German Spotlight 2024: Kafeel Jafri-directed Philotas sheds light on a young prince’s inner turmoil amid moral codes
A dramatised reading of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’s Philotas, helmed by Kafeel Jafri, is happening this evening, as part of Sandbox Collective and Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore’s annual cultural exchange programme, German Spotlight
Reema Gowalla
The second rehearsed reading to feature in German Spotlight 2024 — a cultural exchange programme between Sandbox Collective and Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore — is noted German philosopher and dramatist Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’s play Philotas. The piece is directed by poet-storyteller Kafeel Jafri, who is also playing a character in it. Dramatised readings of select translated German plays are organised annually as part of this arts initiative.
As the title hints at, the play traces the journey of a young prince in ancient Macedonia, named Philotas. He embarks on his maiden endeavour as a soldier, but gets captured by the rival army, thanks to his adolescent overenthusiasm in earning a name and glory for himself. “He then goes through an inner turmoil of shame, guilt, and fear of the impact of his captivity on his father, his reputation and how the rival king might use him to turn the war in his favour,” reads the description of the plot.
It further states that Philotas “receives news from the rival king, which gives him some hope, and in another bout of adolescent enthusiasm, he decides to do something that neither the rival king and commander nor his own side had expected”. Through Philotas, playwright Gotthold strived to explore “ethics, moral codes and the legitimacy of suicide”, holding up a mirror to the then dominant Prussian empire and the moral codes it valued.
In the dramatised reading of the translated German script, Sumeet Borana plays Philotas, while Aditya Garg will be seen as Aridaeus, Shivam Vig as Strato and Kafeel as Parmenio. Although Kafeel is more popular for his dastangoi performances and Urdu poetry, he claims to be just as much dedicated to the art of theatre. “To be honest, I did theatre even before starting my dastangoi work. The last play I did was in 2019, and I’ve been wanting to do more. I enjoy writing and directing plays,” he says.
So, why Philotas? The director responds, “There’s no particular reason to pick this script. Maybe, it’s the character Philotas — who is an adolescent trying to prove his existence in the adult world, by making an effort to impress everyone else and come across as a brave hero — that piqued my curiosity. I had first read a translated version of the piece, which was handed to me by a friend. I found it quite interesting, and as fate would have it, a month later somebody approached me with this script for German Spotlight.”
Even though this piece of theatre was written a long time ago, according to Kafeel, it’s relevant in the modern world too. “In the current scenario of our country, you will see that young people are most easily influenced — they are extreme in their views as well as their actions. Philotas displayed the same kind of energy. The young prince thought he’s the hero who will write his own destiny and will prove everything, but ended up doing something completely different. The biggest takeaway from the play is that war creates a situation which always leads men to taking extreme measures — things that they would never otherwise do in normal life,” the director elaborates.
Giving a sneak peek into his future projects, Kafeel says, “I’m working on a play which is yet to be titled. Tentatively called Spirit of Safe House, it’s the story of how ideologies clash and ethnic cleansing happens, and how the person who survives becomes the leader of a new oppressive regime. What starts off as a game of survival ultimately turns into the same oppressive power that people thought that they would fight. The story also relies on a bit of magical realism. The piece is still in the writing stage.”
There is another project, which is about “how social media is being used to basically manipulate mass psychology and alter democracies across the world”. “It is based on the work of Christopher Wiley, who was part of Cambridge Analytica before becoming a whistleblower. This might eventually become a film, but Spirit of Safe House will definitely be a play,” Kafeel sums up.
The dramatised readings, as part of German Spotlight 2024, began on March 9 with Karthik Hebbar-directed The Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents, written by Lukas Bärfuss. The ninth edition of the event will also include Dea Loher’s Innocence (directed by Priyanka Chandrasekhar) and Roland Schimmelpfennig’s The Golden Dragon (directed by Kavya Srinivasan).
Catch the dramatised reading of Philotas on March 16 (at 6.30pm) at the Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore.
