental Theatre.  Instantly I became a big fan of Jalali's work. Her unique approach towards social and gender issues creates space for the audience to reflect and feel all sorts of emotions watching her play. I got an opportunity to watch her recent play, Shikhandi - its a story about the in-betweens. Though am not familiar with details of Mahabharata and Ramayana I knew Jalali had a story to tell beyond narrating these epic stories. 

Experimental theatre is my one of my favourite theatres - the other being Prithvi theatre - a place I've been frequenting since college days. I was glad to book a front row (AA) because the director was using every space of the theatre balcony, side stairways, used theatrical rigging system (bringing actors to the stage - to create a scene of God comes down to the Earth)  and all corners of the theatre. The location of the NCPA is awesome, the cool breeze from Arabian sea and seating on Marine Lines licking Rustom's ice cream after the show (especially in Mumbai's humid summer at 40 degree Celcius) is another attraction. 

As the play began I couldn't stop laughing and admiring the way contemporary issues and politics in nicely embedded in small doses that is tongue-in-cheek way of creating the story of Shikhandi. Shikhandi is perhaps one of the earliest trans-characters known in mythology - don't ask me about histories - and this character apparently played a key role in winning the battle of Kurukshetra for the Pandavas. Don't get carried away with this mythological stories - and don't get upset if like me you don't know anything about Pandavas or who was Bhima.

Director Jalali in a comic and sarcastic way uses her protagonists to explain the characters! I thought it was brilliantly done. She has put together an amazing show using every actors that is both impressive and intellectually provides a teaser to the social issues - be it birth of a girl child, marriage, current socio-political scenario, gender and sexuality and wars or conflicts.  

I was mesmerized by excellent lighting design and the costume and hairstyle enhances the show with minimalistic yet beautiful. I think the live music added the charm of the play. 

If you get a chance to see this play, don't miss it! Unfortunately, this play will be relevant even after five decades - though you wish humans begin appreciating equality and gender rights, its a wish after all.