Chitra

Chitra: ...take from my young body this primal injustice, an unattractive plainness. For a single day make me superbly beautiful, even as beautiful as was the sudden blooming of love in my heart. Give me but one brief day of perfect beauty, and I will answer for the days that follow.

Madana: Lady, I grant thy prayer.

Vasanta: Not for the short span of a day, but for one whole year the charm of spring blossoms shall nestle round thy limbs.

Chitra is basically a one-act play written by Rabindranath Tagore (who won a Nobel Prize in Literature) about a woman, Chitra, the only princess of a king who was brought up like a man because she is the heir of the throne. One day, she meets Arjuna and it was love at first sight. As seen in the excerpt above, she asks the gods to give her a woman's gentle beauty to capture Arjuna's heart. But will their love last if Chitra is hiding her true self behind a shield of a woman's body?


This play is very minimalistic in nature-no elaborate props needed, just nine oil lamps in a crescent shape (one snuffed out after each scene) on the stage and the actors and voiceovers.

On a whole, the play highlights the poetic aspects of literature and uses a wide range of elaborative vocabulary to translate its central theme (love) to the audience. Body movements and cultural Indian dance moves by the two actors were panned out rhythmically, symbolising the union of two people in love with one another-and also, the process of courting and falling in love.


As expected and said earlier, the dialogue is heavily embroidered-something a literature enthusiast would appreciate. However, it is not easy to grasp the meanings 100% as the words tend to fly out like firecrackers. Undoubtedly, the whole flurry of words about love and discovery paints out the act rather romantically.

Scene 6 is my favourite scene-the one where the restless Arjuna narrates his childhood adventures to Chitra, and this conversation then leads to their relationship. Chitra asks him why does he make so much effort in catching something that is not going to last-like the "tints of the clouds, the dance of the waves, the smell of the flowers" which basically meant their relationship.


Somehow, she knew that the romance that they had was not true love that could last forever-she knew that because she was hiding a part of who she is, it will not work out. But of course Arjuna doesn't know about her tomboyish side/past, and replies that Chitra should not dilute their love with the line mentioned in the previous paragraph.

In the end, somehow, even Arjuna realises that Chitra was approaching their love with a disguise-and thus, his love for her is not as complete as he thinks it is. The following line breaks my heart:

Arjuna: I never seem to know you aright. You seem to me like a goddess hidden within a golden image. I cannot touch you, I cannot pay you my dues in return for your priceless gifts. Thus my love is incomplete. Sometimes in the enigmatic depth of your sad look, in your playful words mocking at their own meaning, I gain glimpses of a being trying to rend asunder the languorous grace of her body, to emerge in a chaste fire of pain through a vaporous veil of smiles. Illusion is the first appearance of Truth. She advances toward her lover in disguise.

The ending? I can't spoil it here.

Dates: 19 - 23 November (Wed - Sat at 8.30pm & Sun at 3pm)
Prices: RM25 (adults) or RM10 (students)
Venue: Pentas 2, KLPac
Tickets: 03 4047 9000 (KLPac) or 03 2094 9400 (The Actors Studio @ BSC)
Website: www.klpac.com

directed by Helena Foo
featuring Lakshman Balakrishnan & Joylynn Teh
executive producer Dato' Faridah Merican
artistic director Joe Hasham


Lines from Chitra taken from: theatrehistory.com