Sensitized by our consciously feminist times, artistes in any form must take care to avoid sexism in their depiction of women. Yet old habits creep in almost inadvertently, even against intended purposes. Two recent productions proved how delicately one must handle female stage parts—because both, in spite of the best
As part of Banga Mela 1400, organized by the Information and Culture Department of the Government of West Bengal, Theatre Commune presented Sadhabār Ekādashi at Rabindra Sadan on April 17. No doubt germane to the occasion—a play from the 13th century Bangābda for the final year of the 14th century
The maiden enterprise of Spandan’s Theatre Wing, Māyājāl (Birla Sabhagar, May 1), augurs well for its future. It seems that Spandan is committed to serious work in its own productions, never mind the regular commercialized blockbusters which it sponsors from outside. One hopes it continues not to compromise, for it
The latest productions by two talented, comparatively younger Bengali groups—Sudrak’s Chandālini and Chenamukh’s Drishtikanyā—prove conclusively how dependent on other people’s ideas our theatre has become. The experience is all the more distressing because these two groups are led by the shining lights of the new generation of Bengali dramatist-directors, Debasis
It’s one thing to praise a weak but idealistic play by a lesser dramatist so as to encourage him, but the same play written by a frontline author is bound to get panned because we expect much greater things from the highest literary echelons. That is the trouble with Mohit
In terms of social service, RAGE Theatre Group (Bombay) has done its bit by staging Are There Tigers in the Congo? (a Spandan presentation, Birla Sabhagar, June 18). By today’s standards, Lone and George Blecher’s one-hour, one-act, two-character play is a relatively simple AIDS-education script, because its main concern seems
Credit must be given to Chalchitra for discovering the works of Viktor Rozov, an important Russian dramatist whose constant projection of the disgruntled younger generation and criticism of misplaced social values should have endeared him to Bengali directors long ago (but then contemporary Bengali theatre is not known for its
Surely Pooja Bedi’s fortunes have not fallen so low as to force her to accept the kind of exploitative part that she performs in Carry on Papa (a Spandan presentation, Vidya Mandir, July 10)? By appearing as the oomph-girl hired to put some vim back into the life of a
Mohit Chattopadhyaya’s forte is comic drama with a serious purport, and he has found the right director with the light touch in Dwijen Bandyopadhyay of Samstab. Probably encouraged by its experience with Sundar last year, Samstab returns to Chattopadhyaya for Mushtijog (not Mushthijog, as misspelt in Bengali in the publicity
The quality of entries in British Council’s 15th School Drama Competition of original one-act plays (Gyan Manch, July 31-August 1) shot up this year, making it difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. Non-awardees should console themselves with the knowledge that, in many cases, it seemed simply a matter
Most liberal secular intellectuals have felt the urgent need to stand up and be counted at one time or another in the course of the past twelve months. We may safely deduce that this desire motivated Sisir Kumar Das to write Akbar Birbal and Kumar Roy to produce it as
The Action Players last presented a regular show in Calcutta in 1989 (Satyajit Ray’s Patol Babu, Film Star), so expectations ran high for Dancing Dolphins, premiered on September 4 at Gyan Manch. However, one must record a tinge of disappointment that TAP appears to be backtracking, neither matching nor going
