Lalit Gupta
-Excelsior/Rakesh
JAMMU, June 5: Overriding the limitations of K L Saigal Hall as a performance space, Shivani Cultural Society’s presentation of Cactus, a play in Hindustani, stood out for brilliant performance by the entire cast, including the greenhorns who were acting for the first time. Staged with financial assistance from Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi, the play adapted and designed by Aditya Bhanu and directed by Himanshu Darshan, was a saga as to how the blind desire to succeed in life at any cost can make one to adapt debased and inhuman measures and tactics when exposed can shatter the dreamy run of success and leave one as a complete wreck.
The plot of the play revolves around Dr Raj Oberoi, a surgeon, who not only exploits Shalini, the gullible small town girl, but in a bid to climb the social ladder also uses her to malign the public image of his superior only to get his senior’s post. Afraid that the unborn child of Shalini would be linked to him, he castrates himself. To further his mission in life, he marries Sheetal, the daughter of political elite and succeeds in rising notches in his professional career. On the other hand, Sheetal unable to give birth to a child and thinking it to be her physical failing, decides to divorce Oberoi. The visit of their new neighbor Deepak Agnihotri— Shalini’s husband and who took care of her (Oberoi’s) daughter, when she died after child-birth- dramatically blows away Oberoi’s world of lies, especially when Sheetal announces that she is carrying Agnihotri’s child in her womb.
Today’s presentation due to the intimate settings of the performance space, provided good opportunity to the audience to enjoy the acting prowess, subtle voice modulations and the plethora of expressions of actors which included Aditya Bhanu as Dr Oberoi, Pammy Samyal as Sheetal, Himanshu Darshan as Deepak Agnihotri and Manpreet Kaur as Mrs Taneja. The chief guest at the occasion was Balwant Thakur, who speaking on the occasion said that the prolonged closure of Abhinav Theatre has affected Jammu theatre very badly. He asked the authorities to expedite its repairs and open the premier theatre space of the city as soon as possible.
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