The theathral show
presented by the theatrical company Spazio Mythos crt – Cremona
Texts and direction by Enrico Tomasoni
Monteverdi Theatre, Cremona, Italy
23 May 2022 h. 21.00
The play is freely adapted from one of the most famous and evocative texts by the Indian librarian Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan, famous throughout the library world for his fascinating and innovative ideas. In his work Reference Service, Ranganathan includes, for educational purposes, practical cases, which are actually dialogues between the reader and the librarian, and which are designed to highlight the fundamental importance of librarian's work in transforming every person who enters the library into a true reader (i.e. a person who enters into a profound dialogue with another person and is thus educated). In the first part of the play, the moments when Ranganathan is appointed librarian at the Madras library, his doubts, his state of mind and his concerns are recounted, while in the second part some practical cases are represented.
The stage is populated with people who were important in Ranganathan's life, whom he remembers in his works: his wife Rukmini, his mentor Prof. Edward B. Ross, Prof. H. S. Duncan Dean of Presidency College and Sir Frederick Kenyon, Principal Librarian of the British Museum Library. From the dialogues with these people emerges – in addition to his profound Hindu religiosity and his unique didactic approach – what Ranganathan experienced as a man moving from the career of mathematics professor to that of librarian. The play, which features 12 characters played by actors and actresses of the theatrical company SpazioMythos crt, Cremona, is written in two acts with a “pinakes” (pictures) structure that allows the moments to alternate according to a timeline that is shortened for stage requirements, but proceeds according to what actually happened.
In the first act, Ranganathan is told that his new job will be that of librarian; the play focuses on the moment when Ranganathan transforms his despondency into new stimuli for the new adventure he is about to undertake, through dialogue with Rukmini, his wife, Professor Duncan, Sir Frederick Kenyon and Professor Ross. The structure in “pinakes” allows changes to the timeline of the events, and the dialogues in the text are the result of scenic invention.
In the second act, the inspiration comes from the work Reference Service, from which three practical cases have been taken (Insurance Agent incident, Shaw incident, and Chesterfield incident). The sketches are staged as a dialog between Ranganathan and his collaborators during the weekly meetings of the library staff.