The octogenarian thespian Ashok Mukherjee in Theatre Workshop’s Great Bengal Theatre

 

The octogenarian thespian Ashok Mukherjee in Theatre Workshop’s Great Bengal Theatre  

 

In commemoration of the 150 years of the commercial Bengali theatre, Theatre Workshop staged its latest production in a grand scale so to say, in tune with the play they had selected for their presentation. The play Great Bengal Theatre by Sumitro Bandopadhyay is an attempt to retell the story of the initial days of the so-called professional stage in the early twentieth century Calcutta. Theatre had mainly developed amongst the small affluent society of the Babus of the city. Though it had its petit bourgeoise traits of arrogance, corruption and self-promotion, it did things with pomp and grandeur. So, in order to accommodate these societal characteristics of the time Sumitro had to extend his play to a longer length than usual.

The play centers around a character called Jogen Ganguli who is a contemporary of the likes of Giris Chandra, Ardhendu Sekhar, Amritalal, and owns the theatre troupe Great Bengal Theatre which is in an utter financial crisis. Atulya, a young man has joined the group with a dream to bring in fresh air into Bengali theatre. According to his narrative Jogen endures the insults of the theatre hall owner who is a businessman to the core and is totally ignorant about the arts. But in order to save his dear theatre Jogen in spite of going in for compromises tries to stick to his principles. Unfortunately, in this process of conciliation the main actress of the troupe, who coming from a brothel has for the last twenty-five years made theatre her life, her only vocation, loses her position in the group and suffers humiliation. She commits suicide. Atulya urges Jogen to stage new plays and King Lear is selected as a result. Jogen plays Lear while a new young actress who believes she is the illegitimate child of Jogen, is given the role of Cordelia. Sumitro has brought in some associated and accessory matters some of which have little to do with the main theme in an attempt to suggest the political and social backdrop of the then theatre world of Bengal. And things like the tomfoolery parts of a person who writes lowly plays for Jogen’s production, or the flirtations of a wealthy man with the young actress, or the Partition of Bengal have only contributed in the lengthening of the play. One would have loved to watch instead a bit more of the King Lear portion where Lear faces Cordelia. This expectation of the viewers was more so as the great thespian Ashok Mukherjee in his mid-eighties performed the role of Jogen. It was a very mixed feeling to watch this actor on the stage as the role’s performance is not a cameo-type. He had to spend extended time on the stage delivering long dialogues. And it was a treat, of course, for the viewers to watch him give the character a classical flavour, and listen to his immaculate diction with perfect modulation of the voice at such an advanced age as his. Rina Halder in the role of the senior actress was commendable. Sumitro as Atulya, Debashis Roychoudhury as a patron of Jogen’s theatre, or Jagabandhu Chakraborty as the failed playwright or Shreya Banerjee as the young actress did their roles to the book. Neel Kaushik’s stage design was well executed by Bilu Dutta, while Sumit Chakraborty’ lights did their part. Sk. Israfil’s make-up works need to be appreciated. Music by Swapan Shome lacked the spirit of the run of the play.          

 

Shovabazar Pratibimba’s Commodus and Rashbehari Sanket’s Mritasouch – two recent productions worth viewing

 

Shovabazar Pratibimba’s Commodus and Rashbehari Sanket’s Mritasouch – two recent productions worth viewing

[It has been almost three and a half years that I had some activities in my blogspot. The last post was an attempted dissertation on the ‘Father’ characters in Bergman’s films vis-à-vis Strindberg’s Father. 

All this time I have been active as usual for the last very many decades, seeing different Bengali productions by different groups mainly of and around Calcutta. And regularly have been writing reviews of these works for a Bengali periodical.

I have decided to once again start blogging on my observations about the works that I have the opportunity to see. It would give some idea to those who may choose to read my blogs about the Bengali theatre scenario. So, I have decided to start afresh with the works that I have seen since the beginning of 2024. Till the end of May I have seen 14 performances apart from the ten that were staged in the festival of full-length plays organized by Sayak at Tapan Theatre. I would restrict my discussions to the fourteen that had their commercial presentations on the Calcutta stage. I begin with two works of two ‘small’ groups.]

The two productions that will feature in my present post are works of two young groups who are making their marks on the Calcutta stage for certain. Shovabazar Pratibimba’s staging of Commodus at Madhusudan Mancha had a fresh new look. The play based on the character of a Roman emperor naturally reminded one of the Oscar-winning film Gladiator. The play is written by Sumantra Chatterjee and is directed by Charnak Chatterjee. For a not-a-big group, handling of a period drama is certainly an ambitious project worth commendable. It has not been mentioned from which source Sumantra has penned his drama the setting of which is Rome of eighteen hundred years ago. He has very well narrated the story of the Roman emperor Commodus in his play, though some editing was needed that would have shortened the duration of the play. Different important situations and happenings of the Roman history of that time have been touched upon subtly in his narration of the story, which gives the theme its completeness. His apt handling of the characters like that of the elder sister Lucilla, the Roman senators Quintus and Cassius, or the consort Cleander or for that matter the lady-in waiting Marcia to unfold the different conspiracies and murders gave the play a steady rhythm throughout. 

Charnak’s designing in totality is worthy of appreciation. The commendable point to be noted was that stage, lights or music designing had been used to almost perfection. Bilu Dutta’s stage was simplistic yet gave the scenes their meaning, just as Soumen Chakraborty’s gimmick-less lighting design. Swapan Bandopadhyay’s music was modestly appropriate. Some of the dramatic moments that Charnak could construct with the accompanying music and back-light illumination are creditable, indeed. Credit should also be given to the planning of shifting in between scenes.

In contrast to these praiseworthy sections of the production, acting remains to be much wanting. The team needs a through brushing up in its acting performance. But the devotion and the commitment of the bunch of young members of the group that could be felt would definitely make them better performers in the days to come. 

The second production is that of Rashbehari Sanket. They staged Tarit Mitra’s Mritasouch. There was a time when snake-charmers from Rajasthan used to come to the city and would bring out different snakes, small and big, from their clay-thatched wicker baskets, playing a lilting tune on their pungis. The women accompanying them would dance in their long flowing dresses decked up with ornaments made from bones and metals. All these came to my mind as the story of the play revolves round a family of the snake-charming Kalbelia community of Rajasthan. But the interesting point is that the dramatist has beautifully adapted Albert Camus’ drama The Misunderstanding into this Rajasthani context.

Camus’ play is an ideal example of his trademark concept of absurdism and existentialism. He believed that whenever man tries to find order in his surroundings of disorder, absurdity is born. And man is subjected to a contradiction that he himself has created. In this play of his he shows how a son after twenty long years of absence returns back to his family and thereby suffers a great existential crisis, as do his mother and sister who have failed to recognize him. The mother and her daughter kill the unsuspecting men who come to stay in the lodge and usurp up their belongings. They rationalize their acts by saying that they are relieving the people of the very burden of living in this hostile and unfriendly world! Their existential crisis lies in their pursuing a dream of a beautiful illusory world where they would like to live in with the wealth they gather from the travelers. The son in order to find out about his mother and his sister tries to play a game that in turn results in him being killed. So, man defines his existence by his own choice. But for all three it is non-communication that leads them to their evil destiny. Camus has pointed out the irrationality in the conflict between violence and love, and also the absurdity of morality.

Tarit has very fittingly transposed the Kalbelia family into the play keeping the Camus structure intact, except the ending of the play. However, for those who are unaware of Camus’ play would find it interesting. The dramatist has very aptly incorporated the Rajasthani folk culture which has given the play a different dimension. The three main characters have been very well structured and been given their individual weightage. As the dramatist has drifted from Camus’ ending sequence, the characters of the old man and of the wife of the son remains unfinished, and lacking in rationality.       

Sashi Guha’s directorial acumen has aptly been proved. In designing the play on the stage, it was a challenge to bring the nomadic life in the Rajasthani perspective. He had presented a number of dramatic moments that the viewers would remember for a long time. Abhijit Acharya’s music is a very important ingredient of the production, and it gave an accompanying support to Guha’s building up of the play. Mention should be made of Dipankar De’s light arrangements and Hiran Mitra’s stage designing. Arpan Mallick and Panna Mandal did a very laudable job in designing of the dresses. Alok Debnath’s make-up did provide a visual richness to the characters. Kasturi Chatterjee’s choreographic designing was solely a dramatic element that remains as a bedrock of the production.

Every member of the team was apt in his or her performance. Priyanka Guha’s subtle expression of the inner conflicts of the mother as well as the weariness of the character is very well brought out with the right gestures. Ratna Chakraborty’s daughter had to bear a lot of work load with her dances as well as bringing out the character’s suspicious nature together with the yearning for the dream world. Sumitkumar Roy’s son was yet another of this young talent’s noteworthy performance with his perfect diction and his silent expressions.

Before signing off for the present these two works of two relatively not very familiar groups of the Bengali theatre family certainly is an indication for a not too feeble future for the Bengali theatre.