Darpane Shorot Shashi
As part of the silver jubilee celebration of Dhaka Padtik, Protikrity staged Manoj Mitra's popular play Darpane Shorot Shoshi at National Theatre Stage on March 19.
Manoj's play is set against the backdrop of early 20th century when many people from the elite class and zamindars, influenced by theatre practice in Kolkata, introduced European theatre at different corners of the then undivided Bangla. The zamindar in Manoj's play is one of those progressive minded men who had respect for Girish Chandra Ghosh and other pioneer commercial theatre activists of those days. His son introduces a theatre troupe in his locality.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Depicting the problems and sufferings that are encountered in the course of introducing the theatre troupe, Manoj in the subplot of the play has portrayed facets of this region's socio-political situation: such as the caste issue, the transformation of the harlots to actresses and the changed policy of the British imperialists on the natives, among others.
Aalok Dev's direction deserves plaudits. He has successfully created the dramatic conflicts and tense situations on the stage. His handling of the play rehearsing scenes and play within the play were very interesting. Moreover, without showing Girish Chandra Ghosh on the stage, he had successfully created the impression of his arrival.
Bibhash Chakrabarti's set design differs vastly from the design trend of Kolkata. Using a delicate statue at the right corner of the stage, a suggestive entrance at the right corner and two pillars at the backstage he successfully created the atmosphere of a Natmandop (the venue where the zamindars arranged ritual and cultural programmes).
Meghnad Bhattachariya's light design was impressive.
All the performers had equal potential. However, a few fumbled during dialogue delivery. Satyaprio Sarkar's voice modulation and relevant body language successfully expressed the emotion and internal conflict of a rural artiste named Shitikunda. Amalendu Chatterjee, in the role of the zamindar gave a good performance.