WHEELCHAIR | MUKTI
Narir Mancha, Nandipat’s festival around International Women’s Day of women directors, reached an auspicious tenth anniversary this year. Two of the new plays zeroed in on psychological troubles of their
Reviews
MARK TWAIN: LIVE IN BOMBAY!
Vinay Sharma is a class act in this Padatik–Rikh co-production. If acting forms the essence of theatre, one cannot hope for a more unobstructed demonstration of it than here, undoubtedly
32 ASWINI DUTTA ROAD
Site-specific performances have not caught on in the conservative domain of Bengali theatre, though unconventional English groups in the city like The Creative Arts have experimented with this postmodern form
SONAI BIBI
Celebrating its golden anniversary this year, Rangroop has grown from strength to strength, a different trajectory from many Bengali groups who have reached that milestone. Starting off as a small
EAST SIDE STORIES | TRANSPORTER
The trauma experienced by refugees, local and worldwide, forms the theme of two solo productions. East Side Stories, about both Bengals post-partition, inaugurated the newest performance venue in our city
16 PATA | TARAMANDAL | THE PINK SPIDER
Youth theatre in this city – though some of these troupes may justifiably claim they are no longer young and qualify for treatment on par with regular groups – encounters
BHANGA BHANGA CHHABI | POLLENS | ANUBHAV
Solo performances constitute the nucleus of several new Bengali productions, in which technical inputs, stage properties or voices off add extra dimensions to the acting. In Broken Images, Girish
CHHUMANTAR | CHARLIE
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
A-PABITRA | PLAYHOUSE KHELBEN?
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
ABHINETRI | BIPANNA BISHWAS
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.
Reviews
PUNARUTTHAN
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
RAJRAKTA | CAPTAIN HURRAH | SINGHASANER KSHAYROG
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