With World Theatre Day around the corner, it is time to raise a toast to two successful adaptations of indigenous performing arts on the Bengali proscenium stage.
In Maya (Sisir Mancha, February 17), Ichapur Aleya attempts an adaptation of J.M. Synge’s Riders to the Sea. Krishnanagar-based Swapan Baran Acharya, hitherto renowned for translations of Shakespeare’s tragedies, transplants Synge’s play onto the mangroves of the Sunderbans where men venture into dense forests to collect honey, occasionally falling prey to man-eating tigers. Acharya succeeds in scripting a tragic play with a mother and her two daughters at its centre. Kaushik Chatterjee, the guest director, explores the landscape where a syncretic culture reigns, where Dakshin Ray and Bon Bibi are ever-present in the lives of the inhabitants of this riverine delta. Suggestive rituals, pepped up by sprightly music, add authenticity to the production design.
Jayanta Bandyopadhay’s innovative use of fabric to design a deceptively heavy stage is supplemented by the light designer, Joyanta Mukhopadhyay, and his flirtation with light and shade. The acting honours go to Sangita Chowdhury for playing Maya, the mother. With her movements restricted, Chowdhury strains her voice and stretches her facial muscles to etch this role of a lifetime (picture).
Jatra may have lost much of its command over rural Bengal but Burdwan Kushilob’s Jiyankanya, a retrospective look at jatra’s ability to assimilate the oral tradition (“Manasamangal”, in this case) to address real-life issues plaguing the socially marginalised, leaves a mark. Recently staged at Rabindra Sadan (February 10), this Timir Baran Roy script is directed by Priyatosh Roy with an eye on reviving the warmth and joie de vivre that underlines a jatra performance. After a relatively sedate start, Jiyankanya picks up post interval when the proscenium arena is transformed into a jatra stage. Munnema Shabnam, playing a Muslim girl taking refuge in a touring jatra group led by Tamal Kanti Das, enacts Behula’s part like a dream. Among others, Anupam Banerjee impresses as the cross-dressing Manasa, as does Priyatosh Roy playing the singer-narrator with excellent support from the live accompanists.