THE HIDDEN TEXT

Satyabrata Rout

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Reading a play and seeing a performance are two different thing. By reading we can come across with the written words of the playwright. We imagine the events, situations and characters by reading the play but the world of imagination will be limited to the written words of the author and the personal experiences of the reader. But seeing a play is quite different. Here the spectator has to go through various layers of experiences and can share them with the writer, director, scenographer, performers, and co spectators, etc. For him these experiences are like happenings of life. In a way we always pass through collective experiences and share common understandings in theatre.

If we analysing the concept of some visionaries, we can find how their personal life experiences work as subconscious to bring out visuals into their productions. I called these visuals as hidden text; a text which needs no support to be communicated since it comes out of pure human experiences. This text cannot be transcribed into words but transcribed in the mind and heart of the spectators and helps them in sharing the experiences of others.

Ratan Thiyam has described this hidden text in his own way;

“I never believe on static design with heavy set elements. I just need a working space where I can create my visuals. My compositions are like paintings which I erase to create new, at every time. The colours, form and compositions of my narrative paintings are the outcome of the nature; the north east hills which I have observed and interacted from the day I opened my eyes in this world.   Its changing hues, moods and atmosphere always remain major source of my visual compositions.

(Ratan Thiyam in an interview with the author)

Bansi Kaul’s interaction with hills and snows of the Kashmir valley works as the hidden text for his production design. He also shared some similar experiences;

“I understand where I picked up this vastness into my design. As a child in Kashmir I have seen landscapes covered with white snow; an empty space with no colour except an endless white canvas. I have observed the birds those hopped above the snow; leave behind their foot marks as an impression on this white earth. They are like floral patterns which creep into my design time and again and remained in my subconscious.” 

(Bansi Kaul  in an interview with the author)

But from where this hidden text comes? It can never appear from nowhere and take the centre stage suddenly. It must be lying somewhere in the play that surfaced during the exploration. It must be hidden behind the written words of the playwright and lay beneath the pause in between the dialogues. The scenographer can visualise these subtexts through his personal experiences and bring them into pictures. As we understand them in the conversation of Robin Das as --psychological atmosphere.

The prime responsibility of a scenographer is not to provide locals or build a magnificent set for the play but to discover and unearth those hidden texts lying hundreds of layers below the written text and bring them into the form of psychological atmosphere.

Once you scratch the words and plunge into it, you will find a whole new world waiting to be explored. This new world can tell you a complete different story parallel to the playwright supported by your personal interaction with life. Sometimes the scenographers misinterpret this world of visuals as different from the main context of the play and work separately on the visuals. They try to mould the play into the scenographic dramaturgy they have formed independently. Here lies the mistake. The play has nothing to do with the scenographic dramaturgy that is evolved independently. This scenography has nothing to do with the play since it does not reflect through the written text. It is formed out of preoccupied and preconceived mind of the designer who wants to project his power of intellect through the production. The colour, texture, rhythm and movement of the scenographic dramaturgy created out of your imagination in which you want to mould the production remains different from the written world. This experiment may not be accepted by the spectators which keeps them away from participation and the production would remain inaccessible. In this case it would be better to write your own text and present rather than to spoil the concept of a writer. The scenographic dramaturgy which comes out of the hidden text of the play should be an extension of the written words of the playwright.

(Expert from my book “Space, performances, developing design: An Indian perspective”, waiting to be published)

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Dr. Satyabrata Rout/ Associate Professor, Dept. Of Theatre, University of Hyderabad-500046