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Full Circle
By Kamal
Sunavala
Thursday night I went to Švandovo divadlo to see Škola pro ženy which is Moliere's
original play L'Ecole des Femmes (School for Wives). This,
of course, was his accolade winning play which put him
firmly in the Theatre du Palais Royal in 1662.
I watched it being performed by a Czech troupe in Czech with English subtitles
at the theatre. God bless Daniel Hrbek, the director of
the theatre, his lovely woman Friday Lucie Kolouchová and
the good people at the theatre who now organise a lot of
popular plays at Švandovo divadlo with English subtitles
for people like me who adore theatre but can't possibly
understand that kind of Czech.
The audience was mainly Czech
with a few of us expats thrown in, who braved a seven degree
wind to come out for Moliere. I have to happily say that
the translation was almost perfect. With a few minor errors,
none of which altered the quality of the translation, the
play's full satirical bloom was presented in a thoroughly
enjoyable manner. The lead man who played Arnolphe was
brilliant. The body language spoke volumes and at times
it wasn't necessary to read the English subtitles. The
girl who played Agnes was cute enough but her sweetness
which forms the very basis of two men falling in love with
her was erratic at best. Also, her expressions were older
and that sometimes made her a slightly incredible character.
The physical comedy which characterises this satire was
ever present between all the performers and a delight to
watch. It reminded me of the good old days when it was
simply sufficient to make an audience laugh without having
to give them an intellectual reason for the laughter. Good
old fashioned comedy in small doses to keep an audience enthralled is a very difficult art.
From experience - and any professional actor will corroborate
this - I can tell you that the single most difficult thing
for an actor to do is to make an audience burst into genuine
laughter. Not only did these Czech actors do that but with
supreme confidence and finesse, an art, I have to say I
have not often seen in Czech stage artists in the three
years that I have watched productions here.
Those who know the play know that
it is a satire about the ideal wife that men want. One
who sews, knits, cooks, cleans, serves, obeys, respects
and does not think or speak unless her husband wants her
to. Of course he wrote it as an intentional satire, a laughable
essay on how tiring intelligent women can get for their
husbands and wouldn't it be funny to have a simple mechanical
yet loving doll for a wife. It met with applause in France
in 1662 by an enchanted king and his subjects. It met with
great applause in Prague in 2005 by a greatly amused audience,
both Czech and foreign who appreciated the intricacies
of satirical dialogue.
What greatly struck me as I rode
home was a singular thought. A sobering one. One that wasn't
welcome after a wonderful night of theatre. This play with
its mock-demeaning place for women would be true in some
countries today. In 2005, there would be a majority group
of men in Saudi Arabia or Pakistan or China who wouldn't
get that it was a satire. After nearly four hundred years,
Moliere's attempt at satire has come full circle. It is
a sad truth that still prevails in some cultures. Where
women are treated like chattel. Where all men are Arnolphe.
I am delighted that finally there
is a theatre like Švandovo divadlo which is giving the
National Theatre a run for its money by giving us good
theatre. In the end, when the curtain falls, there is nothing
better than a full house that leaves, knowing it will return.
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