Murky Mirror: Caine Mutiny - Court Martial

Hi,

I first heard of the book, Caine Mutiny after joining the Indian Navy. I got to read the book sometime in the late seventies or early eighties. Some parts of the story sunk in, some did not. I did not get a chance to see the movie adaptation till date.

When I read the advertisement for the stage show, "Caine Mutiny - Court martial", directed by none other than Naseeruddin Shah, I jumped to the chance of viewing the same. It was staged at Music Academy, Chennai on 10 July 2011.

I was engrossed in the drama that unfurled on the stage with its minimal props. The impetus was on the dialogues, voice modulations and the facial expressions. Props were minimal. There were four separate areas in which action were going on simultaneously; The defendants table, prosecutors table, the witness box and the court martial board table.

Naseeruddin Shah played the Prosecutor's (John Challee) role - a minor role compared to the defense lawyer (Lt Greenwald) and Captain Qweeg (the central character nicknamed "Old Yellow stain"). The main accused, Lt Maryk, Lt Keefer and Lt Kieth were the other main characters.

The nuances of the story were brought out very well through the short spells of high tension acting over the two separate acts. The way the defense lawyer tore apart Captain Qweeg and reduced him to a mental wreck was enacted very well.

The ending with Greenwald confronting Keefer, who actually had instigated Maryk to keep tabs on Capt Qweeg and managed to completely bias him against Qweeg was very well played.

Enjoyed the wonderful performance thoroughly.

I try and explore possibilities to take photographs of memorable events and carried my camera for the show. It was not written anywhere that photography is prohibited, but during one of the many announcements, there was a mention to this regard.

In between, I could not resist the temptation in taking a few photographs. I took a few without flash, using higher ISO ratings. During the intermission, a tiny girl volunteer came and told me not to take photographs. I did not take any afterwards.

The images are given below.