PETals

A Balancing Act

by Ashwin Kumar Indra



Kaadhalin Shakti is the second drama production I have done with Uncle Ket at the Temple of Fine Arts. It was a significantly different experience from the first (The Merchant, The Moneylender, The Mistress, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice), for various reasons; the first being because they were much bigger roles than the role of Selvam in the “Merchant”, and thus carried more weight in the story.

The roles of Hari in “Hariomeo and Manjuliet” , and Baptista in “How to Get a Rich Shrew for a Wife”, an excerpt from Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew”, turned out to be rather challenging as the rehearsals went on from week to week.

Playing the role of Hari, being someone who exists in real life, and at the same time, adding a comic touch to it really did not come easily. I think somehow I couldn’t connect my mind and soul like Uncle Ket always said, and was ‘acting’ the part instead of feeling it.


For the character of Hari I think it was difficult initially because I had to strike a balance between being in love with the character of Manju and at the same time despising her, and also making sure neither of these two opposing feelings overcame each other all at once.

In my honest opinion, I don’t think I managed to execute it as well as I hoped to, especially the second time we did it. The first show at the Ashoka Hall was better, maybe because of the excitement of finally doing the pieces. And I think I did a lot better on that day compared to many rehearsals. It could also have been due to the pressure of living up to the audience’s expectations then, and making it a memorable wedding reception for the newlyweds.

On the second performance I felt differently while in front of the audience, for starters, probably because I could see all their faces clearly staring back at me. I do not think it was nervousness though, at least not in my conscious mind. Maybe it was in my subconscious, and I think that feeling didnt really heal because the audience didn’t really respond to my antics as Hari as much as I wanted them to. The parts we changed also did not come across as well as I intended them to. And yet, I liked singing as Hari on that second show.

It would be nice to take on such roles, especially in full-blown musicals. I think I could still work on Hari a little more, maybe ‘feel’ the character more and not lose the character just because it’s a comedy. It’s of course not a piece of cake to play a character who is acting as someone else in the play itself (a play within a play, come to think of it), but yet it’s far from impossible.

Playing Baptista on the other hand was a tad simpler in the sense it didn’t require the same kind of effort. It was not effortless of course.

At the beginning Baptista was a bigger headache for me, one of the reasons being that somehow the idea of being parents to Muthu and Mathan as girls did not click in my mind. But I think, as we did it more and more, I succeeded in gaining comfort acting with both of them, which helped tremendously.

Something that I would like to think of as being special about my character was the fact that Baptista stayed serious and calm whilst full-blown comedy erupted around him.

I guess one thing I learnt from this is that we as actors have to stay in character even though distracting situations occur in the play, be they hilariously funny, deeply emotional or the like.

When Baptista meets Petruchio later on, balance was needed once again, that is balancing my love for Katherina and my desire to get rid of her. I think the character was written with only one of these feelings in mind, or maybe neither. Yet I chose to go with Uncle Ket’s reasoning that Baptista was an opportunist who wanted to push his shrew daughter to Petruchio.

But I still felt that Baptista as a father would certainly have love for his daughter, no matter how shrewd she was, and thus I tried to make sure I kept that thought in mind when I played the character. I guess when that delicate balance is achieved, the beauty of the character shines through.

Kaadhalin Shakti, and the rehearsals leading up to both shows taught me various priceless lessons; improvisation, connecting mind and soul, trying not to be stiff while acting, being in the moment and not getting distracted, not ‘acting’ the character but rather being it, among others.

Nigella Lawson, that chef on TV, once said on her show that it was beautiful how balance was important in food, just like it was in life. To me I reckon that balance is just as important in drama, to your character, to the lines and the entire production.

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posted by ketO9lives @ 12:14 PM