EKTA ISHKOOL (trans. A School) of Chakdaha Natyajon: an experimentation in form & content that reminds one of Lehmann’s Post-dramatic theatre

EKTA ISHKOOL (trans. A School) of Chakdaha Natyajon: an experimentation in form & content that reminds one of Lehmann’s Post-dramatic theatre (staged on 18 March 2026)

 

[Before going into the discussion on the aforesaid play I would like to give a rejoinder to my last Blog. Mainak Sengupta, one of the most important dramatists of the present generation, has informed me the following in WhatsApp. I express my deep gratitude to Mainak for this important piece of information on the dramatization of Samaresh Basu’s short stories. This is what he informed me: ‘I adopted a play ' সুপ্রভাত ' based on Samaresh Basu's short story ' প্রাণ পিপাসা ‘. Some lesser-known groups like বেলঘরিয়া উজান and বজবজ ঋক had staged the play; the second group more than ten times. And Last year ' গ্রুপ থিয়েটার পত্রিকা শারদ সংখ্যা ' had published a ' ক্রোড়পত্র ' on Samaresh Basu, more or less seven plays were published in that magazine based on Basu's creations.]

 

Of the few young play-makers who have strived to bring in a fresh new concept in designing of a play Debashis (Roy – the surname he does not use) is the foremost of them all. In his stage-schemes he had discarded the classical realistic stage and took to a modernist, expressionistic approach in his designing. He has been such an influencer that a host of directors have been blindly imitating him without any reference to the contents of their individual productions. and the result in most of the cases is a big flop.   

Watching Chakdaha Natyajon’s production of Ekta Ishkool at Academy of Fine Arts the viewers find that he has deviated from his signature stage-designing. The very sight of the stage even before the play begins makes the viewers to sit up and eagerly wait for the third bell to ring. As the play proceeds one come across a storyline that talks of unconventional education. The acting design, too, is different from the predictable style. This production gave the viewers a very fresh and of course a rare experience of viewing theatre.

The story tells us of a journey seeking an untainted, bright future with the lessons that are abundant in the life and the Nature around us. A school student Mahendra who is not that intelligent, and rather somewhat obtuse is a habitual failure. He meets Gada who has never been to a regular school, but has excelled in his performance in the school of Life. He takes Gada as his real tutor. Mahendra learns that Gada takes his lessons of life from Nature under the tutelage of his grandmother. Mahendra decides to join Gada’s granny’s ‘school’. But his father Manishankar who is like the authoritative master of the village, acts the spoil-sport. He plans to evict Gada’s grandmother from her ancestral homestead. Gada learns that his father had to commit suicide because of this man. A number of things happen in Gada’s life, and that affect Mahendra, too. And this results in Mahendra maturing into a responsible man.  

It may seem that there is a shadow of Rabindranath Tagore’s education system in the theme. Debashis has placed the story in Jalbasi, a remote village surrounded by mountains and rivers in north Tripura. In elaboration of his plot the playwright has emphasized on expressionism rather than keeping to naturalism. Mahendra like Gada has been inwardly enlightened, so as to say he has been spiritually uplifted rather than materialistically gaining from attending the ‘school’. In constructing the character of the grandmother, Debashis has touched on to the postmodern concept which rejects the concept of truth being absolute and universal. Then the sudden turn in the storyline gives the viewers a jolt. But at the end the play gives the spectators an experience of Lehmann’s Post-dramatic theatre.

The manifestation of the script on to the stage is intimately woven around the specific acting style that the director had planned. The play with its total happening on the stage, like in post-dramatic theatre, extends beyond the script and the dialogues, and the viewers leave the auditorium with the play deeply embedded in their conscience.  

As mentioned in the beginning the stage designing is completely different from what the viewers expect from a Debashis presentation. Here, it has a canopy of blue sky with ginned cotton like white clouds covering the whole acting zone. This has certainly given the viewers ample scope in interpreting the text in their own ways. This is, so to say is one of the vital elements of post-dramatic theatre, too. Just with the help of the dialogues the spectators construct the locale where the things are happening.  Together with this the acting style he has applied is quite different from what we are used to see. And each and every actor has contributed their might and emotion in full-filling the director’s idea. Performance in this Chakdaha Natyajon’s production has reached a zenith, so to say. But that does not mean no more improvisation is possible, because in theatre each and every performance leads to a new horizon of creativity.     

The young Abhik De who has proved his mettle in the previous Chakdaha Natyajon’s productions has raised his benchmark. It was a difficult job in the first half to represent a dumb, stupid Mahendra. He has done this in a different approach where physical expressions are supplemented by the variations in vocal acting. In the second part he was remarkably restrained in the part where the character has an emotional outburst. This work of Abhik will be remembered for a long time to come. Equally outstanding was Akshaynarayan Jhan as the mentally deranged Bhala. Acting in such characters has a very cliched pattern, but Akshaynarayan has come out of it and presented a different hue in realistic acting. The viewers would keep in memory his delivering of his dialogues while weeping uncontrollably. Another memorable performance was by Amit Saha as Gada. He has depicted the simplicity of the character in an almost naturalistic representation. One more seasoned actor of the group Aditi Lahiri in the role of the grandmother has portrayed the tender softness of the elderly lady with a marvellous suavity. In contrast she gives a superb violent expression during the killing of Manishankar.

The others like Adrita Pal and Poulomi Ghosh as Charai and Billi, respectively, Debashis De as Manishankar, Subhadip Mandal as Columbus, Abhishek De as a policeman, Soumen Bhattacharya’s Kader with a rooster appearing perhaps for the first time on the Bengali stage, or Ujan Ganguly as Baga, and Sandipa Chatterjee as Mahendra’s mother did their roles in their perfect disposition so to say. What was most notable was that these actors in their non-performing moments on the stage were so involved in the happenings in the acting zone, that one could see during an emotional sequence being enacted tears rolling down the cheeks of the teenager Adrita standing behind in the non-performing area of the stage. And here lies the success of the playmaker who has apart from designing the stage has also schemed the lights and the background music of the production. Kudos to Debashis.

Before ending mention should be made of the names of Suman Pal, the coxswain of the group who handled the lights, and that of Dana Roy who designed the choreography and of Souvik Biswas who was the music hand. Dress designing also should get the due clap.   

 

My next Blog will be on STREER PATRA of Nirbak Abhinay Akademi staged on 22 March 2026.