Mystery and Supernatural Meets Comedy in the Indian Version of St.Nicholas by Conor McPherson

 

 Walking into the black box at G5A Foundation for Contemporary Culture, Mahalaxmi was like walking into an open area that is a multifunctional space where performances, workshops, presentations courses, etc are held. 

Excitedly waiting for St. Nicholas, a popular monologue enacted by one actor throughout the play. A play which first was presented on stage in 1997 by Irish playwright Conor McPherson, it is only 26 years later that this gripping tale is being told again in India for the first time!

 

A philosophical play, Zafar Karachiwala, an Indian actor well known for his films in Delhi Belly, Zakhm, his role in Hip Hip Hurray and many other films; Zafar enacts his first solo performance as St. Nicholas, directed by Bruce Guthrie – head of theatre and film at NCPA.   

 

Coming close on the heels of Halloween, this monologue appears to be supernatural. However, Zafar adds more than humour to this dark and humourous tale. Of course, there are plenty of poignant moments throughout!

 

Playing the role of a very loathed theatre critic, St. Nicholas finds himself at the mercy of complex marital problems. In addition to this, he finds himself at peaks of disillusionment and madly in love with another woman. Abandoning not only his family but his job as well, he pursues the woman (he believes to be in love with) and finds himself in the clutches of vampires.    

 

Diving into the dark lives of blood-thirsty vampires, St Nicholas (Zafar) is accidentally bitten by one of the vampires. As he lurks into the lives of vampires, St Nicholas realises that vampires have a unique ability to not make you do what they want; but the power to make you want what they want.

 

Zafar has delivered an almost perfect performance where you are enwrapped in his world. With the play of lights and sound throughout the play, you get transferred into his world.   

An 80-minute, Zafar said “It is not a play which can be read like a novel or a short story but something that needs to be performed. Conor McPherson has reverse-engineered the piece from stage to script, and it is our job to bring it to life from script to stage. Every time you perform, you discover something new. It is a poetic script, it is vulgar and beautiful at the same time.”    

A character who is a megalomaniac (someone who has an unnaturally strong desire for power and control; or thinks that they are much more important and powerful than they really are), Karachiwala points out “Character-wise, the theatre critic goes through a huge journey. He is at a stage where he should be happy but he isn’t. He is only looking at things that are missing.” In the second half audience gets to hear about his experiences with the vampires, which become a metaphor for the demons he faces in his own life. “At the end of the play, he realises that it is about loving yourself and looking inside,” said Karachiwala.

Guthrie also adds that it was difficult to put together a one-man act. One needs to have total faith in the story and the person who is telling it. “In the end, it’s them and the audience, sharing a space for a period of time, so making sure you have the right story and the right performer is critical before you start,”  

“It is frightening,” admitted Karachiwala, adding that the actor has only him/herself to contend on stage. “There is no other actor you can bounce off, or to give you cue or pull you up energetically. You got to be able to carry yourself for an hour and a half with no physical support,” he said, adding that there are also 35 pages to learn and perform. His discovery though from his experience is that “one needn’t contain all these pages in their head at one time but only know the emotion of the thought that they are conveying to the audience.”