A FEW NON-TAGOREAN PRODUCTIONS

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 46^th anniversary they presented their 50^th   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.