Ila Arun adapted the play Peer Ghani from Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt. She explains to S Mallik how she condensed a seven-hour play to almost two-and-a-half hours and the difficulties she faced while translating the verse
How do you condense a play, originally written to be performed for seven and a half hours into a 145 minute oneIJ Ask Ila Arun and she will tell you that there are a million things that needs to be kept in mind while doing so. She adapted Henrik Ibsen’s famous play Peer Gynt to a more relatable, India-based, Peer Ghani.
What was most challenging for her was to change the narrative from the poetry from to the Hindustani rhyme style. “Ibsen was called a visual writer. In fact most literary figures during that time were visual storytellers. They created scenes with words and was difficult to translate it. Because words have the power to create a visual,” explained Arun.
Peer Ghani, presented by Surnai Theatre Group, Mumbai, is set in Kashmir, which Arun chose because the original was set in the geographical location of Norway. “I chose Kashmir because it bears resemblance to the surrounding of Norway,” she said.
The play revolves around a boy who is a dreamer and lives in his fantasies and narrates how he gets trapped into the circumstances created by him. He becomes so obsessed with what he wants that he is ready to achieve it in any way possible. “When that happens, you lose path. Peer Ghani is a play relevant to the time because it is the story of a simple Kashmiri boy, Peer Ghani, who loves to tell stories and loves to dream. It is a sensitive play. It is the story of a man who roams the world to establish his identity, to discover himself,” elaborated the actor who plays Asse, Peer’s mother.
“It is a very powerful role and one very close to my heart. It is not because I am portraying the role of Peer’s mother, its the universal feeling that all mother’s have. They have the same concerns and emotions when it comes to their kids. They are strict when they need to be but are, by heart and nature, soft and concerned,” Arun pointed out.
The play recently staged at Epicentre, Gurgaon had a staggering 35 cast members, and Arun could not be more happy about the fact that not only was the play appreciated but all the actors played their role right. We asked her about the reason for such a large number and she told us that the script demanded it. “The central character, Peer, alone had three actors because throughout the play he grows from an effervescent youth, to a successful middle-aged trader and, in the end, to a broken old man,” she pointed out.
More than that, what pleased her was finding Rahul Bagga, who plays the young Peer and a host of new actors for the play. KK Raina, the director of the play, on the other hand, played the Peer in his old age.