Theatre director Raj Upadhyay tells Shrabasti Mallik how he chose Anton Chekhov’s short stories as the base of his play Delhi-ciously Chekhov
Do you know meIJ’ were the opening words and you knew who the actor was from his baritone and carriage. For long, thespian Tom Alter has been confined to playing Mughal characters (Bahadur Shah Zafar mostly), Muslim scholars and poets. Yet he dipped into playing Anton Pavlovich Chekhov with consummate ease.
Soon, Chekhov began sharing his childhood memories — how he loved reading and writing. He could not help but express his worries at the future of today’s writers, the age-old skirmishes over royalties and so on. Just then, a young lad broke into his musings and requested the writer to lend him some of his popular stories.
The play was an adult comedy — a mash up of three of the Russian playwright’s most hilarious short stories. “The play includes separate stories about a father’s unusual gift to his son who is coming of age, a notorious young man’s seduction of a woman and a doctor who is one in all respects except he does not have a professional degree,” said director Raj Upadhyay.
It was his decision to present these plays in the Indian context. “Chekhov’s stories were quite contemporary in their time and any story which is relevant to their time can be modified,” he added.
The first was the entree — The Arrangement, and it narrated the story about a young boy and his father. Vikram Jeet Singh wanted his son to become a ‘man’ and planned a rather ‘unusual’ gift for his son’s birthday. The idea of visiting a brothel left the son surprised. After much coaxing, the ‘liberal’ father threatened his reluctant son and compelled the latter to oblige. The mood of hilarity took a backseat, for a moment, though, when the woman, with whom the father was working out an ‘arrangement’ for his son, stunned him on being asked what drove her into prostitution. She said, “I wish I had a ‘liberal’ father like you, perhaps, I wouldn’t have had to bargain on streets with fathers like you today.”
“There are a lot of things that we still do not talk about publicly because of social stigma. Here the father is concerned why his almost adolescent boy is still single and urges him to explore himself. This is something that happens around the world and is therefore very much relevant. Parents are so conditioned ,” said Upadhyay.
The Surgery, or the main course, showed how deftly Chekhov introduced comedy even in excruciating pain. “Man is called the most dangerous creature because he has the ability to laugh at other people. This story depicted beautifully how someone’s pain can become entertainment for others,” Upadhyay explained.
“The compounder tries to fulfill his internal desire of becoming a doctor, even if it is for a day and in that process disturbs everything in his way. And we are constantly trying to do that in life,” he pointed out.
Seduction was staged last, like dessert, and it was a live and practical demonstration by the most notorious bachelor in town on how to seduce a beautiful young woman with a little help from her husband. “It depicts how a tough exterior of pride and conviction can come crashing down when the conscience is hit,” he said.
Of all the short stories that Chekhov had penned in his time, Upadhyay had selected these three because they were meant for a mature audience. “I picked these three because they were by far the juiciest and salacious comedies written by him and Delhi being the most vivacious and intriguing city in India was obviously our only choice,” he wrapped up.