Urmila - The Dilemma

Just a few days back, I saw the play “Urmila”, produced by Adishakti, staged at Kerala Fine Arts Society Hall, Kochi. I had to cross several hurdles to watch it. The cab which had confirmed my ride, turned and rode the other away without so much as the courtesy of cancelling the ride. Well, that left me sour, to put it mildly. So, mind you, I didn’t cancel the ride either. And I dashed to the auto stand to catch a rick to board the Metro to alight at a station closest to the venue, which was still not close enough.

To cut the long story short, I reached the venue 15 minutes late – “only”. By the way, I had made use of the time on the Metro to complain about the cab service and the driver on all possible platforms. In the end, the play was worth all the r’s – the wrath, the revenge, the rush, the rick, and the relay rides.

The play was well through its intro by the time I settled into my seat. But my spirit was not dampened in the least. I had done my homework well. The play was about Urmila Nidra or, rather, Urmila’s sleep. Apparently, Urmila had received a boon of sleep, by virtue of which her husband Lakshman could spend his fourteen years of exile wide awake, taking care of his brother Ram and bhabhi Sita every minute of it. That Urmila never asked for the boon, nor wanted it, was another matter. Yes, the play addresses gender issues and some of the many ethical dilemmas raised by the epic Ramayan in the casual reader’s mind.

However, what is most incredible about the play is the medium used by Nimmy Raphel, who enacts Urmila. Her body, the medium, in a state of sleepy wakefulness, carries the message of the play. And as the play unravels, you see the medium merge with the message. And you watch in awe, as Urmila continuously swings between sleep and awakening.

Sleep is not always synonymous with peace, as we have always been led to believe. In the play, the boon turns out to be the bane, no less, of Urmila’s life. Thanks to the "gift of sleep", as she sarcastically calls it, not only would she have to live her life for a full fourteen years without her newlywed husband by her side, she also has to drift through the entire time in slumber. No, the boon was never her choice. Nimmy Raphel as Urmila is amazing as she wades through her semi-conscious state, all the while holding out against the unfairness of it all.

Raphel’s acting is praiseworthy for her attention to the tiniest of details. In her woozy state, as she tries to find her feet, she quite literally tries to find them, as though wondering if they are in their rightful places at all. She even lifts up her foot and looks at it as though she’s surprised to know that it’s right there, where it should be, after all.

Raphel uses up the full length and breadth of the stage as she struggles to stay awake, staggering, swaying and faltering, and trying to fight the sleep warriors who try to push her back into the infinite abyss of sleep. Time and again, Urmila slips and falls, every time flailing her arms and legs in her effort to float upwards, to wakefulness. The inappropriateness of her carriage, the lack of propriety in her movements, and her sheer helplessness even as she is aware of the state she’s in leaves the audience stunned at the spontaneity of Raphel's acting.

Nimmy Raphel has scripted the play, and directed it as well. So it's no wonder, she is visibly in control of the whole act. In the visual conception of Urmila’s subtle state of suspense between sleep and wakefulness manifests Raphel’s brilliance. We have all experienced this state of being at least once, albeit for a fraction of a second, just before falling into deep sleep or right before turning fully awake. Raphel’s representation of her stupor is so palpable that she keeps the audience perching on their seats, almost still, for the full duration of an hour and a half. Sleep is not always peaceful. Not when it comes unwanted. And then, it is full of disquiet.

One cannot but wonder at Urmila’s dilemma. What could she have actually chosen? To wake up to the harsh reality of the life of a new bride estranged from her husband, by default, for a long fourteen years? Or to languish in the numbness of sleep, until the return of her husband who never considered for once that she could have had a choice in the matter in the first place?

The performances of Vinay Kumar and Sooraj as the warriors of sleep maintain the focus and enhance the experience of the play. 

The stage setting, the lights, and the costumes have all enriched the play. This audience looks forward to seeing more from Raphel and her team Adishakti.

[Pictures Courtesy: Adishakti Website, Social Media]

©