《HAYAVADANA》2007／2008
【Hayavanada】combines a twelfth-century folktale about “transposed heads” with indigenous performance traditions to offer a path-breaking model for a quintessentially “Indian” theatre in postcolonial times. The play【Hayavanada】means “the man with a horse head”. The play named after this character. There are four main characters, Devadatta, Padmini, Kapila and Hayavadana. Hayavadana, this horse headed man who wanted to shed the horse’s head and become human, provides the outer panel- as in a mural within which the tale of two young friends one is intelligence and another is strong at physical. Both felt in love with a woman but she married to the intelligence young man, Devadatta. When she got married with him, the woman always has a secret imagination of desire for a physically strong husband like her husband’s friend, Kapila. So the marriage brought a very unpleasant atmospheres among theirs relationship. This situation leads the two friend beheaded themselves and when brought back to life by the wife with the help of Kali (an Indian goddess), but she finds that their heads have got mixed up. Then they faced the problem to decide who would be the husband of this woman. A man was having her husband’s head with friend’s body and another man who has the husband body with friend’s head, whereas, both were claiming to be her husband. But the argument was ended with the decision that the woman should live with the person who had the husband’s head because head is the supreme among the human limbs. The woman was so happy to have a perfect man as her husband an intelligence mind with a strong physical body that was always her dream. The couple celebrated their new life with full of excitements but it did not last long. The body started to re-shape its original condition because human mind is the roots of his limbs. On the other side the horse headed man who wanted to be a human was totally transformed into a horse. And live his remaining life as a horse without any regret. He celebrates his perfection as a horse rather than half man half horse.
The play was written by Girish Karnad. Over the past five decades, Girish Karnad has been recognized nationally and internationally as one of the pre-eminent playwrights in contemporary India. Born in 1938, he belongs to the generation of writers who came to maturity shortly after independence and collectively reshaped Indian theatre as a national institution in the later twentieth century.【Hayavadana】is full of humor, sly comments on politics, comic hyperbole, a richly layered play and interspersed with typical Indian elements like the folk tale.【Hayavadana】was written in a very different format, not to follow the western way of writing. The characters of the play are not psychological. In India many traditional and folk performances are performed with lively and playfulness. The character didn’t carry any psychological journey but through the playful and symbol of the characters, audience can sense and get message from it. For instance, in this play all characters are looking for something which they don’t have. But “What is perfection? “ “What is human being‘s mentality?”
【Hayavanada】is a metaphor. “Who are you?”” What is your mind?” It will be discussed through this play. The play is trying to communicate that “It doesn’t matter what is your desire, the artificiality can’t last long, and it will all depends on your state of mind.” We should try to trust ourselves and be ourselves.
Script writer：Girish Karnad（India）
Producer：Lin Pei-Ann
ArtisticDirector／Director：Chongtham Jayanta Meetei
Set Designer：Li Jiun-Yang
Lighting Designer：Liu, Chia-Ming/Tom Sung
Music Designer：Yu Huan-Fu
Music Composer：Cheng Jye-Renn
Costume Designer：Cheah Kian Thye (Malaysia)
Performers：Wu Peng-Fong. Lee Mu-Chin, Hung Pei-Ching, Wang Koyao ,
Wei Chun-Chan, Lu You-Tien
Production Manager：Lin Chien-Min
Executive producer：Huang Jie-Fei
Photographer：Chen Shao-Wei
Date & Venue：
2007/Sep./21-2007/Sep./23
Crown Theatre, Taipei
2007/Nov./16
Auditorium of International Culture and Tourism Bureau, Miaoli County
2007/Nov./18
Auditorium of Toufen Township Office, Miaoli County
2008/Nov./22-2008/Nov./23
Eslite Bookshop, Tainan |
