Theatre

Anshuman Kar's play juxtaposes Rohit Vemula and Shambuka of the Ramayana, who was killed as he began a rigorous tapasya considered the exclusive right of Brahmins. It dramatizes the events that motivated Shambuka to choose tapasya as his form of protest and places alongside Vemula's suicide note, unravelling the incidents that led to his decision. […]

Based on the Netflix webseries Criminal, exploring the scars of sexual harassment in the context of an unresolved police interrogation. Adapted and directed by Dipankar Sen.

Arpita Chatterjee’s solo musical on Gauhar Jan, directed by Abanti Chakraborty. Read my review.

Ujjwal Chattopadhyay’s play inspired by the American film The Judge (2014) about the personal conflict between a retired judge and his son who defends criminals. Directed by Meghnad Bhattacharya.

A retelling of the life of Srinivasa Iyengar Ramanujan from the humble town of Kumbakonam to the hallowed halls of Cambridge. The dramatis personae include devout and determined mother, Kamallatammal, who introduced him to the world of classical Indian mathematics; his young wife Janaki, whose loneliness, sacrifices and silent suffering form a backdrop to his […]

Rage's old production with Rajit Kapur and Shernaz Patel, an Indianization of Neil Simon's Prisoner of Second Avenue (unacknowledged in the credits). Presented by Anamika Kala Sangam. Read my review.

An ebullient Bengali pastiche of Hamlet. 4th Bell debuted in 2011 with this play, deliberately and delectably perverting Shakespeare’s tragedy into a festive comedy written and directed by Aniruddha Dasgupta. Recommended: ★★★★.

Marking Ritwik Ghatak's birth centenary, this biodrama by Jeet Satragni, unlike the usual portrayal of Ghatak as an unwavering and fearless rebel, delicately explores his early years as a romantic and passionate lover of art. It traces his journey towards a stable career in cinema after marrying his muse, Surama, and his time in Bombay […]

Ujjwal Chattopadhyay’s play about Chandrabati, the 16th-century poet who composed the first Bangla Ramayan from the perspective of Sita, as well as parts of the Maimansingha Gitika. Directed by Prokash Bhattacharya.

Dramatized from Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay’s Ek Āshcharja Pheriwālā by Kuntal Mukhopadhyay and directed by Debasish. A mysterious hawker sells seemingly useless things, which evil people conspire to capture, while an eccentric scientist pursues his thirst for knowledge, Recommended: ★★★★. Read my review.

Adapted from Somerset Maugham's play on euthanasia, The Sacred Flame, by Bhaskar Lahiri and directed by Kishore Sengupta.

Revived production based on Jean-Paul Sartre’s Crime Passionnel about a Communist plot of political assassination, adapted into Bengali and directed by Arpita Ghosh.

Based on Utpal Dutt’s early play about lorry drivers, directed by Saurav Palodhi. Highly recommended ★★★★★. Winner of META awards. Read my review.

Revival of Chetana’s classic production, written and directed by Arun Mukhopadhyay.

Biographical drama on Nati Binodini co-written by Abanti Chakraborty and Sibashis Bandyopadhyay, and directed by Abanti Chakraborty. Read my review.

Rangapat’s latest production, based by dramatist Ujjwal Chattopadhyay on the making of Chekhov’s classic The Seagull, recreating the work of the Moscow Art Theatre, its director Stanislavski and lead actress Olga Knipper (Chekhov’s wife). Directed by Tapanjyoti.

Revival of Ajitesh Bandopadhyay’s drama about the crisis of identity and relevance of a Jatra artiste. Directed by Ashok Mukhopadhyay.

Dramatist-director Debasish’s biodrama about Panchanan Karmakar, the first creator of Bengali moveable typeface in the 18th century, based on Rajat Chakraborti’s novel Panchananer Haraph. Recommended: ★★★★. Read my review.

Rangroop marks the birth centenary of Badal Sircar with a revival of his perennial early comedy about wish fulfilment. Directed by Sima Mukhopadhyay.

After the turbulent 1960s, young Nilambala and Uddalak cross into the thunderous calls of the 1970s. Before the stormy chaos settles, life becomes unstable again—then the change of 1977, a breeze of dreamlike euphoria. But again the tide turns, and the river of life becomes a vast low tide. Uddalak, now past sixty, appears like […]

Utpal Dutt’s classic play, directed by Suman Mukhopadhyay. Recommended: ★★★★ Read my review.

A seriocomic play written and directed by Sumitro Bandyopadhyay, about the relationship between a man and his uncle in a north Kolkata family.

Dramatized from Michael Madhusudan Dutt’s poem about classical heroines and directed by Turna Das. Recommended: ★★★★. Read my review here.