 This lecture is titled, Performative Reading of Cherry Orchard. It is with great pleasure that I share this lecture with you, because much of it is by way of reportage of the students work. The lecture for the purpose of clarity is divided into two parts. The first part deals with performance processes and the second part deals with this notion of scene description, so it is titled, Significance of Scene Descriptions and Landscapes in Naturalistic Classics. This is an important part of our understanding of drama, because often people or new students who are not used to reading plays ignore the scene descriptions. So we want you to understand that it is a very vital part of the artistic vision of an artist. The performance processes will unfold gradually and in some ways they are way close to the way this activity unfolded in the actual classroom. We indeed would have taken you to our actual classroom, but acoustically the recordings really do not work out very well. So the best methodology we thought was to bring some of the activities on board here for your own enjoyment and assessment. So now this particular part emphasizes the experience of the play. That is in addition to reading of a particular play, I feel that it is important to experience the doing of the play. In order to write plays and to become a playwright, this is again an important part of your understanding. It does wonderful things, it loosens you up, it helps you participate in number of activities with other people and so what I have done here is to show the gradual unfolding of the process and this will culminate in the end semester question paper which was given to the students taking care of all these facets that we had discussed earlier in the classroom. So this will give you also a sense of how none of these activities are considered valueless. They are all assigned a value in a literal sense also within the academic framework. So the academic framework need not be just a totally verbal framework, but it can also incorporate performative activities. It is a kind of via media between these two that we have tried to work out mainly because our purpose is to help you write better. So then experiencing the play, it started with close reading of the selected play and extensive classroom discussion of the content and form. Lots of you know puzzle responses came. Even the students did not have background in reading plays and even those who had background in reading plays really quite genuinely found Chekhov quite mystifying and those were very very interesting discussions. Then what we decided is to read the play within the writer's historical context. I know that academically this is sometimes challenged, this historical contextualization is challenged. But personally I value that greatly because it also helps you extend yourself not only in terms of the otherness of the characters, but otherness of other cultures, historical periods and so on. We also tried to check out as to the sort of performative readings of the play in India whatever information we had we shared it with each other. Then finally it led to a performance by the elective students after another round of discussions about how to flesh out the performative aspect, how to flesh out the content in terms of performative details and they had lots of rehearsals and I judiciously kept out of it so that they could have lot more fun rehearsing. And from time to time I also was there to ensure that we were on the same page. Finally, this activity led to creative reinterpretations and again we will give you a sample because often it is really not an imitative mode that we want to you know highlight or emphasize. In fact we never want that to happen in creative writing. We are sharply aware of the fact that each writer has to find his or her creative direction. So from that point of view some activities were generated which was spurred by the reading of Cherry Orchard. So as I said there were lots of these conversations amongst us in class and online through the IIT system of Moodle that is made available to us. And then the students decided voluntarily on the different characters they wanted to read and perform and after that I realized there were still students who had not really taken any role because they were already exhausted and so the best thing was to actually choose their role as an audience and imagined audience in Chekhov's Russia. And so then I conjured up these ideas here and I thought that you know they could add their own interpretations. So one of them could be the Indian freedom fighter visiting Russia of Chekhov's time or a person of Anya's age that is very young person or Chekhov himself watching the performance or a Marxist thinker again watching this play and analyzing it or Anya the possibility that they wish to explore within the historical framework of Chekhov. So that was the key guiding principle the historical framework. So you could speculate and you could play around with that historical framework. The performance was coordinated very ably by Rinal Shedda. The students went around searching for locations for performance and then we realized that if we do that the quality of the recording may not be up to the mark and so we decided to settle on the studio space. But at the same time there was a sense of design space place and whatever relevant details that they could work out music, rehearsals all of these were coordinated by Rinal. But everybody participated very actively. What it did was to break their isolation because I found many of them were very quiet and it happens many times that some of the more articulate or some of the more enthusiastic students they speak a great deal and the others become really very silent spectators. So I think with this kind of activity we were able to break that isolation and there was a lot of wonderful new kind of energy that developed and also I think they realized that there is a lot of art and craft involved in interpreting a character for performance and therefore all these specific aspects of interpretation they try to work out. But what they have done finally is to read and perform simultaneously. So this is really not like a professional performance. It is still performance which does take care of the transformation that occurs when a person or an actor plays a character. But at the same time this is not a complete performance, it is a reading come performance which was useful for the classroom purpose and also they did not really have the kind of time which requires a fully fleshed out performance. They are perfectly capable of it but we did not have that kind of time during the pace of the semester. Now very quickly I would just point out that the cherry orchard as we have already noted. I think the question of plot is very important. We do realize that in terms of the cherry orchard the plot structure does partially reveal the economic and psychological dimensions of each character. One can say that it is almost in some ways deterministic but not fully really and that is where the Chacovian world view comes in. So partly like other realistic and naturalistic plays there are causal elements in the play which also are very important. At the same time what stands out is this comic come tragic aspects of each character's lack of fulfilled dialogue and this is something that cannot be explained fully only through the causality of the plot structure. So due to various varying economic situations but at the same time the pervasiveness of this deep sense of loneliness that you experience through this play and through the characters in this play there is a kind of choral quality in Chacovian drama leading to this feeling that there is a world view or defined world view that one can assess but I would not go into that right now because I think basically multiple interpretations are possible and indeed that is what the students have done in all their work. I thought that at this point in time because we are talking about performing the play it is important to bring in Stanislawiski who actually worked very closely with Anthony Chacov and developed the method acting ideas but mainly I have relied on Stanislawiski's own writing on Chacov in general. His notion of the subtext of course Stanislawiski's notion of the subtext points out that if the text is created by the playwright then the subtext that is the implied meaning of every action the implied internal meaning of the action of the characters or actors is supplied by the actors. So there is this whole world of interpretation that they bring in they animate this in a world. So I think what you can perhaps do is to think of the subtext in terms of also the fact that the reason it needs this kind of interpretation very careful deep interpretation is because very often you find in Chacov that the external view of the character does not match up with the internal self-view of the character. Sometimes they are not even in touch with that internal self-view they are vaguely aware of it. So it is this trajectory that is brought out through the notion of the subtext. And then I thought you know it would be really wonderful to remember that Stanislawiski directed the first production of Cherry Orchard and Chacov and Stanislawiski had great deal of disagreement on the interpretation. However there are these eloquent statements that Stanislawiski has made about the Cherry Orchard where he said that well it is almost like a bud. I am not reading the full quotation but he says that you know it was difficult getting everything right in the production because it is a very difficult play. This attraction lies in its elusive deeply barred fragrance to smell it. You have to open the bud as it were and make it flower. But this must happen of its own accord. Without force otherwise you will crush the fragile bloom and it will die. He is aware of the complexity demands and he loved Chacov in writing and the provocations that it provided at that point in time. The disagreement between Stanislawiski and Chacov as I have listed here that actually revolved around the notion of the comic and the tragic. Chacov felt and he clearly stated this in the title, subtitle of the play he called Cherry Orchard a comedy whereas Stanislawiski in his interpretation emphasized the tragic. So I have just posed a few questions for you to think about. As I said multiple interpretations are possible so you know you can have your own take because I think it is important for you to have your own position on this. So some of the queries are placed before you. How does Chacov hint among all the different views of life expressed in the play what his own viewpoint might be? How does Chacov create irony? So the surface shows something else and the implied meaning is entirely different. That is what irony is all about. So how does Chacov create irony? So you can have a look at the manner in which Chacov uses juxtaposition and contrast, you know contrasting elements, characters. The other question relates to Chacov's comedy being tinged with a sense of absurdity and spiritual vacuum. The term absurdity as you remember we had discussed it with reference to Albert Camus and his philosophy of the absurd. The term has philosophical bearing and therefore it does reflect a state of being which has great deal of value in terms of its continuity and its content. So have a look at the term absurdity even in Chacov a bit carefully because Chacov in some ways allows you to discuss realism, naturalism and at the same time it almost brings the possibilities of this form to its extreme almost leading on to the non realistic representational modes. So have a careful look it will allow you to understand many other movements and canonize texts much much better. There is a lot of discussion about why Chacov was not really very very political in his outlook although he actually wrote amidst revolutionary ferment. There was such a lot of talk about change and fundamental change in Russian society at that time. He himself came from very very deprived background. So there is always been this question about the revolutionary period and Chacov and I just will place Stanislavisky's point of view here which I think I do relate to. He says that in his appeals to build a new life Chacov often uses the rule of contraries. He says that here is a fine chap and there is another one and a third all nice people leading a good life and their shortcomings are charming and amusing but taken all in all everything is serious useless irritating and more rebund. What is to be done if you must join forces and change everything strive for a different and better life. That is what Stanislavisky felt and if you look at Trofimov in some ways this is the voice that you hear. So then what we will do here at this point is to place not Trofimov because we have already shared various interpretations of Trofimov very very interesting interpretations of Trofimov. But now we would place a reading of Epichodov undertaken by the students. So in terms of the contrasting characters is Trofimov and Epichodov who is comic through and through and therefore the tragic element surfaces from time to time in a very different combination. Whereas Trofimov seems like a tragic figure fighting against various odds and actually turns out to be somewhat comic also. So now let us have this presentation of Epichodov and also the translation of Epichodov in the students mother tongue. Hi, I am Venkatesh D. I played the character of Epichodov in the play Cherry Orchard. I found the play funny and amazing. I would like to take the pleasure of extending this joy through the translation of some of Epichodov's dialogues into my mother tongue Telugu. Epichodov is a very interesting character and I would like to take the pleasure of extending this joy through the translation of some of Epichodov's dialogues into my mother tongue Telugu. I would like to extend this joy through the translation of Epichodov in the students mother tongue Telugu. I would like to extend this joy through the translation of Epichodov in the students mother tongue Telugu. I would like to extend this joy through the translation of Epichodov in the students mother tongue Telugu. The next contrasting character that I want to place before you is Yasha and Fears. Yasha, if you remember, is a new age helper, is shown to be cunning and dehumanized. Fears on the other hand is an old world helper and I use the word helper because I really do not like the word servant at all and again he is dedicated and still dehumanized. So, both are dehumanized characters. One of the students decided to be an audience member of Fears' Vintage and this is the write up he wrote as an audience member after looking at the performance of selected parts of Cherry Orchard by his fellow students and I am reading his response. The students name is Aditya Dachalwal and he was an audience member of Fears' Vintage. Being an old person, I have seen a lot in my life and now have reached a stage where I do not want any more changes or surprises. I just want a stagnant life which I know, which I understand. In short, I resist any form of movement and lead a completely sedentary lifestyle. Fears is perfect example for my case even though he has been a slave for his entire life yet he does not regret it at all nor does he want to be free. He is okay with foregoing the freedom that he rightly deserves. In this way, he is completely opposite to Trofimov who always talks about liberation. Fears represents the mentality of an ancient serf who has known this life and this life only and is a verse to change. It could even be said that he is institutionalized, unable to adapt with rapidly changing social system around him. But near the end of the play when Fears says that his life went on as if he had never lived at all, this touched my heart and aroused in me the need to do something in my old age. I am also a verse to change since familiarity however distressing is always preferable over an uncertain future especially for an old man like me, steeped in custom and habits. But Fears makes me realize if you get stubborn and don't change with the times the present will forget you and leave you behind you will end up just a relic of the past gone by. It's never too late for a change and I don't want my life to end up like Fears. So as I pointed out to you, all these intricate activities which unfolded over a semester's time frame they led to the end semester examination. So I am not giving you the full question paper although when I look at the answer books some of them really prompt me to place the full examination question paper and all the answers before you because they are really very interesting, fascinating and creative but I will resist that temptation. Part of this exam paper is placed before you so let's have a look at it. It's titled Doing Being Writing and the question revolves round Chekhov's Cherry Orchard and I am reading directly from that question paper as it was verbatim. Chekhov's Cherry Orchard is often used as a text in creative writing courses respond to the given ideas perspectives that the text generates. It gives a detailed sense of the struggles of the characters within a historical period. To respond to this standpoint identify the historical period of the play, name all the characters and the nature of each characters struggle. The state of mind of the characters is conveyed by a combination of action that is physical activity, conversation and subtext. Flesh out these aspects through any situation or character of your choice to substantiate this standpoint. In reading this modern classic the scene descriptions add to the reader's understanding of how nature or landscape forms an integral yet separate part of the play. Taking cues from realism, naturalism of Chekhov write a short evocative literary piece with the following considerations in mind and this is the part that right now I would like you to focus on because all of our activities finally lead to independent creative writing that is their aim and on the other hand we do want our students to become very good readers because that is also very important for becoming good writers to understand the craft, the milestones, the possibilities but at the same time eventually it is their own creative work which we value the most. So do pay attention to this question from that point of view because within this I have given couple of guidelines so what are these guidelines let us have a look at them. Decide the genre, state of mind of the character or characters, locale, plot, point of view. Maintain the complexity of the human nature interface. Keep the creative attempt brief one or two pages only. Follow the oft-repeated guideline of creative writing courses show, don't tell. Doing or performing the play draws out the students, this is again it goes on in another direction but just keep that particular point in mind I will read the rest of it also. Doing or performing the play draws out the students through physical as well as imaginative action. Down to the given outcomes by spelling out your own opinions as lucidly as possible. And again this is kind of interesting and important from my perspective because I do feel that drama is not taught in the way it should be taught in our classrooms. It does many, many interesting things apart from of course exposing students to a great art form and so I have taken into consideration the fact that many of the students were doing these activities for the first time. So then doing or performing of the play is the focus of this part of the question and again their opinions on the following ideas were sought. Physical action, so out of this there were three ideas that were placed for their own choice and further elaboration. It energizes the performer, breaks his or her passivity, turns creativity discussion from purely self-directed concerns to cooperative creative activity. Be imaginative action, one learns to imagine what it means to be the other. Selection of symbolic gestures, words, backdrop enhance the understanding of creative representation of reality through writing, performing. And so now I would place before you two examples or two samples of the end semester question paper where the students responded to the human relationship with nature or landscape. You have already actually been introduced to these students. Arvin Singh wrote a piece called Six Feet Under and that's the piece I'm reading first and then I'll read Reenal's write up. So without any comment this is the creative piece he wrote. I'm Rizwan or rather it would be more appropriate for me to say I was Rizwan. You see I'm dead. How did I die you ask? Well I died by the most depraved, indecent way known to humanity. Gastric juices ate away my stomach, my organs one by one shut down. I died a slow, painful death. Yes, I died of hunger. It was the third year of the drought. The sun beat upon the ugly cracked up earth and roasted its soul. The seeds we had planted had long since withered, burnt for the want of water. The food supply we had long since exhausted. Now I fed my kids boil grass and roots. They threw up violently at night thrashing with stomach cramps and I washed them each night helpless until one day they stopped moving. They lay on their stomachs, the lights in their eyes exhausted. Nights were intolerable, out of every house came the sound of waiting and death. The village was a graveyard and we were all walking dead. They came again yesterday, guards of the money lender asking me for my pound of flesh. What's left for you to take every piece of clothing and even the last vessel you took months ago? What do you want now? You still have your land. Sell it to us and be free. My land? No. It's been there for generations of my family. I'm nothing if not a farmer. I won't sell my land, I would rather die. Then so be it. You might wonder why is this man willing to die rather than let go of his land? Why doesn't he move away? He lets his wife and children die. What sort of a monster is this man? You wouldn't understand. Only a man who has loved his land like a wife cared for it like a child would. My land is my identity, the only thing left to me by my forefathers. I am my land and I won't let go. This shall be my last victory over the world. I didn't bend, I rather broke apart. The burning in my stomach is a dull ache now, familiar, almost pleasing. I have nary a strength left in me, I just watch myself wither away, I just hope they let me have my six feet of my own land to rest in peace, I hope. The second piece is by Renal and it's very different in feel. Interestingly, both the students spoke from the position of the underdog. It was nearing sunset. The sky seemed painted with a shade of colors, red, peach, pink and purple, all melting into one another. She bid him farewell as he boarded a ship. He would come back soon, he had said. She stood there till the ship seemed like a tiny speck on the horizon. The light was fading and it was dark by the time she returned home. He had promised to get her back just like Rani their neighbour had and in return she had promised to go to school daily. She lived in a small chawl in a shabby room that served as a bedroom, a living room and a kitchen all in one. She would cook twice a day, trying to save as much money as he had her. As he had left her. She would sneak into the local school some day and sit unnoticed in a corner. She could not afford the fees. She would sit by the window sometimes hoping that he would return soon. Sometimes she would go to the sea. At night she would lie awake staring at the black wall and at the impressions of the suit on it. Days turned into weeks until she finally decided to go in search of her father. She went to the sea and asked everyone if they knew anything about him. Her search was fruitless and she had lost all hope. She then met a group of men who told her she must cross the sea and she would find a purpose to live. Her father had warned her of the sea and its treacherous waves. She did not know what to do but I have to find a reason to live. She thought to herself, I need money to go on. The sun was shining bright above casting its shadow ahead of her. The sun was shining bright above casting her shadow ahead of her. She decided to take a boat across. She thought she had no other way out. She took a last look at the town she had spent her childhood in. The boat had reached the middle of the sea. She could hear a distant bell. She was far away and there was no coming back.