THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO - Tara-Artstara-arts.com/media/files/figaro pack online tara.pdfTHE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO Education Resource Pack BHAVAI The tradition of Bhavai perfromances in

THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO Education Resource Pack

Written by Helen Cadbury

Commissioned by


Contents PAGE The Production Synopsis 3 Director’s Vision 4 Designer’s Vision 5 The Cast and Company 6 The Context: Theatre Forms Bhavai 7 Commedia dell’Arte 8 The Context: Historical France and India – a timeline 9 Who Was Beaumarchais? 10 Factfile: The Marriage of Figaro 11 Activities Writing about the performance 12 Commedia dell’Arte 13 Finding the clown within 14 Drama from images 15 Feedback Form 16 The Mousetrap Foundation Current programmes 17 Useful Links 18


SYNOPSIS

The Marriage of Figaro was originally written as a play by Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, and first performed in Paris in 1784. Ranjit Bolt has adapted the play for this production by Tara Arts and set it in India in the same historical period. In the late 18th century the world is changing. In India the Mughal Empire is dying, just as the absolute monarchy is dying in France. In the court of the Nawab*, his valet, Figaro, is looking forward to his marriage to Rukhsana, the Begum’s maid. Rukhsana reveals her suspicions to Figaro that the Nawab, bored of his wife, is attracted to her and hopes to revive a tradition where a nobleman has a right to sleep with any maiden in the principality before her wedding. Figaro is determined to get the better of him. Meanwhile, Qasim, godson of the Begum, who is hopelessly in love with his godmother, (but who has also been trying to seduce the gardener’s daughter Fatima) attempts to flirt with Rukhsana but has to hide when the Nawab arrives. He overhears the Nawab’s advances to Rukhsana, but when Bashir, the music teacher enters, the Nawab himself is forced to hide. He hears that Qasim has been writing love poetry for his wife and, incensed, reveals himself and orders Qasim to leave the court and join the army. As his intentions are out in the open, the Nawab is forced to let the marriage go ahead, but he postpones the wedding until late at night, so he can arrange to have his way with Rukhsana beforehand. Figaro devises a plan to outwit his master, with the Begum and Rukhsana’s help. He will incite the Nawab’s jealousy by persuading him that the Begum is to meet an anonymous young man in the garden before the wedding. Meanwhile, he will trap the Nawab by dressing Qasim up as Rukhsana and arranging a rendezvous in the same garden. In the Begum’s apartments, Qasim is nearly caught by the Nawab and comic confusion ensues among the plotters. In the garden later that night, the scheme unfolds as planned, so that the Nawab seduces his own wife, and finally realises that he still loves her. Figaro and Rukhsana are free to marry. The ordinary man and woman have triumphed over the nobility.

* an Urdu term, deriving from the Arabic for “deputy”, originally the title of a provincial governor in the Mughal Empire, it came to describe a Muslim nobleman with hereditary powers. His wife is referred to as the Begum, a term of honour for a married woman.

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DIRECTOR’S VISION Jatinder Verma

The challenge of staging The Marriage of Figaro is simple: how to recover for the stage an immensely popular opera? The first ingredient has been Ranjit Bolt’s wonderful translation – not only from the French original to a modern English but also from its original Franco-Spanish setting to an equivalent era in India. We have also tried to approach some of the sources of Beaumarchais’ own theatrical inspiration. Beaumarchais was clearly influenced by the prevalent popular theatre of 18th century France, Commedia dell’Arte. Commedia has its near-exact equivalent in Bhavai, the popular form of theatre in western India. Beaumarchais’ play encapsulates the heyday of European popular theatre, which shares with Bhavai the use of stock characters, improvisation, and witty, bawdy stories. There is an irreverence and a playfulness in these styles and we have explored ways to find their spirit. The tools of popular theatre throughout history – primarily, a simple and accessible style of story-telling - remain invaluable resources in creating characters and conveying the story to a modern audience. For a modern audience it is also possible to trace a route from Beaumarchais, the father of farce, to television sitcom, and to recognise a form that is very much alive today. Ranjit Bolt’s translation helps achieve this recognition, while allowing audiences to play with their own associations with the story and to enjoy its ‘otherness’ within its Indian setting. Beaumarchais captured the mood of a late 18th Century French society in transit from a feudal relationship to a modern one. A similar sense of transition was pervasive in late 18th Century India, as the Mughal dominance began to give way inexorably to the British. In seeing Figaro through Indian eyes I am not (like Sanjeev Bhasker’s irrepressible character in the TV series Goodness Gracious Me) trying to claim this icon of Western culture as being originally “Indian”. Rather, to suggest that good stories do not have passports – they speak to all times and in all cultures. In Figaro, Beaumarchais created a character instantly recognisable everywhere: the interlocutor between classes, sexes and romances. 4


DESIGNER’S VISION Claudia Mayer

The world of The Marriage of Figaro is one where the old order is crumbling and the new is emerging – the palace is one of corridors and mirrors, where people can be overheard and glimpsed, where all is not as it seems.

Corridor photo:Claudia Mayer I was inspired by the Indian shish mahal or palace of mirrors where the walls, floor and ceilings are covered with mirrors and glass. Every surface is reflective, giving a magical confusion of images: is that the actual wall or a reflection?

Udaipur photo:Claudia Mayer We are also drawing on Bhavai, a style of folk theatre from the region of Gujarat, where the actors are very physical, full of energy and broad humour, and the content is often politically scurrilous.

Bhavayar photo:Claudia Mayer

The costumes are a synthesis of 18th century Indian and French styles, which are closely related. For example, the European frock coat of the period was a direct development of the Indian achkan coat which later developed into what we now call the Nehru jacket.

Figaro sketch Rukhsana sketch 5


CAST AND COMPANY

Shammi Aulakh Chand Martinez Dina Mousawi THE NAWAB QASIM RUKHSANA

Chris Nayak Sharona Sassoon V. Chandran FIGARO THE BEGUM MUSICIAN

Directed by Jatinder Verma Designed by Claudia Mayer

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BHAVAI

The tradition of Bhavai perfromances in Gujarat originates in the 14th Century. The word Bhavai is derived from the Sanskrit word "Bhava" meaning expression of emotion. It specialises in subtle social criticism laced with pungent humour; the pompous behaviour of high caste people is often scoffed at in Bhavai. Women do not perform in Bhavai, their roles are taken by men dressed up as women, adding to the comic effect. A typical Bhavai evening includes a miracle play, comic skits, dances, juggling and a romantic drama set in medieval times. The continous performance, lasting a whole night, is made up of Veshas or narrative poems depicting the social life of the rural community and performed in village centres or temple grounds. The professional performers present a repertoire of about three dozen Veshas, which are all credited to the founder of Bhavai, the 14th century poet and performer Asaita Thakur. Using a blend of languages, including Gujarati, Hindi, Urdu and Marwari, these were passed down as part of the performers’ oral tradition until the 19th Century, when they were written down and published.

Bhavai performance photo: Claudia Mayer 7


COMMEDIA DELL’ARTE Meaning the comedy of the art, or the profession, Commedia Dell’Arte all’Improviso originated in Italy and flourished in 16th and 17th century Europe. As the name suggests, the plays were performed by professional, travelling troupes, using improvised dialogue, although the stories, and the stock characters who told them, were well known. Typical stock characters included: the Zanni, comic male roles, usually servants, from whom we get the modern word “zany;” a ridiculous old man; a lady’s maid (often known as Columbine); a beautiful lady and a foolish Captain. Each character was represented by its mask. The stories were originally unwritten, passed on from one generation to another, and usually included love intrigues, tricks, surprises and disguises. The actors were highly skilled in improvising with dialogue and comic business, known as lazzi. By the mid 17th Century, Commedia dell’Arte companies were settling into the theatres and were well established in France. For example, Molière’s company and the Fiorelli-Locatelli troupe worked together until after Molière’s death in 1673. Gradually French took over from Italian as the language of “Italian comedy” and many of the stories were adapted by the emerging playwrights of the period. In 1762, Carlo Goldoni (author of A Servant of Two Masters) moved from Venice to Paris and Beaumarchais would have been very familiar with his work. The style of witty, quick performance and intriguing plots influenced Beaumarchais and his characters can be recognised as stock Commedia types. As the playwrights began to fix the stories originally told by the Commedia troupes, and their plays were published, European theatre began to lose sight of its origins in improvised drama. However, the influence of Commedia was significant and can still be seen in Punch and Judy shows, pantomime and in more modern re-incarnations such as television comedy sketch shows or Whitehall farce.

Commedia character c.C18th

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François Bernier - born 1625, an associate of Moliere – he defends the radical philosophy of Descartes

16th Century 17th Century 18th Century

1789 The French Revolution

Voltaire born 1694 - critic of church and state

1799 Beaumarchais dies

Beaumarchais establishes a press to print the works of Voltaire. He writes The Marriage of Figaro between 1775 and 1778

1526 Mughal Empire founded by Babur

Expansion of Mughal Empire under Shah Jahan – builder of the Taj Mahal – and his successor Aurangzeb

Mughal leaders begin to lose power to Hindu and Sikh leaders, and to the growth of the British East India Company

1792 The Abbé Dubois flees to India, he writes “Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies” – one of the first books about India for European readers.

Bernier travels to India and becomes a doctor in the court of Aurangzeb

19th Century

1857 The British Empire finally dissolves the Mughal Empire


HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL CONTEXT Timeline

- showing the connections between Beaumarchais’ France of the late 18th Century

and Mughal India at the same period

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WHO WAS BEAUMARCHAIS?

A watchmaker? Son of a watchmaker, he left school to work in his father’s shop. He patented a new mechanism and sold a watch to Madame Pompadour (left) in 1754, which enabled his entry into the Royal Court.

A music teacher? As a child he learnt the violin, flute and harp. In the 1750s he taught music at Versailles to the daughters of Louis XV. A spy? He was sent to Britain to negotiate with a French spy for the recovery of a manuscript of the biography of the French King’s mistress, Madame du Barry. A gun runner? He supplied arms to the American colonies in the build up to the American War of Independence. He also organized a fleet of merchant ships to carry cannons, ammunition and other equipment to assist the Americans. Forty years later his daughter was still suing the American government for payment. A womaniser? He married three wealthy women, two of whom died conveniently quickly, leaving him land and property. He was also accused: “during your last trip to London, did you contract a venereal disease, which was probably given to everyone in Paris” A feminist? As well as creating strong, independent female characters, he used his plays to argue the rights of women, for example Suzanne’s right to refuse the “droit de seigneur” in The Marriage of Figaro. In Eugénie (1767), he exposed the scandal of false marriage promises, and the shame of women who are deceived by members of the nobility, based on the experiences of his sister, who had been lured to Spain, then dumped, by a bankrupt nobleman. A publisher? Beaumarchais set up his own printing press at Kehl and undertook the task of printing all Voltaire’s works, many of which were still banned in France. A man of his time? He was writing in extremely turbulent times, his work often pre-empting the huge shifts in class structure which were on the horizon. However, despite his support for the French Revolution, his connections with the Court were considered suspicious and he was forced into exile. His financial affairs were no less rocky, he gained and lost fortunes, and died in relative poverty. 10


FACTFILE ON THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO

Written… …between 1775-78, entitled La Folle Journée (the day of madness) ou Le Mariage de Figaro but… Censored... …by the King. In his famous monologue Figaro condemns his aristocratic employer, forecasting the coming revolution. Beaumarchais taunted the King: "If censorship reigns there cannot be sincere flattery, and only small men are afraid of small writings" Performed… …in 1784, with the King's permission, at the Comédie Française Earned… …a massive 41,500 Livres in performance royalties, for an eight month run, equivalent to approximately £150,500 in today’s money Copied… …by one Thomas Holcroft, who succeeded in taking down, over ten days, the entire text of the unpublished Marriage of Figaro in 1784, which was used for the first performance in England. In the late eighteenth century, in France and England, it was common for whole plays to be copied down from live performances and then the scripts sold to provincial theatres. It was the equivalent of film piracy today: “going into the two schilling gallery, a party of five. By sitting together, two on one seat, two behind and one below, we composed a group and with paper and pencils each writing down the direct words of one of the characters in a scene and regulating the whole in a committee after each performance, in four or five nights we completed the whole.” (Sheridan) Printed… …in Paris and at Beaumarchais’ own press in Kehl. The stage directions in the printed edition are extremely detailed and based on the blocking developed in rehearsals at the Comédie Française, to help, or control, future provincial and amateur directors. In one stage direction he cites a popular painting which the scene should emulate, Carle Vanloo’s Spanish Conversation (see Activities p.15.) Adapted Into an Opera…but Censored Again… …by Mozart and his librettist Da Ponte, who translated it into Italian and performed it at the Burgtheater, Vienna in 1786. Da Ponte removed some satirical elements of the story at Emporer Joseph II’s command, including the soliloquy in which Figaro questions the superiority of the nobility. Coincidentally, Da Ponte later moved to America, where he became a watchmaker (see Who Was Beaumarchais p10.) 11


ACTIVITIES WRITING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE

Why does a director make certain choices? Watch carefully and write notes at the interval, or after the play. These questions will help you: THE SET • what shapes and colours so you see? Why have they been chosen? COSTUME • what colours and styles are being used? Where are they from? • how do the costumes move when worn by the actors? LIGHTING – to work out why different lighting effects are being used, ask yourself these practical questions: • what time of day is it? • are we inside or outside? • if outside, what is the climate/ weather in this place? • what is the light source in this scene: sun/ candle-light/ lamplight/

electric light? • what colours and shades of colour are being used? • what levels of brightness are being used and why? • think about angles of light, who is well lit and who is in shadow? • when do the lights change? Now think about the story, the atmosphere and the emotions being played out on the stage, how do the lighting, costume and set help to tell the story? THE PERFORMERS – • how has each actor used voice, movement and gesture to create their

character? • how do characters who are playing two or more roles, vary their

movement, gesture, facial expression to show the different aspects of the character?

• how do the actors use the set? • how do the actors relate to the audience? AND LASTLY BUT MOST IMORTANTLY • what does the play make you think, feel, want to talk about? 12


ACTIVITIES COMMEDIA DELL’ARTE

In the rehearsal process for The Marriage of Figaro, the actors explored the conventions of Commedia dell’Arte. Using these tasks, you can introduce your students to this form of theatre, using The Marriage of Figaro as a starting point.

1. Research Task- session 1 Ask students to research Commedia dell’Arte. Can they find the “commedia” names for our characters? (For example: Rukhsana is a typical Columbine…) Their findings can be shared on large flipchart paper and added to during the practical exercises.

2. Practical task – session 2 Begin with a warm up to develop mime and physical theatre skills. e.g. Pass The Magic Chewing Gum: pass a piece of invisible chewing gum around the circle, each player moulds it into something new, the objects can be any size from ants to elephants, keep challenging the players to let their imaginations run free. Ask the whole group to walk around in the space in neutral. Then walk around on tiptoe, notice what happens to the rest of the body. Then ask them to walk on their heels, then the insides of the feet and then the outside of the feet, each time noticing the effect on the rest of the body. Explore the stock characters by asking the whole group to walk around in the space as one of them. Ask them to magnify or exaggerate the physical characteristics of this person by 100%, then 200% until they are completely non-naturalistic. Then ask them: if this person was an animal, what kind of animal would they be? Move like that animal. Move like the person again, but keep the animal movement in mind.

3. Practical task – session 3 In pairs choose two stock Commedia characters (or two characters from the production) and create a simple scene with no language. For example: one of the characters is getting dressed and the other is spying on them, include some lazzi, or comic business, such as falling into a rose bush… Extend the scene by adding a few words of dialogue or introducing more characters. Remind the students to keep the scene as physical as possible.

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ACTIVITIES FINDING THE CLOWN WITHIN

Linda Kerr Scott, a Complicité performer, writer and director, worked with the actors on clowning techniques. She led them in exercises to explore the sprit of playfulness in their work. Here is one of the exercises which could be tried with students, following a physical, fun warm-up of your choice. 1. All the players learn a simple poem:

What an effort. What an effort for a horse to be a dog. What an effort for a dog to be a swallow. What an effort for a swallow to be a bee And what an effort for the bee to be a horse. What an effort.

2. Note: If you have a large group, change the players for each instruction, otherwise, all players should have a go, to see what characters emerge Two players sit on a bench, wearing red clown noses. In turn they re-cite the above poem as if they have a hot potato in their mouths. Encourage them to take it faster, imagining the potato is even hotter.

3. Using the same text, try chewing a piece of sticky toffee. Note: they must not come “out of role” when they are wearing the nose.

4. This time, players should imagine they have a slice of very juicy lemon

in their mouths. Make sure the text goes through the lemon, its sourness should distort the text.

5. Imagine now that they have a large piece of delicious cake, speaking the poem slowly to enjoy the sensation of the cake in their mouth.

6. Now they can use language to recite the poem, but it must be in a language foreign to them, so that they invent how the foreign language might be spoken. This should not be a generalised or mocking impression of the foreign language, but should imitate the rise and fall and unfamiliar vowel sounds. They might begin to improvise a “foreign” conversation.

7. Change from one foreign language to another, how different is it? As well as the poem, open it out into a conversation or a well-known speech such as “to be or not to be.”

8. The spectators can feedback about what characters they saw on the

bench and what stories could be created from them. 14


ACTIVITIES DRAMA FROM IMAGES

In a stage direction in Beaumarchais’ The Marriage of Figaro, he cites a popular painting which the scene should emulate, Carle Vanloo’s Spanish Conversation. He uses the reference to the painting as shorthand to describe how the actors should create a stage picture of the maid, her mistress and the nervous page reciting his love poetry, in an image which would be instantly recognisable to his audience. The print of an engraved version of the painting, seen below, was very popular at the time.

Practical tasks

1. Re-create this stage picture as a frozen moment, then play what happens next or what has just happened. Students can decide who they think the characters are, or can be given the information. The child does not feature in the play, who might she be?

2. After seeing the Tara Arts production, ask students to re-create the stage picture of the same moment and improvise their own dialogue between the characters.

3. Choose a well known contemporary image from newspapers or television or ask students to work in groups to research an image they are all familiar with. Use this as a basis for a scene following the instructions in (1) above.

4. Discuss: Beaumarchais’ audience were visually literate, developments in printing meant that they would all have been familiar with a limited number of popular images. Do we all share knowledge of popular images from today or are there too many to choose from? Brainstorm all the images from the last five years that you would all recognise. 15


FEEDBACK FORM

If you have found this pack useful as an introduction to our production, please take a moment to give us your feedback. What course are your students studying (level/examining body?) Which sections did you use with your students before seeing the play? Which sections did you use with your students after seeing the play? Did you find it easy to download this pack from the internet? Was the format helpful? Is there any other information you would have liked to enhance your students’ experience of seeing this production? Any other comments? Please return this form to: Tara Arts, 356 Garratt Lane, London SW18 4ES or by email to [email protected] 16

The Mousetrap Foundation is a theatre education charity dedicated to creating opportunities for young people with limited resources or support to attend outstanding theatre productions in London. Founded in 1997, The Mousetrap Foundation has introduced nearly 42,000 young people to theatre through a diverse range of innovative programmes for schools and families. Current programmes: London Theatre Challenge Key Stages 3 and 4

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Developing Playwriting skills, linked to the Citizenship curriculum – led by playwrights and ‘citizenship’ trainers

Teachers Preview Club Theatre Club for teachers offering substantial discounts PowerPlay Theatre Education programmes in Pupil Referral Units Previous programmes:

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Citizenship issues explored through theatre and drama

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Enhancing theatre visits for students with visual impairment

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FURTHER RESOURCES

Weblinks

http://www.mousetrap.org.uk http://www.tara-arts.com (includes a downloadable version of this pack)

The following websites provide useful information but please note: Tara Arts and The Mousetrap Foundation are not responsible for their content or availability.

http://www.culturopedia.com/Theatre/folk_theatre.html folk theatre history in India http://www.wegujarati.com/Dances.asp Gujarati folk drama and dance http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060611/spectrum/main2.htm - further information on Bhavai http://www.complicite.org website of Theatre de Complicite http://www.scottisharts.org.uk/1/artsinscotland/drama/features/archive/themeclowning.aspx Clowning – what does it mean? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouffon a brief description of the origins of Bouffon style clowning

Film Tragada Bhavai: A Rural Theater Troupe of Gujarat (1981) Directed by: Jayasinhji Jhala and Roger Sandall For further information go to: http://www.buyindies.com/listings/3/8/FCTS-38073.html

Books Theatre of the Book 1480- 1880 Julie Stone Peters (2000 OUP) a history of playwrights and publishing with several references to Beaumarchais Commedia Dell’Arte: A Handbook for Troupes, John Rudlin, Olly Crick (Routledge 2001) Commedia Dell’Arte: A Handbook for Actors, John Rudlin (Routledge 1994) 18

Documents

THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO - Tara-Artstara-arts.com/media/files/figaro pack online tara.pdfTHE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO Education Resource Pack BHAVAI The tradition of Bhavai perfromances in