Erendira!

Theatre Group – Unknown
Venue – LTG Auditorium
Partners – None
Title – Innocent Erendira
Genre- Novel Enactment (Innocent Erendira by Gabriel Garcia Marquez)

I would not wait for the end of the review to comment on this one, undoubtedly , the best performance I have witnessed; not only for the tight and gripping story line, but also for the on stage persona of the actors. For an hour and a quarter, I was transposed to foreign lands, not one but two. The Latin America so characteristic of Marquez’s works and its Indian rendition set in rural Rajasthan with the rural dialect enunciated in its real rabidity.

The story itself unfolds like a bizarre daydream that follows a 14 year old Eréndira as she is plagued by the "wind of her misfortune." She has a devilish grandmother who makes poor Erendira work for her day and night and does not let the Erendira see any of the beautiful outside world. It is this “wind of misfortune” that causes Eréndira to unwittingly burn down her grandmother's lavish villa.

Upon seeing the ruin and ashes the Grandmother summons Eréndira and declares, "It would take a lifetime to pay back the debt you owe me, and you will have to repay it". Pitiful Erendira agrees and thus begins her journey across pastures, plateaus, mountains, borders, rivers, seas and borders. The deviant Grandmother turns her into a tireless money-minting machine making men across the globe pine for her and pay handsome cash rewards to “devour” her once.

While this is happening, a little volcano smolders within the little girl who has now learnt the lessons on life the hard way. The audience sees the gradual transformation of an innocent Erendira into a whore who enjoys every endeavor with new clients each day and how she dictates her own terms in choosing them. But her innate desire to take the revenge on her vile Grandmother only takes shape when she meets Ulysses, a truck driver who does her maiden “spell” with Erendira during one of his overnight stays. Meeting him reminds Erendira of the emotion called “love” that was long replaced by lust in her dictionary. She discovers the love for Ulysses and so does he.

Erendira pleads Ulysses to get rid of her Grandmother and the love-stricken man obliges. He adds poison to a dish Erendira prepares for her grandmother but the poison is not enough to counter the poison already embodied in the old Hag .She survives. Blinded in love, Ulysses takes her apart with a knife.

The most remarkable twist in the story arrives here as Erendira does what a real whore would do, she runs away with the riches earned by her exploits to a distant land, ever so unseen, ever so unexplored, ever so remote leaving her lover crying in agony.

The highlights of the performance:

• Superlative Lighting and choreography – the Latino Music that takes over the narrative from time to time is spellbinding. The dances are also Latino and add to the experience. Ulysses is almost as supple as a gymnast in the scene when he lynches the hag.
  
• Character/actor exchange – A novel idea indeed! There are essentially three characters in the play, but there are at least 9 actors. The actors for the central role of Erendira keep changing as the story unfurls, her tender teens are played by a girl with similar appearance and her vile twenties by an actor who can be easily mistaken for someone on drugs (with eyes popping out).Also portrayed to great effect is the scene where Erendira baths her Grandmother, the larger than life grandmother on the couch is depicted by the rest of the cast together with joined hands.
  
• Rustic Language – The Indian version of the story has been transposed to Rajasthan and the director showed no reservations in the choice of words used in the dirty trade of prostitution. It makes the play and adult only affair, but adds to the morbidity.
  
  Eréndira is a compelling story to say the least. It is funny yet eerie, intriguing yet grotesque, and I thought it was amazing. Every piece of description and every word of dialogue work together to create the web of magic realism that dominates story line. If you like slightly dark stories of Latin American culture that have a magical twist, then Eréndira should be your first choice.
  
  Rating: 9/10 (I tend to make this scale relative now, as I have not seen a play for quite some time now J)