La Loba at Ranga Shankara
Tonight, I went and watched “La Loba” ; the play is adapted from one of the re-interpreted stories of the wolf woman in Jungian Psychoanalyst Dr Clarissa Pinakola Estes’ master piece ‘The Woman W ho Runs With the Wolves’. It was an hour-long monologue by Yasmin, directed by the Columbian,Jairo Fruto. They have both now settled in Bangalore.
And like something that is adapted from something that is re-interpreted from something..the thread of the play was not clear at all.
La Loba is supposed to represent the Wolf Woman that is suppressed and oppressed in every woman…or at least, that is I what I gathered after the play.
Yasmin’s physical training in Kathakali, Kalari Payattu and in theatre forms is superb and showed in the way she danced around the stage continuously, spewing word-perfect dialogue, without tiring.
Jairo Fruto was on the stage, both directing her, and accompanying her with a wide and bewildering variety of rattles, or percussive instruments (like a gong, a seed rattle, and so on.) Why he needed to use this variety, was never made clear.
Experimental theatre that is never explained to the audience sometimes fails to be understood at all, and tonight’s (sparse) audience was certainly mystified at the rapid succession of montages which Yasmin created. Dialogues were in several languages…English, Hindi, Bengali, Spanish, Sanskrit…but in spite of all this, as the performance went on, we were drawn into the depiction, and admired Yasmin’s mastery of her craft. However, the play (or the monologue) remained an enigma wrapped in a mystery.
Yasmin and Fruto also were having trouble with Yasmin’s young child not having anyone to mind him, and it was a measure of their commitment that he was put in the audience while they carried on. Of course, there were some obvious starting glitches too.
After the play, Fruto made a speech in Spanish which Yasmin translated into English. There were some questions from the audience after Yasmin invited them..but none were about the play, most were about Yasmin herself and about the theatre workshop that Fruto will be running at Kalanjali.
Neither of the artistes gave out any brochure about the play, or introduced themselves by name. I think Ranga Shankara should make both of these mandatory. We go to watch experimental theater, but we need some pegs to the conventional, too, otherwise we are left in the air, unable to analyse what we have seen.
Every theatre group should also necessarily include feedback in the form of email id or phone nos. in the brochure. There are many in the audience who might want to talk about the play on a one-to-one basis and not necessarily immediately after the show.
All in all, Yasmin’s virtuosity was the saving grace in a somewhat perplexing play.
Another review which says essentially what I have said here…but rather more articulately…is here…it appeared after the initial show at Active Canvas, Jayanagar:
responding to deepa’s comments
Tonight, I went and watched “La Loba” ; the play is adapted from one of the re-interpreted stories of the wolf woman in Jungian Psychoanalyst Dr Clarissa Pinakola Estes’ master piece ‘The Woman W ho Runs With the Wolves’.
Dear critic the play is not an adaptation of the book the women who run with wolves. Neither was it mentioned in the handouts nor did yasmin or jairo fruto did mention about it.
It was an hour-long monologue by Yasmin, directed by the Columbian,Jairo Fruto.
They have both now settled in Bangalore………
This is wrong information since they are a traveling performers.
And like something that is adapted from something that is re-interpreted from something..the thread of the play was not clear at all.
This is definitely not a re-interpretation.
La Loba is supposed to represent the Wolf Woman that is suppressed and oppressed in every woman…or at least, that is I what I gathered after the play…..clerisa is not talking about suppressed and oppressed women in her book.
Yasmin’s physical training in Kathakali, Kalari Payattu and in theatre forms is superb and showed in the way she danced around the stage continuously, spewing word-perfect dialogue, without tiring….beutiful.
Jairo Fruto was on the stage, both directing her, and accompanying her with a wide and bewildering variety of rattles, or percussive instruments (like a gong, a seed rattle, and so on.) Why he needed to use this variety, was never made clear.
Jairo fruto was not directing on stage but was accompanying her with music and effects. The musical instruments represented the rawness….and added a flavour.
Experimental theatre that is never explained to the audience sometimes fails to be understood at all, and tonight’s (sparse) audience was certainly mystified at the rapid succession of montages which Yasmin created. Dialogues were in several languages…English, Hindi, Bengali, Spanish, Sanskrit…but in spite of all this, as the performance went on, we were drawn into the depiction, and admired Yasmin’s mastery of her craft. However, the play (or the monologue) remained an enigma wrapped in a mystery………..No artwork can hold the responsibility of making an audience understand completely unless the audience is used to the experimental works….it depends on the openness of the audience.
Yasmin and Fruto also were having trouble with Yasmin’s young child not having anyone to mind him, and it was a measure of their commitment that he was put in the audience while they carried on. Of course, there were some obvious starting glitches too…..no comments.
After the play, Fruto made a speech in Spanish which Yasmin translated into English. There were some questions from the audience after Yasmin invited them..but none were about the play, most were about Yasmin herself and about the theatre workshop that Fruto will be running at Kalanjali. …..my dear friend yasmin and jairo were also responding to the questions of the audience. They hold no responsibility for not talking about the play unless there are questions from the audience…..why didn’t you question anything about the play?
Neither of the artistes gave out any brochure about the play, or introduced themselves by name. I think Ranga Shankara should make both of these mandatory. We go to watch experimental theater, but we need some pegs to the conventional, too, otherwise we are left in the air, unable to analyse what we have seen……….Everybody in the hall received the brochure as well as a person from rangashankara introduced the artists before the play started……..where were you? this seems to be a rare phenomena.
Every theatre group should also necessarily include feedback in the form of email id or phone nos. in the brochure. There are many in the audience who might want to talk about the play on a one-to-one basis and not necessarily immediately after the show………Yasmin announced her email ID………didn’t you note down?…….Artists cannot go public by any means…..they have their own space….
All in all, Yasmin’s virtuosity was the saving grace in a somewhat perplexing play…..could you please explain this profound statement with a theatre eye….
Another review which says essentially what I have said here…but rather more articulately…is here…it appeared after the initial show at Active Canvas, Jayanagar:….I am sure the reviewer was as intelligent as you are….may be even less…..
Please stop throwing fake stray statements and begin to make a genuine attempt to understand the art form………You have provoked me to respond harshely……..
guruji….