The play Halfway House is divided into three parts: Prologue; Act 1; and Act II. The Prologue is an important part of the play which begins with it and also receives a specific direction from it. Let us see the role it plays in the structuring of Halfway House.
We note that Mohan Rakesh’s Halfway House is a play about a family going through difficult times and raises a number of issues relevant to the socio-cultural ethos of the time. The Prologue introduces the subject of the play:
“a particular family and its particular circumstances”. In the Prologue we meet “the man in a black suit” talking directly to the reader/spectator in the first person and making general observations on life.
At this point, the man wearing a black suit is both an actor and a character who talks about the various roles he is going to play in the unfolding drama. In fact, he comes across first as an actor and then as a character of the play. He creates a link between the performers, the performance and the audience and for this reason is a figure similar to that of a sutradhar, the introducer of a play in traditional Indian drama.
Apart from this role that this actor assumes in the prologue, he also enacts the characters Halfway House: A Reading of Mahendranath, Singhania, Jagmohan and Juneja in the text. Indeed it is an innovative method in drama where one man plays four different roles: nevertheless, it is not a mere technical point. In fact, Rakesh seems to make a comment here on human nature in that all men essentially are the same behind the different masks they wear.
The man in a black suit informs the reader/spectator that he does not have a welldefined role in this play. According to him the same is the case with other characters in the play. Clearly, he makes a statement here shunning the expectations of the audience who would hope to see a play that is well-formed with a predetermined structure. The man further suggests that the play itself is “undefined”.
He goes on to ask the existential question: “who am I?” To this, his answer is: “I am the man you bump into by chance in the street.” Commenting on the nature of the play he clearly tells us that “it is because of me that it (the play) does or does not evolve” and that he is responsible for all the happenings in the play.
He explores alternative situations when: the woman in the play could have had a different set of values, but later concludes that in any case the play would have remained as “undefined” than as it exists ill the present state. Finally, he encourages the reader/spectator to give her/his suggestions on the problems raised in the play.
Don’t you think that had the playwright offered a solution to the problems projected in the play, the plot and characters would have been appropriately defined? In answer, one may say that Rakesh consciously leaves, characters; complex situations and issues midway / ‘halfway’ as it were, without probing them further. This offers us some clue about the title of the play-Halfway House. This aspect is going to haunt us throughout this unit.
Let us see how we confront it in the following discussion. First, we take up’Act One’ of the play and comprehend it from the point of view of marriage, family etc. There are several different types of halfway houses. Some are state sponsored, while others (mainly addiction recovery homes and mental illness homes) are run by “for profit” entities.
In criminology the purpose of a halfway house is generally considered to be that of allowing people to begin the process of reintegration with society, while still providing monitoring and support. This type of living arrangement is often believed to reduce the risk of recidivism or relapse when compared to a straight release directly into society.
Some halfway houses are meant solely for the reintegration of persons who have been recently released from prison or jail; some are meant for people with chronic mental health disorders; others are for people with substance abuse issues, generally called sober living houses The state-placement of ex-criminal offenders to a “halfway house” after a prison sentence may either be decided upon as part of the judge’s sentence or by a prison official’s recommendation. A direct sentence to a halfway house can be decided upon by a judge or prosecutor in lieu of prison time.
There is often opposition from neighborhoods in which halfway houses attempt to locate. Social justice literature observes the relationships between halfway house siting and the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) phenomenon. Some communities/neighborhoods may have the ability to affect political legislation through political solidarity while others may not. Some research stresses that community residents simply feel nervous when halfway houses are sited near them.
Others point out that the presence of transitional residences may pose real hazards to community safety.] In NIMBY research, it has been suggested that a neighborhood’s resistance to placement might be linked to class-based prejudices about ex-offenders and drug addicts. Kraft & Clary (1991) argue that NIMBY responses are sometimes associated with a distrust for government sponsors.
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