'A good playwright transcends translation'

Contemporary Take

Contemporary Bangalore, with its many facets, familiar and unfamiliar characters, finds itself mirrored in ‘Boiled Beans on Toast’, Girish Karnad’s play, directed by Lillete Dubey.

 With the spotlight on multiple dimensions of life today, perhaps, the audience could identify with the characters. Perhaps not.

With more than 50 years of writing behind him, ask Karnad if he has noticed the audience evolving and he exclaims, “Where is the audience? There is no audience for theatre. They are in front of the television.” 

Meanwhile, ‘Boiled Beans on Toast’ reflects the vitality of the City and what’s happening here. Karnad elaborates, “It is about the lives of different people in Bangalore. How they come here with hopes and what happens to them,” he pauses and adds, “The City has risen from a population of 30 lakh to one crore. There are so many thing happening here. But we don’t look around us.” 

The non-linear narrative in fact threads many themes together. 

“They are not sub-plots,” explains Karnad. “They are a series of montages that are independent of each other but come together in the end.” The playwright minces no words while appreciating how Lillete Dubey had carried the play across the world. “It’s an extraordinary thing. It’s mindboggling that someone could do it,” he says. 

Since he has observed the City so closely, is there anything that disappoints him about Bangalore now? “No. It is ridiculous to be nostalgic. Yes, earlier, the City was very dull. Now, it has become an exciting place and I am excited to be here,” he says.

With ‘Boiled Beans’ being a Chekovian comedy, is there an influence of Russian Literature? “Not Russian literature, only Chekhov.” And why?” “His works are quite extraordinary and well-crafted with subtle moments between different people. Not only have I read Chekhov’s plays, I have studied them as well. I was in New York and London for three years, and I’ve watched different versions of Chekhov,” he recollects.

While Karnad’s own works have been translated, like ‘Hayavadana’, query him about the essence of a work getting lost in translation and he says, “It is inevitable. But plays are much easier, more about action. It’s not like poetry. In a play, there is immediacy. But a good playwright transcends translation.”

Though history, myth and folklore play an important part in his plays, he explains, “I am interested in everything. Probably 30 years ago, when I wanted to break away from realism, I wanted to do it. I continue to do that and I’m not modest about it. But I am interested in what’s happening now,” he adds.

How tough is it to write comedy, to make the audience laugh? “Every play is difficult. I’ve been writing for 50 years. It requires a lot of struggling, rewriting. I work very hard on it,” he wraps up.