Noor Jahan and Jahangir might look pleased as punch in the promotional pictures, but if you had seen Yatrik’s Noor Jahan – An Empress Reveals, you would have wondered how the Mughal Empire tolerated such lacklustre rulers running the country for so long. For an august imperial couple to exhibit
Romantic comedy does not find too many takers in Bengali theatre, which prides itself in its social commitment. So the occasional such forays stand out by virtue of diversion from the norm. Two currently running examples begin in a frivolous vein that keeps us laughing, but eventually we realize that
With Passing Show, Sayak completes a trilogy of dramatizations from Amar Mitra’s stories, by three different playwrights. It began with the urban domestic realism of Pinki Buli, followed by last year’s rural but symbolic tale of women’s empowerment, Dāmini-he, by Indrashis Laharry and Chandan Sen respectively. But Passing Show raises
After a short hibernation, Sangit Kala Mandir’s return to bringing quality theatre, in association with Aditya Birla Group, raises audience hopes of seeing more such fare from outside. Aadyam Theatre’s Loretta took us by surprise with its facile mix of light romantic musical and deeply topical, even political, issues. Perhaps
Historical drama in Bengali stages a comeback with two plays set in medieval times, ranging from the turn of the 13th century to the late 18th century. In both, invaders lay waste to parts of eastern India. Bohurupee’s Kathā Nālandā recounts the plunder of Nalanda by Bakhtiyar Khilji, fairly well
Suddenly existentialism appears back in fashion among young troupes, with two adaptations from Camus and Sartre, as well as a third by a more established group, from the early absurdism of Ionesco. Under what circumstances can we justify killing? At a time when even intelligent and reasonable folk unexpectedly voice
Who says that Bengali political theatre has lost its edge? It has become the fashion among some widely-read columnists – who, ironically, do not see Bengali drama – to mourn that local productions cannot compare with those in the glory days of the 1960s and 70s. Ignore these misleading pretenders
Little Thespian and Padatik keep local Hindi theatre alive with their new works, derived from American originals. Reminiscent of Euripides’ antiwar The Trojan Women, Jules Tasca’s The Balkan Women, translated as Balkan ki Auraten by Uma Jhunjhunwala, shows a chorus of Bosnian women imprisoned in a Serbian camp during the
Three Mumbai productions in English came to Kolkata pre-Puja, exemplifying the good, the bad and the ugly, all funded by Aadyam Theatre, the Aditya Birla initiative. Aadyam needs to apply much stricter norms to the companies it backs, like zero tolerance for any enterprise of dubious legality (see below). Furthermore,
When theatre presents mythological lore about popular deities, it inevitably risks the injustice of compressing reams of important episodes into a two-hour span, as well as attempting to reconcile contradictory or disparate material from multiple sources into a cohesive action. In this no-win scenario, the wise option (other than avoiding
Not every day does an awardwinning play from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival come to Kolkata, or an international act inaugurate its India tour in Kolkata. Embarrassingly under-advertised, Krishnan’s Dairy by Indian Ink from New Zealand enchanted its sparse audiences at the ICCR. The production and company date back to 1997
Little Thespian’s annual festival has become by default the only one in Kolkata to showcase Hindi theatre at the national level on a regular basis. This year’s Jashn-e Rang brought two productions from Delhi as well as participation from Patna (already seen in town), Bikaner and a one-man show from
