Let Us Hear Your Thoughts on The Ramayana
Constellation Theatre Company is currently presenting The Ramayana, by Peter Oswald at Source through June 6.
Every person who comes to see our production will have his or her own reaction. Given that The Ramayana is an ancient epic central to Hindu thought and cherished as sacred by communities all around the world, it is not surprising that there have been many strong responses to our show. Constellation created this blog as a forum to encourage open discussion of our play and of the larger ideas found in The Ramayana. Viewpoints both positive and negative should be respected.
We hope that you will share your experience watching The Ramayana with us and with the larger audience. Feel free to write what is on your mind. Here are some possible questions to serve as jumping off points if that is helpful.
Which moments did you enjoy most in Constellation’s The Ramayana? Were there moments that were confusing or upsetting to you? How did you feel about Peter Oswald’s adaptation (the script) and our interpretation of his work (our production, direction, acting, design, music, dance)?
What does the story of The Ramayana mean to you overall? If you were going to choose one central idea or truth from this story to tell the world, what would you focus on? Which moment within Rama’s journey most resonates with you? Do you have a character that you most relate to? What does it mean to be God come down in human form, the divine on earth?
Constellation Theatre’s production of The Ramayana is a feast for the eye, ear and mind. While its production values are high, its most important achievement is the clarity with which this epic story is told. Bravo to all who are involved in the production!
When giving a critique of a performance, piece of art, or movie, I always prefer to start off with the positive aspects, so allow me to do that now. First off, the stage production was wonderful. Set design, usage of space and color, the movable stage; all wonderful and a joy to watch. Whomever you stage manager was should commended. Secondly, your musician was very impressive. His ability to improv and create the correct mood with a wide variety of instruments both conventional and non was very impressive. He gets a thumbs up from me.
No on to the lesser aspects. First of all, the writer / director inserted a series of strong biblical Christian themes, very bluntly might I add, that change the whole tone and theme of the Ramanyana for the worse. Listening to the introduction horrified me and I was seriously thinking about leaving (but I didn’t because I always force myself to watch / read the whole of something in order to give it a quality critique). Your references of the “one god”, turning all other gods into either a) a piece of the one god or something far less in a play based on polytheism was almost insulting. Giving every character their powers, only because Rama deems it so detracts from the literary quality of the story. Saying that Anoman derives his strength and ability to jump only from his belief and faith in Rama is far less interesting and much more shallow than the actual tale in the Ramayana, and once again forces this Christian ideology on a Hindu epic. This is a common problem I have with contemporary literature and film, putting emphasis on a singular character, making them special, all secondary and tertiary characters cannot compare to them and are only talented in their own rights because of them (The Jesus problem I call it). Literature is meant to be filled with archetypes that compliment and work with each other, not be dominated by some all powerful character who fills every roll.
Secondly, the monkeys were more obnoxious than humorous. The talkative female the most so. Honestly, this may have been because I was put off by the Christian overtones of the entire play and just been in a bad mood (one tries to keep an unbiased viewpoint on different aspects of a play but in all honesty each part affects the whole). Making them silly is fine, but the… jokes? I guess… they just wern’t funny.
P.S. This is not at all meant to sound pretentious (although reading it to myself I admit it does sound it, but trust me its not!), any name spellings in this comment are based off the Javanese version and are not misspelled; just different. They’re what I’m used to – do not read anything into this it is just semantics
I loved the music and I thought the way the monkeys were done was great. The group of devils seemed to work well for me.The principal roles seemed not up to the content of the piece. Ram and Sita seemed pale compared to the legend. Perhaps huge puppets like Bread and Puppets in New England and voices more powerfully delivered would have made me feel more satisfied. In general I thought this was an adventurous thing to undertake and satisfying to see.
Overall, I enjoyed the celebration of the legend of the Ramayana mounted by the Constellation troupe. By comparison with the monumental and sometimes ponderous Mahabharata staging in NYC in the early 90s, this presentation was youthful, vivacious and sensual throughout, particularly in the monkeys’ balletic frolic.. The inventive percussion by Tom Teasdale was engaging on the aural/visceral level throughout. I don’t know whether to fault the playwright or the director, but I agree that the introductory section was unnecessary, though I disagree with another blogger’s sensitivity to what he believed were Christian biblical references. I interpreted this as the inherent tension within Hinduism between the one (brahman) and the many personal gods (Rama, Hanuman, etc.). I only wish I had learned about this production before the final nights had sold out because I would have brought my 10- and 12-year old sons to see the legend I had read to them as young children, brought to life in a most dynamic way. I will be looking for Constellation’s future productions.
I did think that it would have been nice to have a few Indian Americans or South Asian Americans in the show, but I did enjoy it very much. Some of the artistic elements felt a little bit Arabesque at times more than Indian, but whatever. Thank you for a great performance? Laxman was my favorite + he was super hot.