Into An-‘other’ script: Ibsen in Bengal
Dr Tapati Gupta
Professor (retired) and former HOD of English, Calcutta University
The tradition of translating and adapting Western drama for the Bengali stage had started as early as the nineteenth century with plays by Shakespeare being translated and performed. The trend went on throughout the next century with plays by Shakespeare as well as Ibsen Brecht and Chekhov being adapted for the Bengali stage. Soon after India’s independence and with the impetus of the IPTA the need was felt for serious plays which highlighted particular social problems. Ibsen’s social problem plays ideally answered the need and A Doll’s House, An Enemy of the People and Ghosts were some of the first plays to be performed in the Bengali language. In this connection it is necessary to mention some of the pressing issues that faced the translators of Western drama. Although the plays chosen had universal appeal when it came to the need of adapting them for the stage it was essential to adjust them to the culture of the target audience so that they would see themselves reflected in them. Hence literal translations would not attract the audience. So proper names were indigenized and culture specific references were metamorphosed to suit the target culture. The early translator-directors like Shombhu Mitra and Utpal Dutt would maintain the flavour of the original plays but make necessary changes to suit the middle class audience’s expectations. The adaptations had a two-fold appeal: the educated spectators would no doubt relate to the original Ibsen play and simultaneously find its significance in their own social circumstances. Ibsen as a cultural product was thus disseminated and absorbed into an-‘other’ culture through plurality of approach. Theatre is by itself an extremely powerful instrument of cultural creativity and when a great dramatist like Ibsen is refracted through the intellectual and emotional vibrancy of great actors and directors, the appeal of even a foreign dramatist is amplified manifold. Shombhu Mitra’s adaptation titled ‘Putul Khela’ (playing with dolls) was indeed powerful production. Although faithful to the main features of the Ibsen text, the culture specific changes brought the Torvalds close to the Bengali middleclass. This production far surpassed conventional appellations and rose to the level of complete identification and internalization mainly effected by super-involved acting on the part of Shombhu Mitra as Torvald-Tapan and Tripti Mitra as Nora-Bulu.[1] Ibsen in 1879, and Mitra in 1958 were both writing of a problem of identity, and motivated by the same urge to emphasise the lot of the middle class housewife in a patriarchal society. Although there is a gulf of difference between the social ambience in which Nora’s rebellion is expressed and that of Nora-Bulu’s, basically both women express womankind’s archetypal need to find her own identity in a social set-up that forces her to conform and impersonate what she actually is not. ‘Putul Khela’ revealed the fissures in the Bengali household as no other play had done up to that time. For the first time it introduced on the stage certain boldness in depicting the deep inner deprivation felt even by the apparently socially secure woman
An Enemy of the People was famously produced as Dashachakra (confusion created by the masses) by Bohurupee, for the first time in 1952. Adaptation was by Shanti Basu. Shombhu Mitra’s unforgettable Stockmann-Purnendu drew rave reviews that almost surpassed the common appreciation of Ibsen’s text. In Norway at the time the play was written the industrial revolution had opened up new opportunities for entrepreneurs and politicians. Norway’s tourist industry was also begun.( I refer to Eimar Haugen. Author to Audience, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press,p50) In 1952 India a newly established democracy was aware of the importance of public opinion and the vote bank. The first general election was held in 1952. It was an era when euphoria reigned and developmental projects were undertaken with great enthusiasm. Memories of pre-independence idealism and sacrifice were still green. The negative side of rule of the masses was still not realized. The political parties as usual have vested interests and opportunism often subverts ideology. But it was still too early for despair to set in. Hence reviewers were more vocal about the acting than the social theme. But Mitra was confident of the prophetic element in An Enemy in terms of Indian society. [2]Hence a re-play in 1962[3].
Basu’s adaptation was revised by Mitra. In this second production. Ibsen’s 4th and 5th Acts were punched together. Now after ten years, the social relevance was more pronounced, for already the effects of corruption- induced power in local politics was becoming palpable. Mitra highlighted the loneliness of Stockmann and de-stressed his anger at the majority. In fact the long tirade against the masses that climaxed in the last act is nullified into resigned acceptance of the tragic fate and loneliness of the martyr. In the very end Purnendu-Stockman says in English, ‘One has to bear one’s own cross on the way to Calvary.’ Ibsen’s embedded metaphor of the messiah is expressed through Purnendu. The absence of verbal diatribe however was made up for by sub-textual body language which defined the anti-majority attitude. Morten’s ,( his son), skeptical question, ‘And what are we going to do, when you have made liberal-minded and high-minded men of us?’ is significantly omitted. The somewhat altered ending is more hopeful than in Ibsen, though the seminal statement that on the macrocosmic level the polluted waters symbolize the pollution in the entire social fabric is retained. The last statement “The strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone.” resembles Tagore’s feelings expressed at a crucial juncture of Indian politics: his feelings of dissatisfaction with the partition of Bengal movement of 1905 is expressed in the song, ‘Jodi tor dak shune keu na ashe, tobe ekla cholo re…’if no one heeds your call then travel alone. Loneliness is also a hallmark of many of Ibsen’s other protagonists : Nora, Hedda, Solness, to name a few. The performance of the play in 1962 however was marked by simmering discomfort at this unmasking of so-called fathers of the community.
Through Ibsen Mitra makes it clear that in a healthy democracy the majority should be critical and discerning and not swayed by the politicians’ sentimental and false oratory. This is the lesson India needed at the hour. The present scenario is not so hopeless however. In West Bengal as very recent events have shown the public has become more politically aware and vocal. Truth and freedom are the goals. The need for basic education is still there and one needs more and more Dr Stockmanns’ schools for pavement dwellers.
“Even though the generations change and people become concerned about new topics their fates have not really changed. Life and death are still the fate of all; women and men strive for a perfection that is not of this world, but that is still worth striving for. It is good to know that a century or so ago a Norwegian dramatist was able not merely to formulate this timeless dilemma but to body it forth in characters that can still live on the stage.”
( Ibsen’s Drama , Haugen, Ibsen’s Drama,p.121)To conclude one should point out that drama performance, in order to have a strong impact on social conscience should speak to the culture of the historical moment. The same play should therefore be adapted to suit the ethos of the contemporary times. The theatrical mise-en-scẻne should also be adapted to the social, ethnic and political habitat of the times.
[1] “Bohurupee’s “Putul Khela”, an adaptation of Ibsen’s “Doll’s House” is …drama at its best.” (The Indian Express, 7 November 1961) . With Tripti Mitra as Bulu(Nora) and Sombhu Mitra as Tapan (Torvald)and Kumar Roy as Dr Roy (Dr Rank) the audience and critics were so mesmerized by the acting that the theme was taken for granted and did not elicit the expected comments.
[2] Swapan Majumdar, ‘Dashaker Byabadhane Dashachakra See also Bishnu Basu, ‘Dashachakra & Ganashatru’, Natyachinta, Ibsen issue, 2006, pp.341-351
[3] BIshnu Basu ,Ibid. points out that after a gap of a decade, the political scenario had changed considerably: the rise of extortionists among the Marxists, dissension in the ranks of the Marxists, problems within India’s bourgeoisie administrators, the unexpected Indo-China border conflict initiated turmoil in people’s complacency. In the media the left-wingers started a volley of attack on the bourgeoise and as a result were considered enemies of the country. The question arose as to who are the actual enemies. What Ibsen wrote 80 years ago and in a far away land about the ‘brute majority’ became palpable in our neighbourhoods. Mitra’s production became the eye of a storm among those who perceived themselves in it. Mitra had acted as Stockmann 4 times altogether but only in 1962 the ruling party did not carry any reviews or notices anywhere. Perhaps that is why Mitra’s representation as Stocmann-Purnendu was most explosive in 1962.