Naya Zamana: Agni Sutra offered master class in Indian dance theatre
A very appropriate tribute to Diwali, one of the great festivals of the Caribbean, is training the spotlight on Indian dance theatre in Guyana. Foremost on the Guyanese stage during 2022 was the return, at the end of August, of the annual production Naya Zamana, which was outstanding as theatre and rekindled the fire of Indian theatre traditions. It was a conscious, focused production, steady and studied in social and psychological statement but ablaze with spectacle: dazzling designs of colour, costuming, images and symbols in drama, dance and music.
Diwali, a Hindu religious festival, with its power of cultural tradition, is itself a remarkable exhibition of theatre. Known as the festival of lights, it is, itself, extraordinary in spectacle, illuminated by its deployment of drama, dance, music, colour, image and symbol. It uses these to function in a people’s spiritual life, as an expression of culture and in its popular appeal to the general population.
The festival celebrates an invitation to the Hindu goddess Lakshmi to enter the homes and inner lives of the devotees through rituals and the lighting of dyahs. It also celebrates the triumphant return of the god Lord Rama after his victories over evil, guided and lauded by “rows of lights/rows of dyahs” laid out by the people as he reentered his kingdom after a period of exile on the darkest night of the year. (The word “Diwali” means “row of lights”). Faith – spiritual belief, religious principles, myth and popular outreach are all thoroughly dramatised in the decoration of homes and buildings with lights, displays (including motorcades) of creative imagery in lights, the same done in Rangoli (drawings carved in coloured rice grains) and a prolonged programme of dances and music.
Naya Zamana is not a Diwali event. It is performed quite separately at a different time of the year, but it is fitting to revisit it in honour of Diwali because of the significance of drama, dance and theatre to the festival. They have close links because of that. But even more specific are the indirect references made in Naya Zamana 2022 to Diwali. Images are presented of Lord Ram, taken from the Ramayana and the Ramlila play relating the conquest of good over evil and light over darkness, which are themes that guide the festival and that are treated in Naya Zamana. It is worth remembering that “naya zamana” means “the new generation” and the teaching of culture and principles to new generations of youth, through dance, was a driving force behind the founding of the annual performance in 1994. The teaching of not only cultural tradition, but principles of individual life are thus relevant to both the festival and the performance.
The 2022 production at the end of August last, was among the most welcomed return of a stage performance after the COVID-19 prohibition. After two years there might have been doubts about its return. Founder, script writer, choreographer and director Dr Vindhya Persaud was elevated to the position of a minister in the national government in 2020, and it was believed she would no longer have the time for the stage. But that was a false alarm as she returned in all her artistic capacities in 2022 with this production.
This edition of Naya Zamana, sub-titled “Agni Sutra”, was written, choreographed and directed by Persaud with set design and costume design by Simantini Trishala Persaud, who have led this series since it was founded. “Agni Sutra” means “the threat of fire,” which is an underlying theme in the plot. As Persaud explains it “there is fire in everyone’s life, whether internal or external,”
and this can be interpreted philosophically. “I think the script this year explores every person and delves deep into a person’s mind based on the choices that they would make, the battles that they have and wage every day, internally between positives and negatives”.
One of the strengths of this performance was its treatment of the vulnerable conditions of humanity, a variety of personalities, temptations and weaknesses, if not vices, and the influences to which they are subjected. To dramatise these, Persaud drew on strong literary and dramatic traditions which gave considerable depth to the performance.
First among these is a reference to the elements. Arising from both mediaeval and renaissance literature is the belief in the elements which are mixed in every human personality and which direct their disposition and character. The four elements are fire, earth, air and water. These are unequally mixed in each person, but the ideal is when they are equally mixed to produce a balanced, exemplary human being. Too much of any one can dominate a person and introduce flaws in their character. Naya Zamana explored fire as an element in the lives of its characters.
The second is the ageless theme of the battle of good versus evil in the character’s life. It may be found in the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness that are celebrated in Diwali. This is quite cleverly integrated with another literary and dramatic tradition also from the Middle Ages and carried over into Elizabethan drama through the Morality Play. Naya Zamana began with flashes of imagery and symbols from the exemplary life of Lord Rama – his pre-ordained power and his victory over the demon-king Rawan (Ravana), representing good over evil.
This then carries over into the four characters, each with an issue – a flaw or a threat over their well-being or moral direction. One girl is destructively addicted to the social media to a fault and compulsively broadcasts everything on TikTok. She inevitably causes problems in her own life as well as betraying confidentiality in the life of others. Another is subjected to sexual harassment at work, having to fight off unwelcomed advances from her boss almost daily. Yet she cannot find the courage to take the right steps to bring an end to it. A young man is given to fits of rage and cannot manage his anger and harsh treatment of others.
A third girl, named Basmattie, suffers an inferiority complex without being aware of it, aggravated by her name, which she tries to suppress by calling herself Baz. Her own acquaintances laugh at her, calling her “rice” because of the name. Basmattie is a well-known type of rice. She is not cured of that lack of self-belief until someone explains to her the meaning of her names – Basmattie Saraswati; a revelation which helps to empower her.
Each of these go through a journey to self-discovery and empowerment. Along this road they encounter two characters – Light and Dark, who also reflect the Diwali triumph of enlightenment over darkness, also represented by Rama. These characters in the drama are reminiscent of the Good Angels and Bad Angels or Devils in the mediaeval Morality Play. They reappear in the drama attempting to influence each of the four characters, either spurring them on to temptation and reveling deeper into their errors and fear of rocking the boat on the one hand, or breaking the chains and emerging from oppression on the other.
A memorable example of what happens in Naya Zamana – Agni Sutra is the drama of Baz who learns the significance of Basmattie Saraswati, names and characteristics given to her. Quite above the notion of a common rice variety, Basmattie from ancient Sanskrit means fragrance and perfume, and has beautiful connotations. Besides, Saraswati is the Hindu Goddess of wisdom, knowledge, learning and the arts and holds a high position in the pantheon. This sequence in the drama is effected by dance electrified by lighting, sound, image and symbol in a choreography illustrating Shakti. It was a dance expressing the feminine energy, power, and force which charges the universe and eliminates evil. Shakti is empowering and is sometimes represented by goddesses Doerga, Parvati or Kali.
That was the most dynamic and memorable dance in the drama – drama that was defined and driven by dance. There were several pieces moving across forms of Indian dance including classical, traditional and modern. These added to the electrifying spectacle to which the excellent costuming created by Trishala Persaud contributed. Her sister Vindhya’s choreographies were played out decked in these colourful costumes and highlighted against the backdrop of a minimalistic set made effective by the striking colours and patterns, which she also designed. Lighting and sound were added to these outstanding visual creations, all with clean, clear lighting plots and dynamic sound effects and both recorded and live music led by performances on the sitar.
It was powerful production in command of the technical areas of theatre called upon to support the high energy of dance performance. Naya Zamana: Agni Sutra was not only an informative psychological study of human nature and female empowerment, it was a disciplined and thorough exhibition of dance theatre. It thrilled a sold out audience with a master class of Indian dance theatre.