staged by Ruchika, directed by Fiezal Alkazi, and was presented by Old World Culture, Goodbye Forever at the IHC’s Stein auditorium. It is a somber play about a young boy losing his mother in an unfortunate accident; she chokes to death on a piece of pork at a Chinese restaurant! Whilst the father is distraught at his loss, the 17-year-old son finds the entire situation queer. Starting with the funeral where, to the horror of his family, he called the priest a liar, until now when the eating and drinking by the mourners is over, he has been entirely unmindful of the gravity of the situation.
Ruby, the dead woman’s mother-in-law, played rather well by Sohaila Kapur, is like all mothers preoccupied with her son’s inordinate grief that dissolves in tears. The others in the family are a divorced sister-in-law and an invalid father-in-law who had a glad eye for Estelle when she first entered the family. Finally the family leaves and father and son are left alone. That they are not comfortable with each other is clear. The boy is more flexible. He even wears one of Estelle’s dresses when asked by his dad.
There is knocking at the door and who turns up but Estelle. So overjoyed are they to see her that they just accept her return with no questions asked. Their joy is short lived as the family appears in the morning. The father-in-law, who arrives earlier, seizes the opportunity to dance with Estelle and relive the past. His daughter ransacks her sister-in-law’s cupboard and emerges with a fur jacket, a particular favourite of Estelle’s. The mother-in-law upbraids Estelle for her irresponsible behaviour. She is dead and there are hundreds of people to prove it. How can she face them? What explanation will the family offer when they all saw her buried.
Estelle realises she has to go. Before leaving she has a little tete-a-tete with her son who has discovered a matchbox belonging to a hotel the family has never visited. He understands her restlessness. He gives a wordless promise never to talk about it to anyone. Estelle comes across as a somewhat self-centred woman as played by Radhika Alkazi who was quite preoccupied with her appearance. There were no affectionate gestures towards her son played by her own son Armaan. Surprisingly so when she has returned for the precise purpose of consolation and to ease him and her husband through the process of adjusting to her absence.
Armaan was not well treated by the director. While he was talking it was fine but the long periods he had to stand and wait were painful to watch. He looked so ill at ease and tense standing ramrod straight. The other actors were pretty amateurish. The only person who seemed to know what she was doing and did her job well was Sohaila Kapur.
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However hard he tries, Ghalib cannot reach his haveli in Ballimaran. No one is willing to take him o this congested area. Having requested for this rebirth in the 21st Century and in Delhi, Ghalib is forced to find accommodation in New Delhi. Finally he spends his time on earth in a one room servant’s quarter with roommate Jaihind a Bihari boy who is trying to get into the IAS for the umpteenth time. His landlady, the Punjabi Mrs Chadha is the only person to recognise Ghalib: she has seen the serial where Naseeruddin Shah played Ghalib. She waxes eloquent on the tunes composed by Jagjit Singh and raves about his singing and recitation. Her attempt at reciting his verses sets Ghalib’s teeth on edge. I was attending the 305th show of the play Ghalib in New Delhi, presented by Pierrot Theatre group on the 19th of July at the SRC. It is written and directed by Dr M. Sayeed Alam who also plays the title role. Staged for the first time twelve years ago, the satire has grown and evolved with time to take in new reference points. With the structure remaining the some additions have been made and some sequences dropped. In the beginning when he gets off “is born” at the ISBT, the first place Ghalib visits is the pan shop where h e is confounded at the price of a pan and the fact that the fact that the panwalla does not understand the meaning of ugaldaan and asks him to spit in the nearby drain.
Ghalib’s encounter with the transport system in old Delhi is almost ear drum bustlingly loud. One cannot understand a word of what is being shouted. The director would do well to curb the general tendency to shout by the cast. Alam himself plays Ghalib with dramatic poise and is most convincing in his role. His one liners are more effective than all the loud jokes of the rest of the cast, why should he allow this is not clear unless it was catering to the audience, which was obviously lapping it up. Amongst the additions is a last sequence where after he gets a bad press, Ghalib decides to drop his ancient garb and dress with the times. Once he does that his acceptance of compromises begins. He allows his poetry to be translated into Punjabi. Soon his ghazals become very popular and Ghalib becomes a part of Page 3. The rest of the play is series of confrontations between Ghalib and a drunkard with the latter shamelessly playing to the galleries; then he meets a Haryanvi policeman where the interaction between them is funny, thanks to the restrained performance by the actor playing the policeman. Another actor who was in control was Niti Sayeed in the two roles of Mrs Chadha and Alka.