Talilula What does it take to elevate a love story from pedestrian to iconic? There is no singular cut-and-dried formula but it helps if said romance is thwarted by numerous obstacles; feuding families, a third interested party and tragic death of either one or both lovers. All these elements are present in Jina and Etiben, an Ao folktale that narrates the doomed romance between the eponymous protagonists. The mis/adventures of Jina and Etiben is possibly one of the most popular oral narratives to come out from the huge corpus of folklore among the Aos; recounted thousands of times across generations, transcribed/translated in different print mediums, and memorialized through heritage sites in Mopungchuket and Longkhum; locations central to Jina and Etiben’s story, and consequently tourist hotspots. This is also the folktale that Bendang Walling and his performing troupe Hill Theatre chose to adapt for the Rashtriya Poorvottar Natya Samaroh, a festival organized by National School of Drama from 26-30 of May 2018 across Ranchi, Rourkela and Durgapur, to showcase theatre from India’s Northeast. Originally produced in 2016 after a 30-day theatre workshop in Mangkolemba, Hill Theatre expands Jina and Etiben’s narrative beyond the simplistic manner in which folktales have been traditionally recounted and perceived. Yes, it is undeniably a love story, one that has spawned comparisons with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and other literary/historical love sagas with tragic plotlines. However, Hill Theatre’s Jina and Etiben is a departure from the highly romanticized perpetuation of the couple in popular imagination. They are both flawed and relatable; Etiben is justifiably conceited, Jina despite claiming undying devotion, engages in flirtations with other women. Ultimately, its not tiya(destiny) or an evil cosmic plan but dictatorial social mechanisms that tears them apart, and theseundercurrents of social and gender hierarchies comes through unambiguously as the play unfolds. Etiben’s father is portrayed as the representative patriarchal despot who can’t deal with the fact that his daughter has a mind of her own while the mother embodies how women over time internalize patriarchy and help reinforce the institution. The play is not all intense though, interspersed with comic moments to undercut the moody tension. There are also memorable sequences of folk singing and dancing, accentuated by the stylized stage and costumes which propels the play forward while also showcasing the indigenous culture of the Ao community. Walling’s theatrical engagement with folklore is not new, having previously adapted Morusa from an Angami folktale in 2014. Keenly interested in indigenous performance traditions, Walling has incorporated folk singing traditions of the Ao community in his productions, alternating between both Chungli and Mongsen variants of Ao. Eschewing the more mainstream English or Nagamese in favor of vernacular Ao is in fact a conscious move on his part, a decision that may prove challenging especially when the audience comprises primarily of non native speakers. But Walling is aware of this, and he says that strong visuals, subtitles, and plenty of corporeal movements help buttress possible linguistic and cultural gaps. And it seems to have worked. Hill Theatre’s Jina and Etiben received great reviews at the recently concluded Northeast Theatre Festival. Despite the lack of familiarity with the language or the cultural nuances, audiences across Ranchi, Rourkela and Durgapur claimed to have connected with the dramatic rendering of Ao folklore’s most legendary pair. Love is after all universal, transcending barriers and borders, even more so when it is unrequited. Theatre can do that too.
