The play ‘Raman – Light, Thunder, Sound’ on the life of Sir C.V. Raman, written by Shashidhara Dongre, was directed by H.S. Umesh and premiered at Kiru Rangamandira in Mysuru recently.

The script skillfully wove together his professional and personal life. The play begins in the living room of the retired  Raman and his wife Lokam.

They reminisce about the bygone years, bringing out the lesser known side of Raman — the fact that he spent very little time with his wife, her loneliness, his ego, their children, his love for music and their time in Calcutta.

This is when the play goes into flashback mode on the other half of the stage, detailing his life in Calcutta. While he worked as an officer of the Indian Financial Service during the day, he always looked forward to the evenings that he would spend doing experiments with light at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS). His association with K.S. Krishnan (Kitty), whom he mentored at the IACS, was very well portrayed. The politics that creeps into any institution, was also quite subtly brought out through the interactions between Pal and Meghnad Saha and between Raman and Austen.

The last scene again focuses on Raman and Lokam in their house, talking about various events in their lives. They joke about how he aimed for nothing less than the Nobel Prize, bringing out his highly ambitious side. They are also visited by Pal from the IACS, who remained a good friend over the years.

The stage sets were perfect, depicting the home on one half and the IACS on the other. Change of furniture between scenes was quick and efficient. A model of a spectroscope added greatly to the set representing the IACS. Lighting was very appropriate and music added to the ambience. However, the microphones did not seem to be able to amplify the speech of the actors sufficiently.

The delay between the first and second scenes (though perfectly understandable, since Raman needed to change costumes) was too long and interrupted the flow of the play.

Lokam and Raman would be in their late 70s / early 80s in the opening and closing scenes. But they appeared no more than 65. There was also not enough contrast in appearance between the young and older Raman (again understandable due to lack of time). Would it be appropriate to add a short scene (I can’t think of what would fit in the flow) between the first two scenes, to give Raman enough time for costume and makeup change?

Kudos to the team, especially to Shashidhara Dongre for the excellently researched and well-written script and to H.S. Umesh for the engaging rendition of the playwright’s vision of the scientist’s life. All the actors portrayed their roles to perfection. The costumes were well thought out and the actors seemed very comfortable in them.

Overall, a very sleek production… Wishing the team many more repeat shows!

—Dr. Nima Manjrekar