S Somasundram was witness to the 1984 Sikh pogrom which prompted him to work on a silent play Ruins of the Mid Air Castle in 1985. The story surrounds a Sikh middle-class family wrought in domestic issues but the harrowing incident makes them realise their folly. By Sonali Arora
The mesmerising tale set during the epoch of the 1984 riots comes alive as the curtains give way to the stage illumines with dim lighting. The quiet atmosphere is abound with intense concentration as every eye in the audience hovers over the old grandmother of the family, completely paralysed and senile, facing away from the audience and not moving an inch. The lack of movement at once captivates every viewer. The paucity of expression brings forth a silent yet poignant narrative of the life that she has spent swimming in drudgery and sorrow. It silently hints that her body, which is nothing more than a bag of bones, is going to give way and is about to drown in an abyss of misery that her life has been.
As the drama progresses the other members of the dysfunctional family she belongs to are introduced — the husband whose scandalous and lustful demeanour is the talk of the town, the son who wiles away his time drinking and fighting with his wife, the daughter-in-law who has her own secret affair to manage alongside the responsibility of her deranged family and the grandkids who are ready to tear out each other’s throats if given the chance. This silent drama, where the protagonists don’t utter a word and communicate with each other through their expressive movements, is supported occasionally by aspirational songs used by various characters to give weight to their feelings.
Through this play, S Somasundaram has accomplished an arduous feat — that is to combine the solemn, serious tone of the theme and ample doses of humour into a silent dichotomy of familial relations and complexities. “I witnessed the 1984 riots first hand. I was shaken to see the state of the Sikh community at that time. The Sardars were mutinied and the many who came out unscathed, were able to do so only by cutting their hair. I literally saw them screaming and crying when their hair were shorn.”
The incident moved him so much that in 1985 he wrote and directed the silent play Ruins of the Mid Air Castle centred around a middle class Delhi family wrought in domestic troubles until the riots made the family members realise their folly. Although the initial two-hour long version was staged in 1985 for the first time, the present day version that is one-hour long was first performed in 2002 after years of “consideration, pondering and experimentation.” “I have used every possible trick to remove the dialogues and yet kept the play from being a mime show by using off-stage sounds and voices in various instances,” said SomasundaramTowards the end, suddenly, the atmosphere on the stage becomes charged with nervous energy as the horrors of the riot unfold. With thousands of Sikhs getting massacred on the street, the family is jolted to their senses as they have a first hand experience of saving the life of a Sardar. The boyfriend of the young daughter turns up at the door all bloodied and badly beaten up. The entire family comes together to help him survive.
“I have my signature character in the play — the grandmother. She might seem like a prop to the audience and also to her family but for me she is the most expressive character on stage. The other characters are not talking but they are still moving. The grandmother on the other hand, without the slightest movement, conveys a lifetime of pain,” said Somasundaram.
Throughout the play the box radio lying on the side table is the only aspect giving the set a semblance of the 90s, except for the 1984 riots that come to pass towards the end. The director tries to convey the thought that in any age or day the equation of the various family members towards each other remains the same. It takes a tragedy to make them realise the love they harbour for each other. “In traditional theatre performances the actors talk incessantly because they consider speech as the only medium of expression. But here I want to make the body talk and make the audience realise that silence carries more weight than words,” the director pointed out. The play brings together nine capable characters in a silent communion to depict the frailty of familial bonds is something that has a magical quality about it that can’t be described only experienced.