Happy New Year! Or “Ceasper, I’m just acting!”

Remember how once upon a time I said I would post a blog with a video of my next drama? I have finally remembered that myself. So here it is my friends. I couldn’t put up the whole thing because after I explained asides* to Ceasper he took full advantage of the new understanding and a skit that should have been 4 minutes turned into 15…. Oh, and it was lengthened by the fact that Ceasper refused to believe that any drama (even an improv about a foreigner) was complete without a song and a poem.

So, the basic plot: I am an American tourist named Britney (yes, I chose the name on purpose because everyone here knows Britney Spears) who has been in Bangladesh only a week and is having trouble figuring out how to catch a rickshaw. My friend Ceasper (in the skit named “Dumketu” which evidentially means “comet”) is a Bangladeshi man who happens upon me and decides to attempt to seduce the witless bideshi. The skit progresses as the two try to understand each other using Britney's Bangla phrase book. In the course of things Dumketu sings for Britney (something that actually does happen to me here) and he has Britney mimic a poem he recites.

The section I am putting up here is the big finale. Dumketu has just told Britney that the celebration she sees is the Bangladeshi New Year (which is actually what we are performing at, is this brilliant stuff or what?). Britney argues at first, not knowing that there can be any new year other than her own. Once Britney is brought up to speed, Dumketu asks "tomar deshi ki hoy?" (what do you do in your country?). I, of course, do not understand ("Ami buji na") and attempt to look up the words in my phrase book. He then begins to act out** what he thinks we do (leaving out the hilarious, but inappriote immitation of being drunk he did in rehearsal), building up to our New Year kisses "choomoo." At the critical moment, Britney sees a rickshaw and jumps up to catch it.

So I feel like I could have done an entire blog series just on our rehearsal process, which I think was more interesting than the performance itself. In the midst of cutlural and language confusion trying to direct and be a part of a quasi improved skit was more of a challange than I expected. The biggest obstacle was overcoming Ceasper's missunderstanding of realistic acting. Even though he knew that my character, Britney, was the one who didn't understand his Bangla (not me), over and over again we would be in the midst of a run and Britney would say "ami buji na" and Ceasper would kind of furtively look around to see if anyone could hear, then lean over and translate his Bangla into English. Though I was patient with this at first eventually it propelled me into yelling "Ceapser, I'm JUST ACTING!" Following the outburst was a speech about the importance of staying in character no matter what (to which I wanted to add "or I'll strangle you" but held myself back).

So that is the end of my short lived acting career in Bangladesh. Though the experience is one I wouldn't trade, two performances were enough to satisfy me for the rest of my life. Since then I have begun teaching an English class at my NGO, an activity I find demanding as many of my theatre skills as drama itself. Like for instance, frequently I must "act" like I understand English grammar... :-)

*Asides: If you happen not to be a theatre buff yourself, an aside is dramatic convention often used in Shakespeare where a character speaks directly to the audience unnoticed by other characters.

** Cultural Note: If I haven't made this clear in earlier blogs, in Bangladesh (outside of the capital) the vast majority of men and women make no physical contact in public, and in private only between close relatives or spouses. One of the funniest things here has been guys who get excited about shaking my hand. At the end of this performance there was a long line formed to do just that.