Ibsen's Masterpiece on the Gujarati Stage — 'Master Builder'

The Gujarati stage's masterpiece play Master Builder will be performed on 9 November at 7:45 pm at Bhaidas Auditorium.

Henrik Ibsen is one of the very great playwrights of the nineteenth century. Known as the father of realism, the Norwegian wrote a great many plays, and after Shakespeare his are the most widely staged in the world. Among his best-known works are A Doll's House, Hedda Gabler, Ghosts, The Wild Duck, Peer Gynt and An Enemy of the People. The Master Builder is one such creation. Ideas Unlimited has taken up the challenge of presenting this 1892 masterpiece in new dress, in a modern context, and with the flavour of the Gujarati stage.

Keeping the name of the original English work intact, Master Builder is drawn against a modern backdrop. The play covers the story of the extremely successful architect Akhil Nanavati — a man who does not consider himself the least bit lesser than God — from his dazzling success to his fall. Exceedingly accomplished in temple architecture, Akhil is proud, selfish and wrapped up in self-glorification, and where women are concerned he holds a strange attraction. Seated at the summit of success, Akhil fears the new generation, and yet he does not hold back from being unjust to the very people he learnt from. Certain events of his past still haunt his mind, but he has not the humility to accept his own fear. Suddenly a young girl enters the life of the arrogant Akhil and everything begins to change. This is the story of a man who competes with God, and of how his conceit and his pride bring unforeseen events into his life.

Manoj Shah's very deep and considered direction, and the power-packed performances on stage, give the play a freshness entirely its own.

Manoj Shah of Ideas Unlimited says, 'This play holds within it fear, power, love, passion, truth, and the signs of the tradition of temple architecture. It will prove to be a wholly entertaining and yet experimental and profound play, one that touches the intricate nature of human feeling.'

It is said that many episodes and incidents from Ibsen's own life are woven into this play. Ibsen himself once admitted that in The Master Builder he had carved, in dramatic form, his dull married life, the young girls who came to him to learn, his relationships outside the marriage, and his insecurity about the younger generation.