8-day Theatre festival opens with a period play
Theatre festival Rang Sangam organised jointly by Rashtriya Natya Academy,New Delhi and Bhartendu Natya Academy,Lucknow opened to a mix audience response to the inaugural play Raj Mrigya by eminent theatre director Chidambara Rao Jambe.
Hindi adaptation of Kannada treat,the 90-minute period play talked about 15 century Yaduvansh dynasty King Mahishur and his lust. Surrounded by courtesans,pandit and a tantrik,King is shown as a weak character who loses control over everything and is jailed by successor.
Like a true period tale depicting political upheavals,play is long enough to keep the audiences interest intact throughout. In fact,as the play progress,audiences are reminded of chief guest Raj Biserias stress on the need of theatre appreciation workshops for patrons.
Such workshops could be the need of the hour because If they are started,it would pave way for future workshops for theatre veterans making them understand the need to adapt to the new age theatre lovers yearnings. Translated by Devendra Raj Ankur,Bhartendu Kashyap and Meeta Mishra,play is in genuine Hindi language,which sometimes fails to strike chord with audience.
Like other adaptations,Raj Mrigya loses the overall spirit of the original. The attempt to make the dramatics loud has resulted in the dramatic power going down.
The only highpoint of the play is the power packed performances by Hema Singh and Shajli Khan as courtesans. Some attempted intimate scenes and humour quotient appears to have been put in to keep the audience awake and surely director succeeds in it.
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