Page to Stage – Storytelling

Storytelling based on

the book ‘Martyr’

An NCPA Library Presentation in collaboration with Metamorphosis Theatre and Films

Miguel de Unamuno was a Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright, philosopher, professor of Greek and Classics and later, rector at the University of Salamanca. He was an early existentialist concerned with the tension between intellect and emotion, faith and reason. His personal and passionate longing for immortality was at the heart of his view of life. San Manuel Bueno, mártir (1930) was his last novel before he died in 1936.

Martyr is a page-to-stage presentation by Dr. Omkar Bhatkar, which brings to the stage this atmospheric novella. In a small village called Valverde de Lucerna, on the edge of an idyllic lake, lives Don Manuel, a local Catholic priest, always at the service of the townspeople, especially the marginalised. The people of the town consider him their saint. But as the story progresses, we discover that Manuel’s faith begins to falter. At the end of his life, he begins a descent into weakness and depression, struggling with the burden of the teachings he has come to disbelieve. How long will the villagers have faith in a priest who lacks his belief in God? Will the people abandon him or will the wearied Manuel give up his vocation and abandon his people? This unique presentation unfolds on the crossroads of literature and dramatic composition.

Box Office now open.