The Dramatic Arts : Atithi

I am not sure many reviewers or critics would agree with this statement, but as a guy who calls himself both I have to admit that I am not without inherent opinions and biases. I have strong opinions about a lot of things and this, I believe, applies to each and every single human being. We all have predispositions to certain things. I, for example, prefer Thrillers to Comedies. I prefer English movies to Tamil movies. I prefer instrumental music to music with lyrics. I think that Adele is a better singer than Beyonce and that Inception is a better film than The Dark Knight.

But the kicker is that with every word I write in my reviews or analyses I strive to differentiate myself from every other person with an opinion by setting a standard that is almost universal and I make sure the standard that I set makes sure that I don’t favor my biases over what is technically a good production but it has something that doesn’t align with my views. And with that preface I would like to move on to the actual review of “Atithi” a Dummies production that was staged around two years ago, for the first time.

Atithi is a well constructed, carefully scripted, tightly edited and brilliantly acted out play; with a very interesting message. This being my first Dummies drama I had really high hopes, for I had already heard a lot of praise, and suffice to say the play met almost all my expectations and even managed to surpass a quiet a few of them.

The play revolves around an old man, Shankaran, who lives in a remote forest area and the people who come to his house as guests; a few of them being a young man named Adithya,  a businessman named Raj who wants to purchase the land and also an engineer named Shekar. The play focuses on the myriad of problems that these characters go through in their lives, the situations that they are in and the change they happen to find when they come as guests, atithis, to his house.

With a total cast of just six people the play manages to give every actor a chance to shine on stage, the standout performances being Suraj as the young man Adithya, the Business man Raj played by Sreevathson and most importantly Sridhar and the old man. Their acting combined with some really fast paced and punchy dialogues manages to keep the audience hooked form the beginning to the end, despite the pacing letting up a bit towards the end as some flaws start popping up.

The set design by Padma Stage Kannan was really well done with some interesting ways in which rain was showcased, which was also complimented by really good sound design. While the music by Giridharan was not flawless, failing to be long enough to cover the scene changes sometimes, overall it did compliment the entire production without overpowering it. The lighting by Krishnamoorthy was also a highlight, which managed to combine with the sound design and music to successfully convey both different weather and different times of day in a very successful manner.

While the play does get a lot of things right, it is not without its flaws. The closer the play moves to conclusion the more heavy handed the message becomes, almost to the point of it being overstated. The nuance that was displayed in the first half, while not completely gone, appears to have been cut in half for a more direct approach at showcasing the overall message, which seems extremely biased on not only what stance it chooses but also what part the stance that it chooses to highlight. I would have preferred a more inclusive approach even if the overall stance is not something that I agree with. We’ll get back to this a bit later in detail.

I also felt that, while the character arc for Raj was handled extremely well, the same couldn’t be said for Adithya and Shekar. With Raj we got a clear image of who he was as a person before he changes for the better, with both Shekar and Adithya the change, while seen on stage, does not have the same fulfillment because we never did have a complete image of them in the beginning for us to grasp the changes that they undergo. Perhaps the fact that Raj is a character who is built by the scenes he is in, unlike Adithya and Shekar who have previous baggage which keeps them in a state of flux.

All said and done, the writing is still pretty good and this is just me probing a bit deeper into the intricacies. A few other places that I was unsatisfied with were the places between scenes where the music failed to loop or it was left in complete silence. Almost everything else was top notch, with great attention to detail; making Atithi a play that I greatly enjoyed.

With a basic “review” out of the way let me move a bit more into the analysis of the themes presented and my opinions on some of them. Without giving away much, the play analyses themes of belief, theism, courage, remorse and poetic justice. All of these are centered on a small but interesting mystery and a trio of very interesting characters all in various stages of stability and maturity in their lives.

The focus, almost entirely shifts to the old man as the play progresses and slowly as the mystery is slowly revealed we get into much more divisive topics such as religion. With reference to the end of the third paragraph above this one, the play chooses to focus on Hinduism and more importantly chooses to glorify Lord Shiva. While in essence Hinduism is a monotheistic religion, the most widespread of it is very much polytheistic, with various sects of people who worship specific Gods and Goddesses; and example being Vishnavites and Saivaites.

The point I am trying to make is, having chosen to take up the theme of theism, and in that Hinduism the number of people who the play will appeal to has already become very specific. So, why then, must the theme of one very specific God be deemed central? While, this affects me no differently I did wonder if people who follow different sects of Hinduism would consider this play not to their liking because it glorifies a God they do not worship.

I felt that this could have been avoided as it would have curbed unnecessary controversy and at the same time made sure that the play reached and appealed to the widest number of audiences possible. I do know that the direction of my analysis of this particular theme is not something that most people consider, but I found it very interesting and so I jumped at the opportunity to analyze it further.

All said and done, the play is very interesting and my specific concerns would affect only very close minded people, which most of the people who watch theater tend not to be. That aside I would like to, once again, appreciate the attention to detail and the extremely good writing of the play and finish this analysis with hopes of seeing more great productions from Dummies Drama. Until next time;

Peace!!!