Heisnam Kanhailal: Exit of a theatre icon

Budha Chingtham *

Heisnam Kanhailal at Kalakshetra Manipur presents Tamnalai at MCA, Imphal on 12 March 2016 :: pix - Shankar Khangembam

The theatre creator known as “Father of Experimental Manipuri Theatre” passed away. He was 75. Kanhailal means the future of experimental theatre, because he changed Manipuri theatre, he’s influenced every theatre person . What he left behind with his theatre arts was his great service to the experimental theatre work.

Needless to introduce Padma Bhushan awardee Heisnam Kanhailal (1941-2016), the director, playwright, philosopher, theorist with a virtuoso-touch, who is seeking an entirely new form of an alternative theatre and propagating his ideas and concept not only in India , but to the entire world also is a new phenomenon in the realm of theatre .

The Kalakshetra Manipur is a laboratory of such a great theatre- director, contributing its outputs endlessly since its inception in 1969. Every production gives a different task, entirely different taste which cannot be measured by conventional yardsticks like good or bad, comic or tragic, humorous or entertaining etc. But an entirely different taste gushed out from the personality of this director, a taste which can only be relished from the theatre of Kanhailal, an inexpressible, amazing taste, a silence that says much, a loquacity that tells nothing, a muted lyricism of body language.

His theatre is heavily dependent upon, the body of the actor on the only stage- prop. Kalakshetra have its own skill, experience and technique of producing short plays so far. It is to be noted that Kalakshetra is a group whose main forte is experimental theatre. Their productions are extremely experimental so much that experimental theatre assumes a heretical form, deviated from conventional norms.

Therefore, the spectators including sophisticated audience often ask questions to each other when they witnessed an experimental performance. This is because of the fact that there arises a lot of multiple meaning spontaneously in such productions .And a performance can never be finished product in as much as different interpretations come out endlessly one after another.

So, an experimental play may take different shapes, forms, structures from its original ones. Every performance is in the progress of its development. Its not that kind of theatre like recorded films, tele- dramas etc. which are known as dead drama .Therefore it is said that an experimental work keeps theatre alive and kicking at its liveliest. Experimental theatre has a long history of its creative period, and so, Kanhailal and his group also have a turbulent and entirely different history of its own.

So he and his group have advanced to a high degree in experimental theatre not only in Manipur but also in India. So it is not easy to witness a production of the theatre of Kanhailal. One needs to study his forms of theatre carefully before hand as to witness a production from what stand points etc. Because the spectator needs to peep and deep into the work of Kanhailal with a creative process and without it he would not be able to get the adequate taste of the experiment.

So whenever I happen to see any production of Kanhailal I have closely followed the reactions and responses the audience. With it, I also participated in the group discussions performed after the show, what One have experienced from those moments was an inexpressible feeling, an experience which any verbal medium could not express, some kind of release from psychic tension, which the overwhelming forces of the conventional norms have imposed upon us, in short, an experience which one cannot fully express.

What we discover in Kanhailal, when we see in his productions is no doubt, an unprecedented novel – acting style, and invention of a completely new directing technique. Such an attempt of the director towards a practical theatre form makes the relationship between audience and actor more intense and tight. And the sub- conscious minds of both the actor and his audience are released from the bondage of convention and they feel just like refreshed from ritual- bath.

It is worthy to note that Kanhailal, in his search for an unconventional, unbound alternative theatre have passed coined like ‘Ritual Theatre’ , ‘Theatre of Transcendence’, ‘Theatre of Transition’, ‘Nature –lore Project’ , ‘Theatre of the Earth’ etc. We may also be able to come closer to Kanhailal concept of Theatre if we look back to these phases of his development. Only then clouds of controversy and misunderstanding will be cleared away.

And luckily, it is happy to note that a book entitled ‘The Lore of Ritual Theatre (Theatre of Transition)’ authored by him is going to be published soon by a book – farm of Kolkata. The major chapter of this book entitled ‘Ritual Theatre’ has already been accepted by an American publishing group called Blackwell Press in this book ‘Theatre in Theory: 1900 to 2000’ edited by Prof David Krasher.

It will also be suitable to say something about Kanhailal’s Theatre, his previous productions he was uses the body of the actors as the most powerful tool for theatrical expression, giving more emphasis towards a non-verbal physical language. He transforms the body of the actor into an animated living sign [symbol] .

However, he does not discard altogether the audio-sound element from the human body. He uses these elements in the form of ‘’human Noise’’ to express the innermost emotions from the human body. He often uses grumbling like beasts, heart-rending cries, wailing hysterical staccato accents and many other ritual aspiration symbol like ‘’Om’’ ‘’A-U-M’’ and ‘’Oum’’ which come closer to the symbol of eternal God, such mode of communication is one of the non-verbal devices which he often uses.

Sometimes, the actor is caught in the web of trance like a ‘’Maibi’’ and in this process, the actors’ bodily limbs are completely distorted. It is at such moments that spectators, critics and scholars often ask questions about the trance body acting and remind us the word ‘’INTUITION’’ which Kanhailal often uses in his theatrical discourses.

At such moments the spectator needs not to judge it from external surface value but dive deeper into the thought process of the actors and see with the knowledge that the ‘’distortion’’ was caused by the overwhelming impersonal forces of Social reality, thereby creating a psychological and spiritual strain on the actor. Kanhailal’s new acting style which he moulded from scientific ideas and philosophical exercise early from his younger days will remain a phenomenon in the firmament of contemporary Manipuri theatre.

He added an entirely new dimension in modern theatre by introducing a Theatre link between everyday experience and the eternal laws of nature. The muscle-tones exploded from psychological factors and the representing signs of the mental states of his actors have created an entirely new dimension in modern Theatre. His theatre may undoubtedly be called a ‘’Miracle Theatre’’ because he is successfully coming towards its goal by dint of the superb acting style of his wife and collaborator H Sabitri Devi [b 1946] the great actress in conveying the experimental verification of his Theatre.  Sabriti won the best actress award representing India in the 3rd Cairo International Festival of Experimental Theatre in 1991.

Kanhailal’s thought is not confined to realm of theatre alone. He is transcending it and ascending toward a ritualistic spiritual goal thereby his audience may also be ritualized and get the spiritual experience, with this aim in view  and with an inner vision he tries to redefine Theatre-acting, theatre space, audience and the energy of the actor etc. He says; “My purpose is to create a sensorial relating between the sense of the audience and the sense of the actor performer and make them talk with each other. And to give a blow after the senses are awoke alert.’’

As regard his ‘Nature-lore Project, he defines its objective as ‘’creating a sensorial and spiritual dialogue with the spirit of the space by re-integrating the actor with the rhythms and sensibilities of the natural environment .’’ Kanhailal in his theatrical creation takes much awareness about the external and powerful inner psychological realities and makes the inner mystery creation guided by energy and faith blossom into a fine creative product. His relationship with nature becoming more and more intense in his productions, it seems that Kanhailal is leaning towards soul-quest of man as religious person .

But as his concept, method and technique are purely scientific, he cannot be said to be a religious man, but at the same time a deeply religious non-believer. Thus, Kalakshetra, unlike other professional theatre groups, stand out distinctly as the one which have its own training system, a centre where artists are seeking an alternative world, where there is no barrier of class, culture and language; a multi-lingual group where performance can be given by cultural mixing without written play-script; and where different theatrical traditions can be interrelated by means of improvisation.

In such a form of living theatre, human behaviour is closely analysed at biological and socio-cultural level and in the process of production much psycho-physical training is needed to expound the state of mind of actors. Such training brings about a different tone on the body of the actor and the taste of new rhythm can be given. Another remarkable feature of this group is the working together of actors from different strata of the society without distinction of high and low class, rural or urban.

Hence it is healthy sign of collective creation. Such an aspect of collective creation is welcomed by political theatre groups. For example Italian director Eugenio Barba, Grotowski of Poland etc. adopt his method and create productions by giving hard physical and vocal training to their actors. Similarly, Augusto Boal of Brazil is also found to be on this line working under different labels like “Image Theatre”, “Forum Theatre”, and “Invisible Theatre” and have turned towards an agitational protest theatre form abandoning the legitimate professional theatre.

Amidst all this movements in search of an alternative theatre form, the work of Heisnam Kanhailal of Manipur is entirely different and remarkable. Different in the sense that he has created an entirely new, non – western, highly localised form of theatre solely based on local performing traditions using indigenous ritual forms and devices.

Kanhailal’s invaluable contribution to Manipuri theatre is the creation of different forms of theatre by diving deep into our indigenous cultural roots and using experimental acting styles in his venture. He is not simply a director but also a profound thinker and theorist. Someday his theory of theatre may lead us to a brighter future. Such a man of remarkable thought and theatrical talent is born seldom in a century in our world.