For some time now, this reviewer has wondered why most local troupes cannot make theatre out of the living drama that stares at us daily on the streets of this city. If Brecht could write about a coolie, if Beckett could write about two tramps, why can’t a Bengali playwright
Two old warhorses of the Calcutta stage appeared among Anamika Kala Sangam’s Four Square Critics Choice at Gyan Manch last month. Anil De’s dramatization of Upendra Kishor Raychaudhuri’s Gupi Gāin Bāghā Bāin is Natyayan’s biggest hit, boasting an unbroken run from 1978 and now nearing one thousand performances. However, there
Some of Brecht’s short plays are perfect little gems of world drama. Two are currently running in Bengali versions: The Measures Taken as Samādhān by Open Theatre (Academy of Fine Arts, February 14) and The Exception and the Rule as Bidhi o Byatikram by Class Theatre (Four Square Critics Choice,
A wave of children’s theatre swept through the city recently, soaking young audiences normally parched of such fare. Max Mueller Bhavan’s ongoing Grips Project (which originated in Berlin) involved one group from outside and one local unit in two separate adaptations of plays by German dramatist Volker Ludwig. Theatre Academy,
There is no question about it, Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle is one of the most beautiful plays written in this century—said at the risk of offending Bertolt’s ghost, for beauty was certainly not one of Brecht’s theatrical objectives. But human genius works in strange subconscious ways, and this drama
There’s hope for Bharat Dabholkar and Burjor Patel’s Theatre Arts Production yet. Compared to the repetitive tripe that they keep regurgitating in their Bottoms Up and Bumbay revues, It’s All Yours, Janab! (Spandan Utsav, Kalamandir, March 12) at least suggests some pretensions of relying on classier material. In this case
The short compendium of scenes from Moliere, titled Jeu de Roles, compiled by the Association Chatillonnaise de Theatre Estival from Paris and presented by Alliance Francaise (Gorky Sadan, March 26), was conceived and executed in the professional manner one virtually takes for granted from Western companies, who can devote their
Manoj Mitra seems to reserve his sober writing for his own group Sundaram, while his lighter works are available for other groups. Bohurupee in particular has put on successful stagings of at least two Mitra comedies—Rājdarshan and Kinu Kāhārer Thetār—the latter premiered on the occasion of Bohurupee’s fortieth anniversary in
Alyque Padamsee’s much-hyped production of Death and the Maiden, presented by Spandan at Birla Sabhagar on April 10, turned out quite a damp squib. This recent London hit certainly does not enhance Ariel Dorfman’s reputation as one of Chile’s leading writers, who escaped from Pinochet’s regime and lived for many
The three-day festival of plays by Aaj from Udaipur (presented by Sangit Kala Mandir, March 26-28) further stirs the continuing debate over the mixing of rural and urban performing styles. Countless attempts of this nature have been made for the past twenty years by Indian directors in search of new
The December riots jolted many out of their complacency about the tolerance of Calcutta. Some artistes took one step further and decided to act upon the strength of their convictions. In the thespian world, Anya Theatre was possibly the first to create a new production that addressed the problem directly,
Soumitra Chatterjee has been trying for some time now to bridge the discrete worlds of commercial and “group” theatre in Calcutta by grafting the serious concerns of the latter with the professionalism of the former. A debate rages as to how far he has succeeded, but as far as Darpane
