A Different World

Defeated families,shrewish Southern belles and the searing heat of the Mississippi Deltasome of the most important elements of a typical Tennessee Williams play.

A Hindi adaptation of The Glass Menagerie takes Tennessee Williams distinctly Southern-Mississippi world to the turbulent hills of Darjeeling

Defeated families,shrewish Southern belles and the searing heat of the Mississippi Deltasome of the most important elements of a typical Tennessee Williams play. More so in the case of the iconic The Glass Menagerie,which in its proud and bitter heart,hides Williams quintessence. While city-based theatre group,Little Thespians Hindi adaptation of The Glass Menagerie,promises to talk about the doomed Wingfield family and the coquettish Amanda,the play is set not in the stifling confines of a typical Kolkata flat,as one would have expected,but in the hills of Darjeeling. A clever choice,considering the fact that the incestuous smallness of the hill-station makes it an interesting stage for the Wingfield family drama to unfold.

The Wingfield family,of course,has been suitably Indianised. Little Thespians Patjhad,revolves around a family of three. Amanda is Gayatri in this adaptation,while her son Tom (who,many claim,was supposed to be a representation of Williams) is Indivar. The sickly Laura is Yamini,a physically challenged girl. Wingfiled,as in the original,will be represented with large picture of a man. Jim is Tashan,Indivars friend.

Gayatris only ambition is to see her children well settled. A devoted mother looking for a perfect match for her daughter,a person who will come and fill her life with happiness, says M. Azhar Alam,director of the play.

Happiness,as those who have read the play will know,is not in the anvil for this unlucky family. The reason,as Williams himself claimed,is the matriarchs unwitting cruelness.

Many may squirm at the idea of a Tennessee Williams play in Hindi. After all,Williams was considered to be an essentially American writer. Still,almost any production of this exquisite play,however experimental,is worth seeing. One might pine for a more American,synced-up setting but any interpretation of Williams will always be better than no Williams at all.

The premiere show of Patjhad is on April 30,7 pm onwards at Padatik Buildwell Theatre

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A Different World

Defeated families,shrewish Southern belles and the searing heat of the Mississippi Deltasome of the most important elements of a typical Tennessee Williams play.

Defeated families,shrewish Southern belles and the searing heat of the Mississippi Deltasome of the most important elements of a typical Tennessee Williams play.