Question

Comments on Ambai's retailing sita's story crossing the river

Answer 1

Answer:

In the first section of the play itself the river has begun to acquire a metaphorical meaning. In the traditional sense, it is a metaphor for life. In life too some things are clear while other are hidden. The woman’s speech and the river’s flow are going at the same slow pace. Just as the slow flowing river hides within it the fury that wreaks havoc when it breaches its banks, so also the play will build up to unleash the fury that lies buried and hidden inside any being who may appear to be calm on the outside but may have buried within her/him the pain which comes from years of injustice and oppression.

Movement and action on stage is important for any performance. A stage cannot be static. It is a combination of action and dialogue that from the basis for sustaining the interest of the audience in a performance. One has to read meaning into every action that happens on stage. If the woman has shown one side of her face to the audience it may signify that she is about to reveal who she is.

The identity or the name of the river does not matter according to the woman who speaks. All rivers are the same. The actor’s movement on stage adds force to her speech. When she faces the audience and asks ‘Does it matter which river is it’ she is addressing them directly getting them involved in the performance and forcing them to think. One the metaphorical level the identity of the woman also should not matter because she speaks for all women down the ages till present times. The movement of an actor is an important aspect of his/her performance.

Answer 2

Crossing the River is a play written by Ambai, and in its own words or view it essentially rewrites Sita's story. Since she's a woman, Sita and her characteristics are more important than Ramayana. Ambai gave Sita a powerful position, literally raising the role of women in Indian cultural society

Explanation:

• The river started to acquire a metaphorical meaning in 1st section of the play itself. It is a "metaphor for life" in the "traditional sense". Some aspects are obvious in life too, while others are concealed. The voice of the woman and the flow of the river moves steadily at the same time.
• Much like the slow flowing river masks the fury that unleashes devastation when it rushes against the banks of its river, so also the play builds to unleash the rage which lies in every being that is buried & hidden which may seem calm outside and buried within it however, within him/her the "pain" that comes from "years" of  oppression & injustice
• For any performance, movement & action on the stage is essential, and the stage must not be static. This is a synthesis of movement & dialogue reflects the audience's interest in the performance. Every action that occurs on stage must interpret meaning. If one side of her face has been shown to the audience, it can indicate that she will reveal who she is.
• The river's identity or name doesn't actually matter in accordance to the woman who speaking. All rivers are the same.. The movement of the actor on the stage bolsters her speech. When you face the audience, she says 'It is not important which river it is,' she addresses them and forces them to think directly. On metaphorical levels must also not matter the identity of the woman, since she talks about all women throughout the ages. An actor's movement is an essential facet  of his/her performance
• A character is built with movement & speech together.  There was a moment when she joke, as dreams, but she then takes us unexpectedly to the new movement by saying "destroyed I came". It gives us interest in the eyes of writers and the audience. What transformed her from a happy, carefree person to this pained person? What was the happiness that was destroyed or liberty that was taken away? Also remember that it is in the first person she starts to speak.
• The white screen is now used to create an impression of the woman on stage. It is suggested by the darkness and the voices.The whistling wind sounds create a weird environment. The voices asked the woman countless questions.
• Ambai, however, quite expertly had used movement to convey the deep chaos in the heart of women. The image that she's moving across the stage also reveals her incarceration. She is unable  to find a way to break her "shackles" & "soar to freedom". She reveals her identity at last. We 're in the dream world here. When women reveals that her name is Sita, the Ramayana Sita, we know immediately that we have here two worlds – a world of truth and a world of fantasy; both the past and the present. In Ambai's Sita, Ramayana's Sita here has reaches the contemporary world.
• The image of the ever silent Sita, the docile, uncomplaining, obedient Sita, the Sita, which was only Rama's shadow, was profoundly rooted in Indian ethos. It is clear that Ambai questions this ethic and reinvent and tell Sita 's story from her viewpoint. We see the story of Sita from a different perspective when crossing the river.
• In this re-telling of the story of the century, we have a women's core understanding of history. The striking difference is that Ambai gives Sita a voice in her retelling of the myth. Her century  silence is broken! She speaks out in a strident way about her victimization and reveals the incidents that hurt and embarrassed her painfully and adversely . Does it mean that Sita never knew the anguish and the pain inflicted on her because she never spoke any word?
• Would her silence imply she thought the treatment she had received was deserved? Ambai play takes a glimpse inside her mind and her heart. She's hurt emotionally and she's still furious. She knows she was a victim of lust, love, & politics, as she puts it quite briefly. When she says these terms, she is like any woman who has always struggled because of men's lust, love, and politics.
• But in the context of Ramayana we can clearly make the connection by trying to explain these lines. Next, because of Ravana 's desire, she was trapped in the forest. Hence, in Ambai's Sita, here Sita is used as a "metaphor" in this play, She is depicted as an empowered and play has revealed several incidents which question patriarchy in our society

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