We can quote from Shakespeare, but have no clue about Shakuntalā, the pinnacle of Sanskrit literature. That is the shame that the white man’s burden has left us with, even now. Yet, soon after Sir William Jones “discovered” and translated Kalidasa’s play in Calcutta with the help of pandit Ramalochan
The pair of plays that flew in from Mumbai recently weren’t good advertisements for Mumbai’s theatre. Ikigai & Co’s punningly-titled Gā Re Mā (presented by Showhouse) at least had the potential of exploring diverse musical forms considered as mutually irreconcilable. A Hindustani classical vocalist cannot understand her son, a small-time
Round Table India and Ladies Circle India conceived a surefire way to support charity by hosting a star vehicle – Sharman Joshi as a police inspector, unlikely as that may sound. At the same time, they did not sacrifice artistic quality like many other organizers who invite purely showbiz presentations.
Now in its eighth year, Little Thespian’s national festival named Jashn-e-Rang provides Kolkata theatre lovers their only opportunity to see a range of Hindi/Urdu drama from across the country. This time, quite a few sizzled with political innuendos. The most telling, Sambhav’s Garib Nawāz from Delhi, written by Santosh
Bahuswar’s invitation to Ruchika from Delhi to showcase their work at an exclusive festival heralds progress among Bengali groups to grant equal status to theatre in English, usually sidelined. We discovered to our surprise that Ruchika had never come to Kolkata despite activities under Feisal Alkazi’s direction for forty-plus years.
A little bit of magic – some may call it pure fantasy, others simply luck – connects two new Bengali plays in both of which a commoner becomes a celebrity and his day-to-day routine undergoes a sea change. In Lokkrishti’s Chhumantar, written by Jeet Satragni, a middle-aged man lives an
Bengali groups seem keen on reviving foreign works that made a name in the mid-20th century. Two of these date to virtually the same year, 1955-56: the American play Inherit the Wind and the Swiss German novella A Dangerous Game, both dealing with the miscarriage of justice. No prizes for
The Kolkata International Film Festival offers occasion to muse on the fraught relationship between theatre and cinema, artists of the former perennially blaming the latter for cornering all the publicity. Two current Bengali plays feature stage actresses with humble beginnings crossing over to the film industry, where they find success.
Keeping pace with progressive Bengali fiction is a positive sign for group theatre, which needs to consciously disprove the popular perception that it lives retrospectively. Sayak have consistently cultivated contemporary literature, especially the work of Amar Mitra, and succeed yet again on Chandan Sen’s dramatization of his recent novel, Punarutthan,
Mohit Chattopadhyaya, the quiet, self-effacing teacher, would have smiled enigmatically. Six years after his death, Bengali theatre has launched a rediscovery of his dramatic works with three new productions of early plays. That makes as many as seven currently running shows of his original drama – alongside Rangroop’s Nil Ranger
The more I see the work of Piyal Bhattacharya with his young disciples, the more I am astonished by the ease with which he unites scholarship of the Nātyashāstra and its esoteric commentaries with the rigour of performing in classical styles while keeping an open contemporary mind. Usually experts in
Ganakrishti is in the vanguard of a rethinking among Bengali groups, a few of whom have taken the first steps to diversify out of their familiar proscenium surroundings into the intimate spaces of studio theatres. For far too long did group theatre cling to that tried-and-tested safety net. At last,
