Lalit Gupta
JAMMU, Nov 28: Organized by National School of Drama, New Delhi, the National Poorvottar Rang Utsav, a five-day festival of plays from the northeastern States, opened at the Abhinav Theatre, here today.
Inaugurated by Priya Sethi, MoS, Education, Culture, Tourism, the theatre festival which has provided an opportunity for Jammuites to witness the contemporary theatre practice in north-east region-one the active centers of the country, got underway with the staging of the multilingual production “Ab Aur Nahi,” presented by the Sikkim Theatre Training Centre, Gangtok.
Written by Asif Ali Haider, and directed by Bipin Kumar, today’s play presentation came out to be an entrancing experience for the audience. The play inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet is about the enmity between tow gangs. When a young member of one group falls in love with other groups member’s sister of, a bitter confrontation ensues. But in the end, both groups realize the futility of the discord and become friends.
Unlike Romeo & Juliet, the play which has an optimistic ending, while critiquing the traditional markers of identity like religion, culture, and community, reiterates the fact of the fast emerging boundary-less global reality.
Today’s production presented as a dance drama, was an aesthetic treat in terms of the overall scenic design, the excellent and effortless configuration of the sets, the colorful backdrop and props, supported by lyrical background score as well as light design.
The cast of young actors impressed for their energetic acting as well as synchronized poetic dance sequences- a combination of fast as well as slow movements which also included wonderful acrobatic sequences. The colorful costumes along with the use of masks was another excellent example of using the prop to symbolically denote western and the traditional contexts.
Prominent among the audience were Shantanu Gosh, Dean NSD, Balwant Thakur, Prof Rita Jatinder, Arvinder Singh Aman, members of the local theatre groups, and members of the civil society.
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