When a marriage spells a tragedy

The Zia Mohyuddin auditorium of the National Academy of Performing Arts (Napa) was host to a very profound and thought-provoking play on Wednesday evening, a play that was a departure from the stereotyped pattern of tragedy all the way, but then there is a happy ending and the ‘all’s well that ends well’ formula.

The play, Bandhan, is the adaptation of Spanish playwright Frederico Garcia Lorca’s Blood Wedding. Lorca wrote the play after he read of an incident in a Spanish newspaper where a young man had been murdered after attempting to elope with a woman on her wedding day.

The protagonists of Blood Wedding are ordinary women confronting their own passionate nature and rebelling against the constraints of contemporary society. The bride in Bandhan (Napa’s adaptation of Blood Wedding), is induced to run away from her wedding on the eve of the occasion with her former lover, Leonardo, who is actually married by now. An occasion that was actually meant to be one of jubilation and celebration for both families turns out to be most morose and sorrowful.

Ultimately men, the former suitor, and the bridegroom, Hassan, kill each other and the dénouement comes when the bodies of both are brought on stretchers to the stage. Even though a tragedy, it still had gripping scenes and acting. We in this part of the world temperamentally don’t accept plays with a sad ending and the formula for a successful play is pathos, pathos and pathos, and then circumstances take such a miraculous turn that there’s a happy ending and all’s well that ends well.

This was a departure from the set formula as reality shows us something absolutely different. There are umpteen situations that have a tragic ending and Bandhan just shows us the reality, unsavoury as that may be.

All the cast executed their role most dexterously, especially Asad Gujjar as the former suitor of the bride. While it may be easy to execute the role of a hero, it is rather difficult to play a villain and Asad did that very astutely. Besides, the make-up team get the credit as he really seemed to be wrapped in an aura of villainy. Hajira Yameen with her fresh good looks and youthful charm, coupled with her perky delivery of monologues, was another pleasure to watch.

Even though a tragedy, the ninety-minute performance was interspersed with lively witticisms and humorous remarks. Besides, Nigel Bobby’s musical score was really commendable, which, apart from behind-the-stage live music, also contained some winsome wedding songs. Hassan Raza’s astute direction added to the glimmer of the play. Raza, a Napa graduate of the class of 2015, seems to have come a long way and his masterful direction proved this.