oedilet- libretto

“To Pee or not to Pee, That’s the question…”


Oedilet

A musical ‘loosely’ based on
Hamlet, Oedipus Trilogy, Irma La Douce,
The Dionysian Myth, Macbeth & The Threepenny Opera

Music
Pink Floyd

The Libretto

Scene 1

In an unknown village of Else (Elsinore) the night life is at its peak as the drags and prostitutes have camouflaged the streets and the prospective buyers have gathered all around them. They are selecting their mates by judging the blow of their farts. People are singing and dancing, and a polyphonic environment is established. This merry moment, however, is soon obstructed by the unwanted arrival of a city dwelling priest, Oedilet (Oedipus/Hamlet) who initially creates chaos in the situation, but later gets interested in the prophecy that three drags speak to him about, according to which, one day he will become the king of ‘Else’, mesmerized by which he starts dreaming of his kingship, treating his tricycle as a luxury motor car and rides it like a king should, consequently bumping into the real king of Else, a juggler drag- Drunken. There is a slight confrontation between them, though assuming it’s the queen of Else, Oedilet tries to seduce her by kissing her but as he reaches down he realizes that it’s a drag and thus a scuffle takes place between the two. Soon, Oedilet is overshadowed by his anger and also is reminded of the prophecy, thus, encouraged by the three drags, (To pee or not to pee, that is the question) he pees in the ear of Drunken, causing his death. (the submitted music score traces the events only till this point) At this very moment, the fat, grotesque, cross dressed, hanswurst-like queen of Else, Gertrude/Ophelia comes and crowns him as the new King and her new pimp. The people of Else gather and take a procession of their new king and his queen. When left alone, he kisses his new queen, but before that checks her gender as he doesn’t want to get fooled again. However, he soon gets confused about his own relationship with the queen, in a kinky fetish, he calls her ‘Mama’ when he says the last comprehensible thing (Mama, I am bleeding… blahblahblah…).




Synopsis of the story that follows:

After loosing the power of oral communication, there starts an ordeal for Oedilet to discover the reason behind this curse. He is helped by the three drags who had initially prophesized his kingship, and is told that this is because of some deadly sin that he has committed. After trying to find it out in several ways, he finally secretly overhears/sees an exclusively women ritual being performed by his queen and some of her friends, in which they enact the story of how she sent her first son, when he was an infant to the city to a certain priest. Thus, he discovers that actually he has murdered his own father, married his own mother and bore children from her. At the moment of this realization, his communication power comes back to him. Filled with remorse, he asks his mother and her friends to kill him with a poisoned sword which they reject, he even asks the viewers to kill him but no one helps him… he is left to live with his guilt.

Setting, Location & Set Design

This musical is set in a utopian land of Else, but I still am deliberate to keep the setting as an Indian village. This implies the existence of carnival in rural spaces as opposed to the regimentalised and governed urban life. The location that I have chosen to stage this musical is the road in front of the Godavari hostel upto Godavari bus-stand. With its dynamic curve, central location and interesting spatial structure, I find it perfect for the staging of this musical. It also completely gels with the politics of the play, for eg. the issue of the subversion of the gender codes dealt with in the play gets reflected in the location of this road in the middle of a boys’ hostel (Periyar) and a girls’ hostel (Godavari) creating a kind of ambivalence in the space. For the set design, I would basically like to depend upon the location itself as it provides most of the structures that are essential for the movements of the character. However, there still will be a kind of a human framing (two people holding a kite string in the shape of a frame) which will on one hand signify the uncertainty & destiny as a basic feature of the story, and on the other, underline the marionette like condition of the characters where the strings are in someone else’s hands. This will also serve another purpose- as all the action will definitely not remain confined to the limitations set by this frame, it will also critique the proscenium in its inability to capture the dynamics of carnival.

Characters, Costumes, Props & Acting Styles

Oedilet:
A city dwelling Priest, represents religious dogmatism (as he creates chaos in the free flowing life and also obstructs the sexual behaviour which the people are accustomed to), he also in a way represents a bourgeoisie mentality with his pure concepts of society, gender etc. which are completely challenged in this new land. He is also like the Chaplin figure, but this time in an inverted paradigm where the village tramp doesn’t come to the city but instead a city-dweller comes to the village (without any predefined reason), and falls into the trap of the conditions that await him. He wears a priest-like robe, but multicoloured, to give him a clownish priestly look. His consistent mistakes regarding people’s gender can be looked at as a subversion of the social construct of gender. He rides a tricycle, too small for him to be able to ride it properly, which represents his inadequate experience and knowledge of life. He also carries multiple balloons on his tricycle as a symbol of his hollow knowledge and his fancy of flying high. The act of drags bursting the balloons can be looked at as a mockery over his under-knowledge and pre-conceived notions about everything. I would prefer him to act in a very chaplinesque manner, more in mime, giving him a feel of certain naivety

Drunken and Other Drags:
The concept of drags here, apart from again being an obvious subversion of the gender codes, is to address to a bigger issue of the impotent government that we have right now. The mystery behind the real identity of these drags is also the mystery that is present around the political figures of our countries. The concept of kings and queens being up for sale on the street actually represents the repulsive level to which Indian politics has fallen where everybody is bought and sold. The king, thus, no wonder, is also a pimp for his own queen (a job taken over by Oedilet later). The drags are dressed in large, strange gowns with a lot of laces and accessories, very loud make up and some of them are also wearing strange blonde wigs- a critique of the modernity being imposed on all the segments, leading not to development but to displacement of these tribes. Drunken is a juggler, he juggles with three balls- a half ball (underprivileged), a small ball (minorities) and a large, heavy, black ball (fundamentalists), hence representing the position of the king (government) as a juggler where he keeps on juggling with these issues and tries to tame them so as to keep his position as a king intact. I want him & other Drags to act in a very loud, almost over the top manner to break the codes of realism completely so that the rupture becomes more evident.

Gertrude/Ophelia:
The queen of Else, is a big, fat, grotesque woman who wears clownish clothes, hence mystifying her gender identity. She is a glutton, initially on seeing our colourful Oedilet she thinks he is a piece of a cake and runs to eat him. In the love making sequence, she jumps on the lap of Oedilet like a child, almost crushing him to death. She is at the same time very authoritative; she carries a leash with her which she calls the crown of Else. This is the same leash with which Oedilet is crowned after the death of Drunken. A kind of female dominance is also evident in this. Her acting style is very loud, in fact quite like what Amal uses in ‘Erendira’,

Music:

The music plays a very vital role in this production. To break from the melodic & symphonic codes imposed by the classical canon; I have deliberately chosen music from the first phase in the work of a rock band ‘Pink Floyd’. Most of this music is psychedelic in nature, experimental, even absurd at times. The little harmonious pieces (like ‘cry me a river’ by Julie London) only act as an element in the creation of a polyphonic structure that the carnival soundtrack demands. The use of contrapuntal sounds to add to this structure is another significant feature of the sound track for this performance. I have also been very deliberate to be completely unconventional in the selection of the music to firstly, set the mood of the narrative and yet, secondly, to avoid verisimilitude. The rock opera piece that comes in the end of the first scene can be looked at as an example of this where an act as bizarre as peeing into somebody’s ear is musically staged as a high point, like a war would have been staged in a classical opera. The music also provides ample space for the actors to improvise and play with their characters as opposed to the pre defined movement for every single note in a ballet. This also gives it a more carnivalesque feel and texture.