CHICANERY
(Madras Players, a staged Reading,USIS)
Writer/Director: Timeri N. Murari.
CHICANERY is a chilling portrayal of life in a dictatorship.
The atmosphere is Orwellian. The stark lighting shades
the characters faces, as if to hide in the dark. The
plot revolves around the warped inner worlds of its
characters. Men and women who, when caught in the
an inextricable web of deceit and intrigue, only succeed
in being drawn further into a compelling vortex of
events.
Singer
is an exiled writer who returns to his homeland, despite
facing a death sentence. Deliberately getting himself
arrested, he is brought before the country'' intelligence
head Mark, a friend turned foe. In this seemingly
ominous setting, is another presence, that of he country's
dictator simply known as The Man. His presence on
the video screen seems to permeate the room with high
tension. A complacent Singer seems to accept his fate.
A fact not taken too kindly by Mark. Making matters
worse for him is the fact that Brown, his subordinate,
has his eyes set on his position. Matters come to
a head when the two women in Singer's life, Judith,
an ex-lover, and Marge his wife, meet. The play at
this point, sparkles with caustic wit and sarcasm,
as the women take the stage. Out of this simmering
cauldron of human emotion, the truth emerges.
Singer,
tortured by his past and the futile existence of a
celebrity has returned home to face certain death.
Mark, overcome by corroding hate for his old friend
turned foe, sets Singer free. His punishment, to live
the rest of his life and the fact that his ex-lover
Judith is having an affair with Mark. In the process
he faces a death sentence for disobeying The Man.
Not even The Man's personal appearance seems to unfaze
him, for he is a man embittered by the failure of
his ideology. The Man suddenly alone in his terror
ruled world, appoints Brown to the new head of intelligence,
As the lights fade out on this world, The Man receives
word that the famous writer Singer and his wife, Marge,
were killed in an 'unfortunate' accident on the way
to the airport.
CHICANERY,
a rehearsed stage reading, was a chilling portrayal
of life under a dictatorship. Also gracing the occasion
was the other man of the evening, Timeri N. Murari,
the playwright and director. It sets you thinking
about that old adage by Alfieri, 'Often the test of
courage is not to lie, but to live.' Joseph Fernandez,
ASIDE
Murari
is a well known novelist, but this was his debut as
a playwright at Madras,
and also a director. The play gets quickly into full
gear with a quick interchange between the inquisitor,
Mark, a grim apparatchik in a totalitarian state and
his deputy, Brown, who has come to report an incident
involving on a man called Shilling caught at a border
checkpost. The person is identified as Singer, a prominent
dissident, who fled the country ten years back and
settled down in the USA to make his name as a famous
writer. He has come back, not only with an assumed
name, but a new set of identification marks, which
makes it easy for Mark to make use of this dual identity.
What puzzles Mark is that Shilling-Singer while trying
to escape the guards has run towards his exiled homeland,
not away from it as though he wanted to be caught.
While
these preliminary questions are being debated, a television
screen, set prominently in the room, clicks into action
and face appears in close-ups. It is the Man himself.
All through the play the bland eye of the television
suddenly blinks open with the actualisation of Orwell's
'Big Brother is watching you.'
It
is a play with two climaxes. At the end of the first
act Singer is sentenced to death and goes to his fate
almost gladly, turning to say 'Thank you' to Mark.
This leads to the skilful turning of the action in
the second act where the inquisitor himself examines
his motives and finally his life.. It's like watching
a game of electronic Ping-Pong, the ending is neat
and swift as a bullet through the head. It is the
sort of power a skilful dramatist must share. Geeta
Doctor, INDIAN EXPRESS.
