Adapted from ‘The White Book’ by Han Kang.
She remembers one of her bosses, a middle-aged man who used to say how he longed to see a former lover again in old age when her hair would be feather-white. When we’re really old… when every single strand of our hair has gone white, want to see her then, absolutely
If there was a time when he would want to see her again, it would certainly be then. When both young and flesh would have fallen away. When there would be no time left for desire. When only one thing would remain to be done once that meeting was over: to separate. To part from their own bodies, and thus to part forever.”
-Han Kang, The White Book 흰
From the winner of the Man Booker International Prize forThe Vegetarian comes a book like no other. “The White Book is a meditation on colour, beginning with a list of white things. It is a book about mourning, rebirth, and the tenacity of the human spirit. It is a stunning investigation of the fragility, beauty, and strangeness of life. brilliant psychogeography of grief, moving as it does between place, history, and memory… Poised and never flinches from serene dignity… The White Book is a mysterious text, perhaps in part a secular prayer book… Translated from Korean by Deborah Smith succeeds in reflecting Han’s urgent desire to transcend pain with language. Omkar Bhatkar has designed an aesthetic experience of The White Book, blending movement, colour, design, visuals, voice and music.
From the winner of the Man Booker International Prize for The Vegetarian comes a book like no other. The White Book is a meditation on colour, beginning with a list of white things. It is a book about mourning, rebirth, and the tenacity of the human spirit. It is a stunning investigation of the fragility, beauty, and strangeness of life. A brilliant psychogeography of grief, moving as it does between place, history, and memory… Poised and never flinches from serene dignity… The White Book is a mysterious text, perhaps in part a secular prayer book… Translated from the Korean by Deborah Smith succeeds in reflecting Han`s urgent desire to transcend pain with language.
Omkar Bhatkar has designed an aesthetic experience of The White Book, blending movement, colour, design, visuals, voice and music.
In this age of instant gratification and speed and short span of attention, the white book gives you an entirely different experience, Dr. Bhatkar`s work is complex, and may not be easy for some to comprehend but he is always saying something very meaningful.
- Vidyadhar Date, Columnist and Art Critic
The White Book is a dramatic installation piece of theatre by Omkar Bhatkar, among the most unusual voices of Mumbai's theatre world which leaves an enthralling effect.
- Meher Pestonji, Poet and Novelist.
PERFORMANCES:
Thursday June 29, 2023; Godrej Dance Theatre, NCPA
Saturday July 1, 2023; SAPP Bandra (W)
Sunday July 2, 2023; SAPP Bandra (W)
Tuesday July 25, 2023; Nine Fish Art Gallery, Byculla.
A SAPP, NCPA LIBRARY & METAMORPHOSIS THEATRE INC. PRODUCTION