Watching a Pinteresque tragedy unfold

The stage was set. A chili evening welcomed us at Natmandal, near the DU central library premises. The occasion was the staging of Harold Pinter’s Homecoming by the Masters’ students of the theatre department, Dhaka University. Interestingly, it was my first encounter with live theatre and how thoroughly had I enjoyed it.

Pinter stole the limelight a few years back when he won the Noble Prize in Literature. I had rummaged through a few articles on him then and instantly took a liking for his works that are part of the existential theatre. However, I must confess I have not read any of his works till now. Even when the same group of students who performed at Natmandal worked on Pinter and staged a few of his works at the British Council, I missed them.

I knew some of the Natmandal performers, specially, Rajiv and the dogged Shahman Moishan who presented a paper on Pinter at that British Council event. And as they came on the stage (Rajiv as Max, I remember was the first to enter hurling a few slang at his sons) I anticipated that I am in for something special that evening.

The fabulous Natmandal stage saw the actors giving everything to prove the dynamics of a Pinteresque play. At times it seemed a bit queer with raunchy dialogues and awkward gestures that caused laughter among people who are not familiar with the Absurd theatre. The uses of the unfamiliar and the awkward are keys to any Absurd plays. In Martin Esslin’s analysis of Theatre of the Absurd he uses the phrase “an open abandonment of rational devices” which aptly fitted to what went on the stage that day.

Homecoming deals with sexuality and post World War existential crises. Max, a retired butcher has three sons, the oldest being Teddy-a distinguished professor at an American university-on a visit to England with his coquettish wife Ruth. Ruth, Teddy’s wife, is the center of the attraction. As he tries to settle the audience discovers to their utter amazement that Lenny and Joey, Teddy’s brothers are sexually attracted towards Ruth. Her response makes the situation quirky as more complicacies unfold as Teddy’s brothers pursue Ruth steadfastly. Sam, the sixth member of the family and Max’s brother turns out to be a gay as he openly declares his desire for Teddy. The sexually charged play spells out the vagaries of everyday existence and also exposes the brittle nature of family relations in a world ravaged by war and financial crises.

The continuous and deliberate use of familiar bangla slang had an impact on the audience. Though sounding burlesque at times it made the audience conscious of the daily grind of reality. As for my bourgeoisie ears they were vulgar at times. They made me aware of the fact that we are continually pressurized to overlook the real world of slang and moral degradation by embracing values of the status quo as an easy way out.

Homecoming on that Natmandal stage told us a different story and showed us a world beset by greed, lust and moral failure. And this is what Professor Abdus Selim, the translator of the play told the audience at the end of the brilliant performance. He also cautioned us to be aware of the fact that our own market-driven urban society has embraced the problems (loss of connection and moral degeneration) lamented by Pinter. Professor Selim also said that from now on we have to learn to live with them.

The Masters’ students of the theatre department presented us with a very emotional scene when they were being introduced by their teacher at the end. They bade a tearful farewell to the Natmandal stageand and the director of Homecoming Ziaul Haque Titas. It seemed, their tears had melted with the tears of Pinter’s characters into whom they entered for a brief moment in that brilliant evening.