INDIAN COWBOY : A SOUTH ASIAN ROMANTIC COMEDY
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INDIAN COWBOY : A SOUTH ASIAN ROMANTIC COMEDY |
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INDIAN INK POSTER
written by Tom Stoppard
directed by Risa Brainin
produced by Missouri Repertory Theatre
Play Synopsis
Act
1
India 1930
Flora Crewe, an English poet, arrives in the Indian native state of Jummapur on
April 2 to give a lecture on literary life in London. The president of the local
Theosophical Society, Coomaraswami, and several members of the society welcome
her at the train station with great fanfare, garlanding her with marigolds.
Coomaraswami escorts her to a guest bungalow and leaves her to rest, inviting
her to picnic and visit temples the next day.
England, mid 1980s
Eldon Pike, a university professor from Texas, and Eleanor Swan, Flora’s sister,
sit together reading Flora’s letters from her time in India. Pike, who teaches
“Flora Crewe” and has edited a book of her poems, is now compiling a collection
of her letters for publication. As they read Flora’s letters over tea, we see
the Flora of 1930 living events of her life as we hear her describe them in the
letters. Pike is thrilled to have his hands on Flora’s original family letters
and asks Eleanor to help him decipher the significance of references in them so
he can explain flora’s experiences and comments at length in his footnotes to
the published collection. Eleanor finds Pike rather ridiculous and is less than
completely forthcoming.
India 1930 / England,
mid 1980s
Flora describes her first picnic in India with the Theosophical Society and the
lecture she gave to a packed audience. After the lecture she meets Nirad Das,
whom she calls “my painter.” He is quite an Anglophile and completely fascinated
with London, talking of Bloomsbury and the Pre-Raphaelite painters. Nirad shyly
gives Flora a sketch he made of her while she was lecturing. Pike asks Eleanor
whether she has the sketch and is appalled to learn that she has not saved all
of Flora’s personal effects. Flora agrees to let Nirad visit her and paint her
portrait.
India 1930 / England,
mid 1980s
Nirad arrives at Flora’s bungalow, and they quickly settle down to work—she sits
writing a poem while he paints her portrait. A line in one of Flora’s poems
(“perhaps my soul will stay behind as a smudge of paint on paper”) leads Pike to
believe that the portrait by Nirad might have been a nude. Eleanor tells him
that Flora was wearing a cornflower-blue dress and offers to show him the actual
painting, which she describes as “fairly ghastly, like an Indian cinema poster.”
Pike is nevertheless thrilled to find tangible evidence of Flora’s time in
India.
India 1930
Flora sits writing a sensual poem while Nirad paints. Flora chides Nirad for
being obsequious and asks him to “be more Indian, not Englished-up,” which he at
first does not understand. “I want you to be with me as you would be if I were
Indian,” she requests. The conversation leads them through a turn of phrases, to
Flora amusedly accusing Das of making sexual advances, which embarrasses him
profoundly.
England, mid 1980s
Mrs. Swan sits at tea with Anish Das, Nirad’s son, who is also a painter. Anish
is very excited to have seen his father’s work—the portrait of Flora—reproduced
on the cover of The Collected Letters, which has recently been published. He
tells Eleanor that his father was imprisoned in Jummapur shortly after Flora’s
visit, because he took part in a protest against the British Raj during Empire
Day celebrations.
India, 1930
Nirad Das arrives the next morning to continue with the portrait. He brings a
present for Flora—a vintage copy of Emily Eden’s 1866 collection of letters, Up
the Country. At her request, he autographs the pencil drawing he made of her at
the first meeting.
England, mid 1980s
Anish tells Eleanor that when he met Flora in 1930 his father had been recently
widowed. Anish remembers his father as quiet and gentlemanly, with a passion for
English literature. He and Eleanor discuss India’s imperial history, disagreeing
on key historical events. Anish argues that India already possessed a highly
developed culture when the British came; Eleanor argues that the British made
India a “proper country.” They change the subject to the safer topic of art. He
asks permission to draw her, as he believes that will make them friends. She
accedes.
India 1930
Flora and Nirad are playing an Indian-English word game in which each player
tries to use as many hybrid words as possible in a sentence. They discuss
language and the increasingly important role English has played in India,
particularly in making possible the growing nationalist movement. Nirad reminds
Flora that she hasn’t yet asked to look at his portrait, but she tells him that
when she was painted once before, the artist had taken offense at her desire to
look at his work in progress. The artist was Modigliani, who painted her in the
nude.
Captain David Durance, from the British residency, rides up on horseback and says that he has come to find out whether Flora has settled in comfortably. Nirad leaves. Durance quizzes Flora about her motives for coming to India. He invites her to dinner and dancing at the British club on Saturday night, and she accepts.
England, mid 1980s
Anish is still drawing Eleanor. She points out that, because Jummapur was a
“native state” (that is, a principality technically under the control of a
rajah, and not directly under British control) the British could not have put
his father in jail. Anish finishes his drawing, and she says that she is pleased
with it, yet she becomes upset thinking about how Flora was never recognized for
her poetry during her lifetime, but now, since her death, nosy scholars like
Pike have been tracking Eleanor down, interested in every aspect of Flora’s
personal life. Anish asks to see the portrait of Flora that his father painted.
India 1930
Flora and Nirad are together again in their working poses. The heat has put
Flora in an ill temper and she makes no progress with her poem. She stops her
work for tea. Nirad begins to put traditional elements of Indian miniature
painting (a tree and a monkey) into his portrait. The two discuss the Hindu gods
and Flora’s idea of true Indian art—images of women with “breasts like melons,
and baby-bearing hips.” Nirad talks to Flora about rasa, a central theory of
Indian art appreciation, which emphasizes the state of heightened delight
aroused in a viewer. Flora says that the rasa of the poem she is trying to write
is “sex”’ Nirad explains the elements of shringara, the rasa of erotic love: a
lover and his beloved one, the moon, the scent of sandalwood, and being in an
empty house.
India, mid 1980s
His edition of Flora’s Collected Letters has been published and Pike has
traveled to Jummapur to collect any information possible on Flora and the
mysterious Indian artist who painted her portrait. With the help of a young
Indian assistant, Dilip, Pike learns that Flora’s bungalow no longer exists, and
that the only thing that remains at its site from her time is the tree, which is
most likely the tree in the painting on the book cover. Pike suspects that
another portrait exists, a “lost portrait” he believes to be a nude.
India 1930
Nirad is frustrated with his painting and tells Flora he feels no communion with
her today; Flora blames herself, because she has been writing a letter to her
sister instead of writing poetry, which has altered the energy between them.
Flora admits that she peeked at the painting, and Nirad believes she hasn’t said
anything to him about it because she is not pleased with it. Flora accuses him
of not being enough of a true artist to stand by his work regardless of its
reception, and he is both furious and ashamed. He threatens to leave with the
canvas, and they struggle over it until Flora collapses, gasping for breath.
Nirad helps her to a chair and she admits to him that she is in India because
she is extremely ill, her “lungs are bad.” In need of a cooling shower and rest,
Flora heads toward the bathroom, undressing as she goes, only to find that the
shower will not work. Desperate for relief, she returns to the bedroom, naked,
and asks the embarrassed Das to pour water over here head. She then climbs into
bed and asks Nirad if he would like to paint her nude. They both agree the
painting will thus have more rasa.
England, mid 1980s
Eleanor shows Anish the oil portrait of Flora, and he is moved to tears. He
points out that his father never finished the painting, as the tree and the
monkey are only indicated, not completed. Anish says his father abandoned the
oil painting to do a nude watercolor, which he then produces from his briefcase.
Eleanor confirms that it is of Flora.
India 1930
Nirad brings Flora soda water as she lies naked in bed. He admits this is the
first time he has ever been alone with an English woman, and Flora implores
Nirad to stand up more for himself and for his work, and to be more of an
“Indian artist,” less of an Anglophile. He protests passionately that the
British Empire has exploited India and all but destroyed Indian art. She asks
him again to paint her nude and “Indian.” Nirad finally relaxes and explains to
her his Rajasthani tradition of narrative art, which often depicts the Hindu
tale of Krishna and Radha’s romance. A servant boy begins to operate the ceiling
fan in Flora’s room; she begins to fall asleep and Nirad leaves.
ACT II
India 1930 and mid 1980s
Flora is dancing at the club with Durance. She is disturbed to discover that the
other couples already know that she is in India for her health. She and Durance
step onto the verandah for a breath of fresh air.
Dilip brings Pike a dinner jacket on the verandah. Pike is very excited to discover the name of Flora’s painter. Dilip tells him the club’s cloakroom supervisor was the boy who years ago fanned Flora at the bungalow, and Pike is eager to talk to him
India 1930
Durance and Flora have drinks on the verandah. Durance confesses that he wishes
Flora would stay in Jummapur longer and kisses her. Suddenly, the scene changes
and they are out riding horses the next morning. Flora wants to know how the
people at the club found out about her illness, and Durance implies that Nirad
must have told them. Flora furiously denies this. Durance proposes marriage to
her, and she rejects him.
India, mid 1980s
Dilip and Pike are in the courtyard of the Jummapur Palace Hotel, which used to
be the rajah of Jummapur’s palace. They are waiting to meet with the rajah’s
grandson, a politician. Pike is excited to have found out that in 1930 Nirad
served a jail sentence for throwing a mango at the British resident’s car during
an Empire Day sports event. Pike and Dilip discuss the widespread influence of
English language and English ideas in modern-day India. Pike is now almost
certain that Nirad painted Flora in the nude, and that they must have had an
intimate relationship, but Dilip refuses to believe that such a relationship
would have been possible in 1930s India.
India 1930
Flora enjoys lunch with the rajah of Jummapur, who shows her his impressive
automobile collection. She is not pleased to learn that he also knows she has
come to India because of her health. The rajah offers to show Flora his art
collection, and she asks to see all of it, even the erotic miniatures he says he
wouldn’t normally show to a European woman. When she proves herself to be unlike
other English women—by eating an apricot he offers her without first removing
its skin—the rajah agrees to show her everything, on the condition that she must
then accept a gift from him.
India, Mid 1980s
Pike meets the rajah’s grandson, who says his archivist has found a thank-you
note written by Flora to the rajah acknowledging the gift of a painting—a
miniature from his 1790 edition of the Gita Govinda. The grandson gives Pike a
copy of the letter. Pike believes the painting to which it refers may have been
a nude watercolor, the lost painting he has been looking for.
England, mid 1980s
Eleanor and Anish are in her garden having drinks and looking at two paintings:
Eleanor holds the nude watercolor by Nirad, and Anish holds the Gita Govinda
watercolor from the rajah. They exchange paintings, each one being returned to
its rightful owner. Eleanor says she hasn’t told Pike about the gift from the
rajah because “he’s not family.” Anish tells a story about finding the painting
of Flora in the bottom of his father’s trunk after his death. Anish reads great
symbolism into his father’s painting, claiming it must have been “painted with
love.”
India 1930
As evening darkness comes on, Flora returns home after her visit with the rajah
to find Nirad and Coomaraswami waiting for her on the verandah. They tell her
that the Theosophical Society has been suspended because of “disturbances” in
town, and Coomaraswami says that he wants to make sure that the rajah has not
reproached Flora for her connection to the society. She assures him that he has
not, and Coomaraswami goes, leaving Nirad and Flora alone in the house. Nirad
tells Flora he cannot come the next day and would like to take his materials
home with him. Flora says she must leave for the hills in the morning, but that
she must know before she goes whether it was Das who told everyone that she is
ill. He assures her that the information would have been learned in her letter
of introduction sent from England, since any letter from England to Coomaraswami
would have been opened by the British officials at the residency. Flora starts
to cry, embarrassed that she could accuse Nirad of such betrayal. He offers her
his handkerchief, which “smells faintly of…something nice.”
Flora asks whether she may keep his unfinished painting. Nirad begins to remove the canvas from the stretcher when the electricity goes out. Das tells Flora that he wants her to return to Jummapur after she visits the hill station, but she explains that she must get back to England because her sister (Eleanor) is pregnant. By the light of the bright moon, Das show her a small watercolor he is working on; it is a nude miniature of her in the Rajasthani style. Flora loves the painting and says it has “the rasa of erotic love.” Flora and Nirad stand still and the moonlight clouds to darkness, as Flora is heard reading an erotic poem.
India, mid 1980s
It is dawn, and Pike and Dilip have been up all night drinking. Pike will not
give up hope of finding the missing watercolor, and clings to the possibility
that his most recent “discovery”—Anish Das—will be able to complete the puzzle.
India, 1930
Durance arrives at Flora’s house to surprise her and take her to view the
sunrise. He says he just passed Nirad walking on the road, and that Nirad gave
him a cold shoulder. Durance sees the erotic miniature given to her by the rajah
and wants to know if she slept with him. She tells him to mind his own business.
Flora and Durance drive off to see the sunrise.
India 1930 / England
mid 1980s
Flora, with her suitcase packed to leave Jummapur, sits at her verandah table
writing a letter to Eleanor. She subtly implies having made love with someone,
and encloses her erotic poem “Pearl,” which will later appear in a book of her
poetry called Indian Ink. Pike, reading the letter, writes in a footnote that
the “someone” was probably Durance.
England, mid 1980s
Eleanor and Anish discuss who the “someone” could have been. She gives him the
Emily Eden book that his father gave Flora. Anish believes quite strongly that
his father and Flora had an affair, but Eleanor declares that , knowing Flora,
her affair could have been with any of the men she met in Jummapur. They agree
not to tell Pike about the watercolor nude.
India, 1931
Eleanor, as her younger self (“Nell”), visits Flora’s grave in India. The
headstone reads: “Born March 21, 1895. Died June 10, 1930.” Nell explains to
Eric Swan, an Englishman who has escorted her to the grave site (and will later
become her husband), that she waited a year to visit because she had given birth
to a baby, who died. Eric invites Nell to a cricket match the next day, and she
accepts.
India, 1930
Flora finishes her letter to Eleanor and leaves to meet her train, carrying the
Emily Eden book. As the train departs, she begins to read from the book a
passage describing the Queen’s ball of 1839 and the Indians’ deference to the
British. The passage concludes, “I sometimes wonder they do not cut all our
heads off and say nothing more about it.”