Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 23: Considered a benchmark of theatre practice in the winter capital, the Jammu Drama Festival presently titled ‘Festival of Plays’ will be open for the public from Feb 25 to March 3, 2023, at the Abhinav Theatre, here.
Organized by J&K Academy of Art Culture and Languages (JKAACL), the seven-play festival will showcase national classics plays and their translations as well as new plays of local playwrights, directed by local professionally trained and amateur theatre directors. In comparison to annual theatre festivals in the past, in the rare instance, there is no entry of plays in regional languages like Dogri and Punjabi, and all the featured plays by local theatre groups are in Hindi.
Talking to Excelsior, an officer of the Academy, said that due to the government’s post-Union-territory strict conditions followed by concerned officials for the re-registration of NGOs, out of more than 45 the theatre groups registered with Academy, only a handful of groups have fulfilled the formalities, hence less number of participating groups and lack of plays in regional languages.
The play on opening day, ‘Gumshuda Ki Talash’, written and directed by Rajneesh Gupta will be staged by ‘Triple ‘A’ Performing Arts’. The second performance on Feb 26, ‘Ateet Ke Sakshi’, is written by Rajesh Roshan Bhat and directed by Rohit Bhat and will be presented by Vomedh Rangmanch.
The third play on Feb 27, by ‘Hill thespians’ will be Pratibha Agarwal’s Hindi translation of Badal Sarkar’s iconic Bengali play ‘Pagla Ghoda’, directed by Sunil, Sharma. Staged by Bhartiya Kala Sangam, the play ‘Bali and Shambu’, on Feb 28, is written by Manav Kaul and directed by Mohit Mehra. Sangam Theatre Group (from Reasi) will present Rajesh Singh Raju’s play ‘Vikram’ directed by Akram Khan on March 1. The penultimate play ‘Napolean’, directed by Vikram Sharma will be staged by the group ‘Care For You’. The concluding performance on March 2, directed by Vijay Goswami and staged by ‘The Performers will be Mohan Rakesh’s avant-garde play ‘Ashad Ka Ek Din’.
J&K Academy of Art Culture and Languages since its inception in the late 1950s has been the pioneering and only official body in Jammu and Kashmir to develop and promote and give direction to arts. It should set the standards for theatre performances and unlike the recently concluded Bharat Rang Mahotasav at the University of Jammu, avoid burdening the audiences with lengthy inaugural and valedictory functions, especially before the presentation of any plays.
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