BRATYAJON’S INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL

BRATYAJON’S INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL

Bratyajon organised their second theatre festival terming it Bratyajon International Theatre Festival 2013. They justified their claim by roping in three groups from abroad. Last year they had brought in a group from Bangladesh. This year apart from that country one team from Nepal and another from Italy were invited. Then there were groups from Assam, Kerala, Maharashtra and Manipur together with one from North 24 Parganas and two from Kolkata one of which was Bratyajon themselves.  A total of eleven plays were staged in the seven-day festival held at the Star Theatre of which I saw six. The festival was dedicated to the great actress Binodini Dasi on her sesquicentennial birth celebration. It was a very aptly deserved homage to a magnificent personality of the stage, indeed.

The one production that stood out amongst all that were presented in the festival and one that would remain for long in the minds of those who were fortunate to see it was the inaugural presentation, Imphal’s Chorus Repertory Theatre’s ASHIBAGEE ESHEI, a play created de novo from Henrik Ibsen’s When We Dead Awaken by one of the few geniuses of the modern Indian stage, Ratan Thiyam in 2008.  Ibsen’s theme and not his form was what Ratan had taken his inspiration. According to him, “….this piece of work concentrates only on the thematic content. It does not follow the concept of either realistic plot or normal structure. The performance is designed to express the internal entanglement of characters without distorting the original idea in a different plane with selected dialogues without a change from the original text. In this piece of my work, I just wanted to feel a different Ibsen with imagery, fantasy and ecstasy which he had created in this play; far away from realistic conventional mould where the performance becomes more subtle, symbolic, suggestive and stylized according to the demand of the content. It was not easy for me to prepare a performance text for this. ” Yes, this was a very difficult task and Ratan excelled. It was simply a magnificent magic, as though, was being performed on the stage. Meitei language was no bar for the viewers to be struck in awe. The designing of the play with each of the departments like dress, make-up, lights, ambient music, and stage was perfectly executed. Apart from these it was the utilization of space on the stage that a student of theatrics should have gained a lot if they had chanced to witness the presentation. ‘Thematic lighting’ was interpreted on the stage and it was a fresh experience for the Kolkata viewers.  

It was my first experience to see a Nepalese production, and I was impressed. Majipa Lakhe, presented by Shilpi Theatre from Kathmandu is a mythical play based on a Newari folk character that in the myths happens to be a demon. Every year a festival in the form of Indrajatra is held in the streets of Kathmandu to celebrate this demon as he is believed to help people in distress. The play has been presented in the form of a street show and the director Yubaraj Ghimire used a number of dramatic elements that help the viewers to grasp the happenings on the stage as the language of the play is foreign. And the viewers enjoyed the presentation. Music played an important part and Nepali folk with modern Western brought out the perfect effect.

The group from Naples, Italy – Teatro Stabile di Napoli – received the maximum of fan-fare and coverage in the press as the director Cristina Donadio is a familiar name in Italian cinema. Her troupe produced I CLYTEMNESTRA – THE VERDICT (lo, Clitemnestra - il verdetto), written by Valeria Parrella, a very talented young playwright of Italy. Based on Agamemnon one of the tragedies written by the Greek tragedian Aeschylus in one of his trilogies, The Oresteia,.  She has transported Agamemnon and Clytemnestra to modern day Naples and portrays Agamemnon as a Mafia boss. But whatever, nothing was intelligible from what was presented on the stage for the Kolkata viewers except for those few who knew Italian. A totally verbose drama with almost no other theatrical skills was, in fact, a very big disappointment for the audience. Language is, of course, a very important element but not the most if one creates a form that is able to convey to a foreign viewer what the play wants to tell.  This Italian production failed totally to communicate with the viewers. The only gain was to see Cristina act on the stage as she is that famous actor who worked with Fellini in one of his films and also had walked out of the film as she (she was in her teens, then) did not like to sit through the shooting and listen to the man’s directions.

Theatre Platform from North 24 Parganas presented two short plays – SOMOYJAN and KHAJANA AAMI AAR AASBO NA, both written by Bratya Basu. The first one tells a story of a young man on a tour of the past with his girl-friend in a time-machine. And in the process they get to know the hidden and sacrilegious past of their parents. The play had very little theatrical elements and a very inapt and unimaginative handling by the director Debashis Roy made the production a very mediocre one. The second production, though a forty minute one, was engrossing more because the playwright had introduced a number of psychological twists that made the viewers to get themselves involved in the situation presented on the stage. This once again demonstrates the powerful dramatist in Bratya. The story centres round an author and her reader whom she involves in building up her latest story. The actors did their parts justice. Debashis did his directorial job earnestly following the playwright and so was successful in this production.

Ramajit Kaur and her The Creative Arts presented an all-woman production BAAWRE MANN KE SAPNE as the concluding presentation of the Festival.  According to the brochure this group from Kolkata focuses on ‘Theatre as Therapy’ with the actors building up their characters from their personal experiences. Ramanjit had associated the characters in a story-line with whose help they interact with one another and thus express their angst, distress, jealousy, secrets and such other states of mind. But what strikes the viewers is the way she had used the theatrical elements like lights, music, stage, dress and such other to build up the play on the stage. The play ended with the cast distributing laddus that were a part of the props to the viewers. This viewer presented the laddu he had received to the director for a commendable job.

The last day also saw one of the most popular stage actors of the present times, Debsankar Halder speaking on acting as the Bisnu Basu Memorial Lecture. Those who missed the lecture did miss a very important speech that came extempore from within the thinking actor.

Before signing off, a word about Star Theatre – it is absolutely not fit for theatre viewing. It is a typical cinema hall with high back rest and reclining seats. One has to strain especially in the front rows to view the happenings on the stage. It is sad that a heritage theatre hall that had been restored and renovated has not been made compatible with theatre viewing. In the inaugural speech the Convenor of the Festival Bratya Basu who also happens to be the State Education minister appealed to the Mayor of Kolkata to name the theatre after Binodini Dasi. This proposal everyone present was happy to support. In this connection another piece of information would be quite inspiring for all theatre lovers. Cristina Donadio announced to undertake a project to film the life and times of Notee Binodini Dasi. The society and her male consorts deprived her from everything a successful person desires and even had maligned her for her social background but never having paused or falter to take every possible advantage from her. Bratyajon should be given its due share of indebtedness, too, for having focusing this great thespian to the world at large. 

BHAMKIRTAN: A satire by Chandan Sen

BHAMKIRTAN: A satire by Chandan Sen

Chandan Sen, one of the playwrights whose plays were important ingredients of the theatre-cuisines on which survived the theatre-hungry people like us in the late ‘60s and early 70’s still remains one of the most important dramatists of our times. When in those days almost every group was trying out apt as well as inapt adaptations/translations of works of dramatists from different lands like those of Brecht, Pirandello, Chekov, Moliere, and even Greek tragedians, a few groups tried to survive on desi fares. HaJaBaRaLa survived fifty three years in this fashion and this is a feat by itself as it is a group coming from the mofussils. This group with Chandan Sen as the nucleus did never suffer from a want of a play for production. They staged Sen’s recent satire, BHAMKIRTAN being their fifty fourth production. Strangely, to a query Sen could not recall the total number of plays he had penned. And that is what one calls prolificacy! 

Sen like in his most other works has put in powerful dramatic elements to capture the imagination of the general viewer as well as very strong retorts to questions on social problems that would give the viewers food for thought. The play highlights the epidemics that plague our society today – denying one's roots and fishing in troubled waters, as the saying goes. He has used two very attractive forms in this latest comedy of his. He has used rhyming dialogues that the viewers enjoy a lot. One also finds a very intelligent use of the folk format in the dramatic form.

As for the production the first and the foremost credit should go to the musical ambience created by Subhadip Guha. Dulal Santra’s make-up needs a special mention. Ranajit Chakraborty’s stage and Manoj Prasad’s lights did not have any pretension so viewing the happenings on the stage was comfortable. 

It was interesting to observe the creative conflicts between the dramatist Chandan Sen and the director Chandan Sen. The production had both the parts of him strongly present. So in the first half while some editing was required it was felt, the last climactic part could have been elaborated to some extent in order to highlight or rather focus on the bottom-line of the matter. 

Sayak’s DHRUBATARA & Meghnad

Sayak’s  DHRUBATARA & Meghnad

[Have been busy with writings on two very different subjects, so have not been able to post my blogs since more than a month. But have been seeing a number of theatres from different parts of the world as well as Bengali ones. Today I share with you one such from Sayak]

The senior thespian Meghnad Bhattacharya is certainly one of the very few present day leading stage actors to whom the younger generation of stage actors look up to for a guidance to interpret a character on the stage. The Bengali theatre owes a lot to this great actor-director. He once again proved himself in Sayak’s latest production, DHRUBATARA. Here he plays an intellectual who tries to balance between two worlds of his making.

In one of his classes the great thespian Natyacharya Sambhu Mitra while speaking on silent acting had pointed out that when the actor has no dialogues to utter for a long time and others are doing all the talking, he has to remain silent throughout but he must do something in order to attract the viewer’s   attention or rather compel the viewer to acknowledge his presence on the stage. As an illustration he mentioned about a very common scene in the zoo – that of a slumbering tiger in the cage on a hot afternoon. The rise and fall of the tiger’s stomach was enough to show-off its strength, it did not need to roar. This was beautifully demonstrated by Meghnad in the play.

Ujjwal Chattopadhyay’s play has all the ingredients of an engrossing drama where very mundane issues as well as very exceptional psychological issues that transgress the line of morality are dealt with in a somewhat melodramatic structure. There are many characters in the play and all of them contributed to the building up of the play. But what stands out in the production is that each of the characters was handled with care by the director so as to give the play homogeneity and a perfect balance. The two young talents that the Bengal stage would remember for long for their performance in PINKI BULI – Bhaswati Chakraborty and Rimi Saha did commendable jobs in this production, too, with the former taking a greater load.

Sayak believes, it seems, that viewers should get their money’s return and so they talk straight and never pretend to go through an intellectual exercise that remains incomprehensible for the general viewers.  

DOLES TO THEATRE GROUPS

DOLES TO THEATRE GROUPS

         One of our foremost theatre personalities, Shri Bratya Basu who also happens to be the state Education Minister, yesterday announced from the Writers’ Building that 100 theatre groups from different districts would be doled out an amount of  ` 35,000/- each. This benefit, as announced, would be given to those groups who are under financial constraints. For such groups who are finding it difficult to meet both ends, this will be a one-time grant. Subsequently other groups would get the assistance in the following years. This project of the government surely would demand kudos from one and all. But there is a Catch 22 situation it seems to comprehend the announcement, as previous such doles to infuse financial stability to clubs had made the intention of the government for such projects suspect.

        The process of selection of the groups to be given this financial help has not been announced and, at least according to reports in the press, the state Natya Akademi seems to know nothing of this project, let alone the selection and the procedure of distribution of the money. Basu said that advertisements regarding this was released in press and those who had applied would be given this assistance. But the question that comes to one’s mind is in which press was this advertisement published? And on what basis were these applications made? Was this done based on announcements notified by the Akademi last year? There was one which asked groups to submit applications for productions that would help to project the different social and other programmes taken up by the government; and another where artistes who are financially weak were invited to apply for help.

         With the Panchayet elections in the offing people would naturally question the timing of the announcement of such a project, and more so as the beneficiary groups are all from the ‘fringe areas’, that is if spelt out means regions that fall under different Panchayets. Such questions may seem a ‘tirade’ against any ‘benevolent ‘project the government takes up. No the intention of this blogger is not to prick the air out of any such balloons that soar up to brighten up the sky above us that had gathered some gloomy clouds of despair since long.

         These State grants to groups were once in practice but the LF government had discontinued it for quite many years. The Central government has been granting quite handsome assistance to groups and this increased a few folds on the occasion of the Tagore celebrations. But not all groups are lucky to get this help.  Monthly salaries have also been initiated. Though the sum is meagre and is given to senior distinguished persons, they are certainly stamps of recognitions to personalities who have spent their entire lives for the sake of theatre.

          Let us hope this initiative of the State government would help the groups to work out productions that would enrich the Bengal theatre world.

INDRASHIS LAHIRI: A PLAYWRIGHT EXTRA ORDINEM

INDRASHIS LAHIRI: A PLAYWRIGHT EXTRA ORDINEM

[It has been more than a month that I have added anything in my Blog. I have not seen any theatres during this time as I have been occupied with some other very important personal matters that had to be attended urgently and this is taking a lot of my time. But today I came across a piece of news that has compelled me to document my thoughts about a dramatist who has contributed a great deal to the Bengali theatre in a way that can never be emulated by any other playwright. This is my tribute to Indrashis Lahiri, a brilliant dramatist of our time, who has expired after a multi-organ failure at the SSKM Hospital.]

Indrashis Lahiri was a dramatist who seemed to have that rare ability to pen dramas that did not attempt to override the intellectual threshold of the general viewers/readers in spite of dealing with very important and serious themes that identify with the urban to semi-urban middle-class to lower middle-class society.  Indrashis had been quite consistent in his writing of dramas but had become sporadic in the last few years, perhaps due to ill health. He had his own language with which he could communicate very strongly with his viewers/readers who in their turn were comfortable in reciprocating. But what made his plays successful as stage-productions was his deep sense of the theatrics and that helped the director to adapt his plays on to the stage. Two of his latest dramas were presented by two foremost groups of Kolkata. SEI SUMOULI, a very significant political drama based on the change of the political baton in West Bengal, was produced by Swapnasandhani ; and PINKI BULI, a semi-fantasy based on a story by Amar Mitra but written afresh, was produced by Sayak.   

It is sad that not many competent directors, and there are many in today’s Bengali theatre world, have tried him out. Meghnad Bhattacharya and his Sayak have had done a few of his works. He was awarded the prestigious Satyen Mitra Award for the best playwright for the year 2011 of Theatre Workshop. And I take pride in the fact that I was one of the judges for this award and have had the opportunity to honour this introvert, self-effacing giant of a playwright.

It is a sad day for Bengali theatre which has once again been impoverished after the deaths of Badal Sircar and Mohit Chatterjee.

6 February 2013

Adapted from Mahesh Dattani : SADICHHAR RANGBADAL by Bengaluru’s Smaranik

Adapted from Mahesh Dattani : SADICHHAR RANGBADAL by Bengaluru’s Smaranik

Mahesh Dattani writes plays in English and has made a distinctive style of his own in the English drama scene.  He is perhaps the only Indian playwright who has written for BBC radio apart from being the first English playwright to be awarded with Sahitya Akademi Award and that too at a very young age. He is deeply rooted to the soil that has bred his cultural being and that gives his plays a very well balanced theme touching both the worlds – Eastern and Western. He deals with very sensitive social topics that are though common, not much taken up for circumspection. 

His first full length play, Where There’s a Will written in 1986 has been translated and adapted into Bengali by the esteemed thespian-director Meghnad Bhattacharya as SADICHHAR RANGBADAL for the Bengaluru group Smaranik. Smaranik is a new group though the director, Sayandeb Bhattacharya and some other members have had exposures on the Kolkata stage earlier. No matter, the group put up a good show and proved a lot of well done home work.

The play is designated as a drawing room comedy which in the hand-out of the production also is mentioned as the ‘comedy of the last wish’. The form of the play is certainly as is designated for the play is designed in the apartment space specifically in the drawing room with bits in the bedrooms of a family. The content deals with the predicament of the family centred on a will expressing the last wishes of the head of the family. Though the theme has a pinch of murder mystery, it deals with the positions of the wife, mistress and the daughter-in-law in a patriarchal system. Whatever the description, the play is no doubt a comedy that has a strong base on the play of the dialogues. And this flavour of the Mahesh work has been kept by Meghnad in his translation with very ingenious use of the Bengali language.

The production can boast of good acting as all the members were diligent to do their bits to the best. Apart from a congested stage and faulty lighting, the other aspects of the production scored well. The dress designing needed a special mention. Lastly, it is Sayandeb who deserves applause for handling a play in its true elements.      

An Engrossing Tagore Production: Bhabna’s

BHANUDAR SANGEY

For the last two years or more there has been a spate of various productions on the Kolkata stage with Tagore in the focus. Tagore’s 150th year has prompted groups across the state to work out some presentations that would seem a fitting tribute to the Poet. And then there was a big incentive in the form of financial assistance from the central government. So we found all sorts of productions ranging from staging of his plays without any modifications to adapting his stories and letters and other writings to a credible stage version, and then there has been stage shows that break all probity by marauding, plundering and disfiguring the Poet’s creations and also his philosophy in the name of creative interpretation. However, such works luckily have not been very many and are no more seen on the Kolkata stage except one which is worst of the lot and which had a lot of fanfare at its inaugural shows. I had discussed this production in my first blog.

Recently two of the brightest Tagore works were seen in Kolkata that very strikingly shows that creative interpretation for the stage rests solely on the very good understanding of the source material together with the intellectual perspectives that had given birth to the original writings of the Poet, or for that matter any author. Interestingly both the productions are by new groups with young talents at the helm. Ushnik’s KHELA BHANGAR KHELA has been discussed in one of my earlier blogs. Here we will be discussing BHANUDAR SANGEY another very well crafted production by yet another new group, Bhabna, under the direction of Sumitro Bandopadhyay who though is quite a successful playwright in his own right has this production as his maiden directorial venture. And the hint from this presentation that the viewers have received is that he has come to stay in the realm of direction.

As a playwright Sumitro has a very simple communicating language at his command and so his plays get going easily with the viewers. In this play he has tried to juxtapose Tagore during his stay at Shillong in the 20’s of the last century, when the Poet wrote the novel Shesher Kobita and during the time when he penned the epitome of Indian modern play, Rakta Karabi with the present day life system with all its attachments and corollaries. His intrinsic study of Tagore and his works has made him take the viewers in confidence even in situations where Tagore is seen to confront the modern band music or the cell phone and the laptop or for that matter terrorism of the present brand. The viewers get a taste of the typical Santiniketan cultural ambience on one hand and on the other they confront the deleterious effects of the so-called ‘item numbers’ on the young ones. With the very well designed run of the play one confronts Nandini of Rakta Karabi, Labanya of Shesher Kobita as well as Ranu and Indira, the latter though in a different image. 

Sumitro’s creative designing has given the play a particular engrossing visual treat with many a well crafted theatrical moments. But the performance could have been better if Soumik-Piyali’s stage planning had been more imaginative. The construction on the stage had to be compromised as the new Academy stage has many things wanting. However, things could have been better thought of. Music score by Koustuv Sen Barat and choreography by Sangeeta Ghosh were praiseworthy. But all the young members of the group did their roles – and everyone did a number of characters – with full confidence. And that tells a lot about the competence of the director to build up the teamwork.  The veteran thespian Ashok Mukherjee as the Poet was in his usual mettle.

This was one production that the viewers at the end had a feel-good mood – and that is a rare exception these days.