Nyayepremi (Admirer of Justice) is a five-act play originally written by Albert Camus under the name Les Justes. It follows the incredible story of a group of socialist revolutionaries fighting to liberate the people of Russia from the burden and suppression of autocracy, aristocracy, and much more.
THE PLAY
The five friends have different priorities, ideas and beliefs. Some believe in God, while some are loyal atheists. Some are poets, while some hate poetry; for they believe “it means weak heart”. Some are cowards, but don’t know it yet, until they face the front line. Some think they are cowards, but die “martyrs” on the front.
Kaliayev, played by Sanjeev Uprety, is a revolutionary who finds poetry in revolution and believes that love is “giving everything, sacrificing everything, without any hope of it being returned.” He prefers ´´to die for one´s contradictions, than to live with them.´´Damsel in distress Dora is torn by her hunger for love, to love, and moreover, to be loved, despite all the discrimination and injustice, starving children and greater missions set by the party. She is played by truly amazing Nisha Pokharel.
Stefan is Stalinist-in-the-making; who believes ´´anything is permissible in the name of the revolution´´. So much so, he even considers whipping the people “if they do NOT understand”. His arguments seem a version of prototype Maoist apparatchik. Played by Sunil Pokharel, the character also has some feelings for Dora, hence a sudden distaste for her love interest Kaliayev, when they first meet.
Annenkov, a compassionate terrorist leader is caught in between his duty priorities, love for his comrades, and revolution. The great Dil Bhushan Pathak plays him with astounding vigor. Voinov, played by Karma of the Sano Sansar fame, is a weak revolutionary character who is afraid of the frontiers.
The first attempt to assassinate the prince (Russia’s Tsar’s uncle) in 1905 goes wrong when poet revolutionary Kaliayev fails to hurl a bomb at the coach the prince is travelling in, as there are children also in the carriage. This failure prompts fierce debate among the conspirators. Hard-liner Stefan argues that the party’s command holds the highest place, and okays any kind of violence for the greater good. The second attempt succeeds which follows the arrest of the schmaltzy Kaliayev.
The widow princess visits him in jail and tries to convert him, showing him the human side of his crime through the death of an individual and not of a prince. Murderer or a revolutionary, the story of Kaliayev ends in jail.
NYAYEPREMI AND CURRENT NEPAL
The drama has an advantage of having historical truth behind its content. The characters existed and behaved the way they are described in the story. The events did take place. Another advantage is that it´s localized, and the content also favors the environment of the current Nepali political sphere. Many scenes depict war-time Nepal. The dialogues are relative to Nepal’s rise of the Maoist movement, and the end of the detested monarchy. It looks like a revisit to the “People’s War” and the aftermath, especially when it tries to draw the line between right and wrong during a revolution.
Nyayepremi is a play of ideas, ideology and true display of words. The debate over the meaning of justice and the perimeter for the rebellion to achieve fair justice reaches its epitome in this drama. The original playwright, Albert Camus, was a Nobel Prize-winning French writer. A well-known left-wing journalist and an activist, he penned many novels and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957. The first premiere of his Les Justes (The Just) saw drawn-curtains on December 15, 1949 in Paris.
The Nepali version was translated by Kalpana Ghimire some 10 years ago. This is the second rendition of the drama, the first showcase taking place last year. But what can the audience find new this time? One of the lead characters, Dil Bhushan Pathak, says it is much more compact and cleaned up.
The story may not be very popular among a certain crowd, for it attempts to explain, and even try to garner sympathy, for the actions of a group of socialist terrorists in Tsarist Russia. However, as one political leader once said, most Nepalis are leftist due to societal structure and disparity, so the play will, and has, been getting the thumbs-up so far.
In the play, Camus warns against the sacrifice of moral principles in the attack on tyranny, while still giving space to those who believe the greater cause of revolution sees hands get dirty. It is a classic revolutionary antithesis that explores human emotion with genuine dialectical urgency.
The play definitely does not suggest it is okay to take refuge in violence. What it does is go deeper inside and try to explain that life is not as simple as it may look when it comes to revolution, violence and values. Can the enthusiasm for justice subjugate love? Is it okay to vanquish personal happiness for the common good of the cause?
The desire for change, the fight for injustice, the loss of loved ones, brotherhood during the revolution, acts of defiance, love for frontiers and glorification of execution martyrdom is appropriate in today’s world of politics to explain how people perceive their idea of love, revolution, freedom, moral values, emotions and human priorities.This drama will definitely make you think about the current accession of Maoists and their decade-long uprising that killed more than 13,000 people. And whether, in what they are trying to achieve, the ends justify the means. This is a long argument that will probably go on for the next few generations.
Today´s terrorist activities do not hold the same argument as the play does today. Violence with a human face was an oxymoron before the world went a little awry, with planes being hijacked and flying into towers, cars turning into bombs, schools a human minefield of spray guns, and fights in the name of religion. It was okay in many instances and regarded to be a legitimate weapon in the struggle for justice, and protectors argued only over the morality of spilling innocent blood. Now it´s not quite okay. Even though, I think we just okayed that last April in Nepal.
DIRECTION AND CASTING
The direction is carried out fabulously, giving a Russian tint to the whole play, yet making it as local as possible. Russian background music takes the audience on a Kremlin ride. However, the anecdotes and funny comments (especially by Foka, a convict with the protagonist in a Russian jail) can be no more Nepali than it is.
Director Sunil Pokharel can be accredited for Nepal’s newfound love for theater, having died by the end of 20th century. This play is given solidly respectable production by the director, a true avant-garde of Nepali new theater practice. A gold-medalist at India’s famous National School of Drama, he has lived and worked in Nepal and India, and has directed, showcased and acted in several critically-acclaimed plays in the region.
The play features the works of the kind of high-caliber artists Gurukul audiences have come to expect. The emotions of the characters are incredibly moving, especially those enacted by Sanjeev Upreti and Nisha Pokharel. Lead character Sanjeev Upreti, a prolific writer and novelist, looks a little awkward at place, but his conscience-stricken character Kaliayev is well-portrayed in that awkwardness. Someone suggested he should just concentrate on writing books and not acting. I beg to differ. He is good as an actor, at least in this play for the role of Kaliayev.
Nishal Pokharel could not be better. And she cries in the play, for real. Her husband (also director of the play) Sunil Pokharel is amazing as a stickler revolutionary. With this play, Dil Bhushan has added another fine performance to his list of do-everything-possible-in-this-world. He is as good as he was in his newsroom.Bishnu Bhakta Phuyal plays Foka, a short, but god-sweet role. The silver screen actor is at his best in theater. As a medium, television is not on par to fully portray his genius. Basanta Bhatta is witty as police chief Skouratov, who visits Kaliaev in jail and tries to woo him to turn his friends up. His best line has to be, cautioning Kaliaev, “You begin by seeking justice and end up forming a police department´´.
END NOTE
The adrenaline rush and mixed emotions characters go through during the planning of the murder and the actual “operation” keeps the audience on the edge of their seat. The distrust, ego, jealousy, love and emotion, all intertwined with revolution, can’t get any better, especially for present day Nepal. The best part about this play is the end and how most socialists are true last believers, completely lost and exploited. Do not miss the concluding narration.
In Nepal, “revolutionary politics”, as we live in one, has started making good theater. So why can’t good theater make good revolutionary politics? The play is running at the Gurukul Theater (Purano Baneshwor) from the 31st January to 14th February (excluding Mondays). Tickets are priced at Rs 200, 100 and 40 (for students), and include an unofficial post-show chat with the cast and production team.
(All Photos: Subel Bhandari)
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