A
FEW NON-TAGOREAN PRODUCTIONS
During the last two years almost, not many
productions have been put on stage that have no connections with Tagore or with
his works in the remotest sense. It is also worthy of mention that of the
non-Tagorean plays staged in these times most of them have proved their worth
and have received favourable responses from the viewers in spite of the
flooding of theatres with Tagorean productions. Most of them have been
discussed in my earlier blogs. Presently our discussion centres around a few
that we have not discussed as yet.
Minerva Natyasanskriti Charcha Kendra’s Minerva
Repertory’s second production DEBI SARPOMASTA
is one of the significant non-Tagorean productions that hit the Bengali stage
sometimes in the second half of 2011. Monoj Mitra had written this play many
years earlier, perhaps in 1995, but was never staged until the Repertory under
the very able direction of Debesh Chattopadhyay made it possible with a bunch
of young actors who are being bred as members of the Kendra. Beautifully
orchestrated team acting is an asset for the production. It was fascinating to
watch the actors utilizing every space available including the aisles of the
auditorium, not for the sake of it but on purpose. A lot of kudos is due to the
director for having composed very many engrossing frames. In true repertory
style the actors took part in the other departments of the production also like
sets, décor, lights, music etc.
Basically a musical, the play is based on the sylvan folklore depicting
Nature in all its beauty and fury. Dhamsa, madol, flute, dotara and such folk
instruments with fitting choreography have been used for designing the music in
the folk tradition with the guidance of folk musician Abhijit Acharya.
Mangalik
and Sanglap Kolkata presented two plays on very important social issues plaguing
the society today. While the first group presented, MALLABHUMI that
pointed at the perils of a common man at the hand of the land promoters and
real estate sharks, the other group in its play, NIRASHRAY, dealt with
the complex problem that may come to one’s life which may threaten the human
relationship that gives shape to a happy family. A very ordinary play by Mohit
Chattopadhyay, MALLABHUMI had been turned into a worth seeing drama by
sheer devotion and dedication by the members of the group. Samir Biswas had to
take a big workload in the role of the protagonist as well as the director of
the play. NIRASHRAY, written and directed by Kuntal Mukhopadhyay is
based on a story by Sudip Sen. The
viewers are made to involve in the building up of the story on the stage. The
production can be credited with an all-round neatness.
Oihik
has been a serious group since it came into being some years back and has been
regularly producing dramas worth mentioning. This year they deviated from their
trodden path to present a musical presentation named MAHORA CHOLCHHE, designed
by Arindam Roy and focussing on the songs of theatres of the bygone era
starting from Giris Ghosh’s ‘Chaitanyalila’ of 1884 to Bijan Bhattacharya’s
‘Nabanna’ of 1944. About sixteen songs have been incorporated taking from the
works of Amritalal, Kshirodprasad, Nishikanta, Rabindranath, Apareshchandra,
and Mahendra Gupta. Each song is acted out as it had found its place in the
respective play together with the stories that went around about the actors,
playwrights and others who contributed in the history of the Bengali theatre.
An in-depth study by Roy and a well designed production have given the
presentation a great academic value that also is a pleasure to watch.
A
very popular drama from Bangladesh was invited in another newly initiated
festival organised by Bratyajan. Theatre, one of the most reputed groups from
Dhaka presented BARAMKHANA written by Pantha Shahriyar, enthused by
Sunil Gangopadhyay’s ‘Moner Manush’.
This group was born way back in 1972 and the legendary thespian couple
of Bangladesh, Ramendu and Ferdousi Majumdar has since been a major strength of
the group. It is due to Bratyajan that the present generation of theatre-goers
of Kolkata got the opportunity of seeing them on stage under the able direction
of their daughter, Tropa Majumdar. This reviewer has been fortunate enough to
have witnessed way back in 1986, one of their outstanding productions, ‘Payer
Awaj Paoa Jaye’, the first lyrical play of Bangladesh written by the famous
poet Syed Samsul Haque and directed by Abdullah Al-Mamoon. The present play dealt
with the problem of how Lalan Fakir’s philosophy is being gobbled up by the
coterie of religion, politics and business.
Bratyajan
in this festival had a revival of Bratya Basu’s first staged drama, ASHALEEN.
Purba Paschim is credited for choosing to produce this play that Bratya had
written twenty five years ago. It was staged in Kolkata in 1996 and Bratya had
done the role of the protagonist then. After sixteen long years the play
remained as fresh as ever and credit is due to the director, Biplab
Bandopadhyay, of course. A very well presented drama with all the departments
of the production doing their jobs excellently, this play would certainly merit
as one of the most important happenings on the Kolkata stage in the recent
times.
Long
back in 1966 a few members of Nandikar disassociated themselves from the group
and established Theatre Workshop, and since then they have been incessantly
staging plays of different sorts and flavours. But none of these productions
compromised on the standard it had set in spite of its prolificacy. On the occasion of their 46th anniversary
they presented their 50th production, a play by Sumitro Bandopadhyay,
MUCHHE JAOA DINGULI. A destructive political activism of the late 60’s and the early
70’s that had shattered the very foundation of the middle-class urban society has
been focussed bringing horrid memories for the elderly generation, and on the
other hand exposing the younger generation to the bitter fall-out of that
period. As usual for a Theatre Workshop production, acting of every role is
performed to perfection under the very dotting eyes of the much experienced
thespian-director Ashok Mukhopadhyay. Murai Roy Choudhury’s music played a
vital role.
Another
important production that has no links with the Tagore celebrations is Anukar
Natya Sanstha’s SHISYA-UPAKHYAN, drama by Subhas Sengupta. This drama deals
with a vital problem that plagues the Kolkata group- theatre world of today
without any signs of amelioration. Group-theatres came into being after a long felt
need of a purposeful theatre, away from the influences of the fully commercial
Hati Bagan genre. And after much struggle giants of the Bengali theatre world
could establish this particular genre of purposeful theatre in the 50’s. Contributions
to the theatre world by these groups need no introduction and today Bengali theatre
owes its existence totally on this culture. But sadly the basic character of
the group-theatre is wanting amongst most of the groups and so there is little
consistency in the productions. A very demonic commercial outlook has lured the
groups to rent in professional actors doing big jobs in cinema and television
serials for a production, and thus selling out the house without considering
the ideals of the group-theatre culture. The production has all its departments
well tuned under the baton of the playwright-director, Subhas Sengupta.
