Durga may have departed, but her spirit lives in two female solo acts. Lushin Dubey, consistently working for social awareness, stages fact in her current production, Aruna’s Story, presented by Open Doors and The Kolkata Festival. Suranjana Dasgupta writes and performs science fiction in Nirbak Academy’s Mrs Udgarica. Whether fact
Gandhiji’s sesquicentenary has galvanized several Bengali groups to mount productions about him, the latest being Swapna-sandhani’s interpretation of Utpal Dutt’s Eklā Chalo Re. Swapna-sandhani had staged another biographical drama immediately preceding this one, Tārāy Tārāy, on Van Gogh, about whom, too, a few plays had already appeared, though none in
Three troupes from abroad visited this year’s Rabindra Utsav, all of them deficient in one department or more, despite positive accomplishments in others. Two of them revived Tagore’s originally prose plays from 1933, Tāser Desh and Chandālikā, as dance-dramas. The Department of Theatre, Rajshahi University (Bangladesh), improved markedly over last
Bengali groups continue to question the rosy picture of India that some parties propagate. Two new productions zero in on Jungle Mahal and, specifically, the paucity of opportunities and medical care there, simultaneously commenting on political matters as they do so. Nandikar’s Mānush takes the very short story by Prafulla
The month of Bhadra seems appropriate to review Bhādrajā, SpectActors’ new play written and directed by Sudipto Chatterjee. Particularly drawn to the folk and rural ethos of Bengal, which has provided him with material for several earlier productions, Chatterjee now attempts an investigation into the roots of Bhadu worship, popular
A popular notion circulates about Partition literature, that Punjab has received more extensive treatment than Bengal. This stems from the fact that not enough translations exist of the Bengali literature on the subject. In recent times, Sunanda Sikdar wrote an award-winning book, Dayāmayir Kathā, based on her childhood memories in
Eleven years after he came to Kolkata and decided to settle here, director Jean-Frederic Chevallier’s Trimukhi Platform has established itself in Borotalpada village, Paschim Medinipur, where he has introduced young Santhals to avant-garde performance. Their latest production, Homemade Theatre, took place last weekend at Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan as part of
Vinay Sharma’s new script (his considered choice of label, rather than “play”) exemplifies postmodern bricolage – a text that comprises excerpts from many other texts, where Sharma’s own written contribution amounts to perhaps 5% of the whole. Hence the title of the rikh- and Padatik production, Pieces. Many postmodernists argue
Quite uncommonly, Bengali theatre offers a range of classics on display at the moment, acquainting and educating new audiences with great dramatic literature of the past, both Western and Indian. The latest to join this august gallery is Mohan Rakesh, the first major post-Independence Hindi playwright (after Dharamvir Bharati’s one-off
Continuity has always remained a worry with Bengali groups after the departure of their leaders. But Dwijen Bandyopadhyay’s premature passing has not curtailed the activities of Samstab who, in the time-honoured spirit of “The show must go on”, launch their second new production in the space of a year. Sima
Dharamvir Bharati deserves this space for his eminence in Hindi literature, not Surnai Theatre and Folk Arts Foundation for their eminently forgettable production on his work, Shabd Lila, presented by Centre Stage Creations and Sanskriti Sagar. Conceptualizer and compiler Ila Arun has learnt little from the many stirring epistolary plays
As reported in this column already, Pirandello has stormed the Bengali stage with three productions this year. Aneek’s biodrama Pirandello o Puppeteer was followed by Sayak’s adaptation Bhālo Lok and now, Sansriti’s Kothākār Charitra Kothāy Rekhechho, which in terms of fidelity far surpasses most Indian renditions of foreign classics. The
