Review: A Walk In The Woods [Motley]

The name of Motley tagged with a play primes us to expect an experience above the ordinary. So it was with A Walk In The Woods, an adaptation of a 1988 play by Lee Blessing. The original is about two arms negotiators, one Russian and one American, who develop a friendship of sorts during a year of peace talks in Switzerland. Motley’s version makes it about two diplomats, one Pakistani and one Indian, in the same spot – both geographically and figuratively.

The personalities of the two protagonists is a study in contrast. The Pakistani diplomat Jamal (played by Naseeruddin Shah) is flippant and flamboyant. He is a glib talker, switches effortlessly between Urdu-Punjabi and English, frequently drifts into off-topic asides. The Indian counterpart Ram Chinappa (played by Rajit Kapur) is staid, guarded and would rather not waste his time and his nation’s money discussing non-essentials with the Pakistani diplomat. He speaks warily in measured monosyllables, keeps his hands and legs crossed, does not once crack a smile. "We are not friends" is his curt rejoinder to the Pakistani diplomat’s attempts at building a bond.

Jamal is the more experienced of the two, and the one to lead and steer the conversations. We learn gradually that Jamal’s surface casualness masks an inner cynicism, and that Ram Chinappa is not the hard nut he makes himself out to be. Inspite of himself, and without quite meaning to, Ram warms up to Jamal over the course of the play. He does not go so far as to invite a pet name for himself (Jamal had tentatively offered to "Ramu" him at the outset, a suggestion that Ram had promptly declined), but by the time the play closes, Ram can no longer earnestly claim an absence of friendship.

This change comes about over a series of meetings that take place between the two in the woods in Geneva. Seasons shift as time passes – we sense the rains and chill in the actors’ clothes and body language. The audience never sees the men at the negotiating table: for us they are always in the woods, away from the prying eyes of the reporters whom they keep planning to hoodwink, like schoolboys one-upping their hostel warden.  Their relationship progresses from stonewalling of overtures, to sharing gajak from Delhi and debating on the merits (or not) of the topic of brown suits, to a near-tussi na jao goodbye.

This isn’t the play for you if you are looking for a What-Happens-Next-Will-Blow-Your-Mind. A Walk In The Woods is largely undramatic and uneventful. There are big things at stake, but they remain in the shadows. There is humour, but not the laugh out loud kind. The setup can only work with actors who are masters at the game. Motley’s performance gets that pitch-perfect. Each inflection of voice, movement of limb, makes the two characters come alive and keeps us invested in the proceedings on stage.

Throughout the play, the point of contention is a proposal being negotiated between India and Pakistan. We hear impassioned avowals of clause number so-and-so in the proposal, of checks and safeguards, words being redlined or subtly tweaked – but we never learn WHAT the proposal is. This play isn’t going anywhere near fleshed-out discourse on Indo-Pak conflict: A Walk In The Woods keeps its focus on the human connection between these two men, what’s happening between their nations remains firmly fuzzy. In fact, when the characters do get into political musings, the passages come across as simplistic – it’s just as well the play did not delve deeper there.

I went back and read Lee Blessing’s original after watching the performance, and it was fun to play spot-the-difference. The Russian negotiator is the Pakistani diplomat here, and the line about "No one speaks technical Russian. It is like saying I speak Algebra" works well when the language referred to is Urdu instead. Some of the best dialogues – the delicious quotable "Formality is simply anger with its hair combed" – are straight from the source. Pop culture references like Mickey Mouse and cowboys have been swapped with Bollywood and the like. Willie Nelson becomes Hemant Kumar!

The connotation may have been unintended, but I did marvel at the choice of parting gift: a tie, which is also a no-win situation. Not just any tie, but an orange one – the color that lies between Go and Stop.

Article by Shuchi

Shuchi lives in Bangalore (mostly), when she isn't traveling out of town for work. She adores theatre and writes about plays she watches whenever she gets a chance.

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