Synopsis
The story unfolds through 52 poems.
This is a story of The Man, The Woman, The King, The Fakir and The Storyteller.
The story begins with the parting of the man and the woman, who are immensely in love with each other. Their intense love is smothering them, leading them to part in the quest for self. He goes out in the world and She shuts herself in her own world.
Both meet the fakir. She, during her journey through her mind and He in the outside world. The Fakir’s mind is like a clean mirror, as he has resolved himself completely. They see pure love through Fakir’s mind. Each one seeks to complete each one’s story.
Being in love with the idea of loving, He has forgotten true love.
Being in love with her own self She has forgotten true love.
The King falls in love with The Woman. The King has forgotten true love while getting her to love him.
But now, they have all realized that they are far away from true love. They are all seeking the true experience of love with their entire being.
She loses herself once again in his love. The king opens his arms to pain after losing her. He is willing to lose himself to get rid of his pride in his own love. Each will find true love by letting go off their vision of happiness.
By letting go off their pride, She and the King will experience the love within each other. They can be free in the moment of this experience of true love.
The Fakir is already enlightened.
Each one finds one’s true self by looking in The Fakir’s heart.Telling his story will liberate the storyteller.
The stories of the characters are blended in each other’s stories, as are the past, present and the future in the story. There are no obvious boundaries to the time and space in the play. Memoirs and thoughts make us travel through the time zones in the story and … the virtual time and space unfolds before us.
Director’s Note
In Maharashtra, not much is known about Rumi in Marathi. My first real encounter with his words manifested when Satee, the playwright of Tu, gave me the translated poems of Rumi to read. She wanted to write something spiritually relevant and around the same time she met Rumi’s verses and thought it had everything that she actually had felt.
The words were with us. Too abstract. But too striking. I wanted to do something with them but certainly not a poetry reading session. I did not want to fall flat in comparison to Rumi’s unique, mystic imagery neither would I shadow the words by theatrical experimentation. And later, while being with the words constantly, the characters, locations, situations evolved. And Satee had a story to tell. There were these characters, situations to play with.
The process began. Through a process of about 4 months, all of us have reached where we are today.
The play in two acts unfolds the story in the form of somewhat abstract series of events. Rumi’s words have taken place of the dialogues. We have tried to create images that Rumi’s words have transcended through us.
I am happy about the way the whole effort has worked out.
