Three Plays I Have Recently Watched

1. Name: Kacher Putul

Original text: Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
Adapted by: Partha Chattopdhay
Director: Subrata Dutta
Theatre Group: Anweshak
Venue of the show I witnessed: Tapan Theatre, Kolkata

The classic has been aptly adapted and situated in a family of modest means, residing in
North Kolkata of the late 1990s or later. Each aspect of the production has come together to
tell the story without drawing attention to themselves individually, wherein the production
succeeds. A few mild anachronisms were the only drawback.

2. Name: Marich Sambad

Playwright/Director: Arun Mukhopadhyay
Theatre Group: Chetana
Venue of the last show I witnessed: Madhusudan Mancha, Kolkata

A classic poster play, first produced in the early 1970s, Marich Sambad continues to be
staged with imminent changes in the cast. A rustic street magician attempts to narrate three
parallel stories of how common people are forced to submit to the power structures. The
oppressed characters revolt against their fate, refusing to follow the set storyline and the
dramatic device of a-play-within-a-play is brilliantly utilised. The current actors have quite
different proficiency levels which pulls down the play a bit. On the plus side, it is a treat to see
a performer like Arun-babu on stage, if only playing the harmonium.

3. Name: Chhotoboro
Playwright: Collective effort
Director: Jitaditya Chakroborty
Group: About 20 economically underprivileged children living around Canal East Road,
Kolkata and Jitaditya; sponsored by NSS, Scottish Church College, Kolkata
Venue of the show I witnessed: Scottish Church College Grounds, Canal East Road, Kolkata

It was an immersive experience as I arrived before time, got acquainted with the children,
chatted with them, urged them to calm down before the show and was given a tambourine
to play on loosely rehearsed cues. The children play themselves in the play – as one of them
falls sick from air pollution, the rest travel through rivers and mountains and jungles to reach
a magic tree who has the cure. It was the power of collective imagination with which they
make these places come true without a shred of scenography or properties that was
amazing. Their conviction was therapeutic.