Much to the cheer of the theatre fraternity and connoisseurs of Orissa, Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre (EZCC) under the Ministry of Culture hosted the national theatre festival at the state capital after a gap of six years. And as it has been envisioned, the occasion offered the unique opportunity to look at the latest trends in the theatre scenes in the eastern Indian states of Bihar, Manipur, West Bengal and Orissa apart from facilitating an interaction among the theatre folks of the region.As a befitting tribute to Rabindra Nath Tagore, whose 150th birth anniversary celebrations are on across the country, the five-day festival staged at Rabindra Mandap in association with the Department of Culture of the State Government kicked off with Dakghar, a play penned by Tagore and directed by celebrated Manipuri theatre director Heisnam Kanhailal who has brilliantly adapted the Bengali play into the milieu of Manipuri language and culture – especially the dance and music of Manipur. What made this presentation more powerful was the transformation of the verbal dramaturgy into a non-verbal format; thereby making it more communicable to the audience who had the language barrier. The dramatist’s Padma awardee versatile and septuagenarian actress wife Savitri Devi stole the show with her incredible portrayal of the character of an 11-year-old boy who was the protagonist of the play.Bengal’s prominent actor-director Bibhas Chakraborty staged the Bengali adaptation of the Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet during the second evening. In sharp contrast with the production of the first evening, the play of the second evening was packed with actions and dialogues. The excellent stage-craft was the hallmark of the presentation.Oriya play Nakata Chitrakara, staged on the third evening, was a befitting tribute to Oriya literature’s best known humour and satire writer Faturananda who had penned the play. It was amazing to come across a story - the tragic story of unrequited love of a poor painter – in which he has harmoniously blended tragedy with comedy. Well-known cine-actor and theatre director Ajit Das directed the captivating play.The other Oriya play presented in the festival was Ruddhadwara by the well-known Satabdira Kalakar theatre group of Bhubaneswar. Displacement of innocent villagers from their homeland – the burning issue of contemporary Orissa – was neatly portrayed through this play that was scripted by late Rati Ranjan Mishra and directed by Dhira Mallick. Popular film music director Manmath Mishra scored music for this production that extensively used elements of folk music and dances of Orissa.As the poignant play presented on the inaugural evening, the concluding evening of the festival was also memorable with the Hindi play Phool Nautanki Vilas from Bihar. Brilliantly directed by Abhay Sinha, the Patna-based prominent theatre director who is known for his extensive use of folk danced and music of Bihar in his productions, the play was performed in the folk theatre style of Bihar’s immensely popular Nautanki in which the Nat and Nati play the lead pair.
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