Bringing regional touch on stage

Kolkata brings to Delhi a cultural repertoire in the form of performances by the renowned theatre group Rangroop. Impresario India has organised a festival of two plays, Mayer Mato and Jalchhabi directed by Seema Mukhopadhyay who will
also play the lead in both the plays.

The first play to be staged, Mayer Mato is dramatised by Late Shri Mohit Chattopadhyay from a story by Kabita Sinha. The plot revolves around a widow of a freedom fighter who lives alone and passes time in social service. Her children, who have severed ties with her, come back only when the youngest daughter is to be married to an NRI. The plot observes the strength of a woman when she is independent and her selfish children.

The second play, Jalchhabi, adapted by Tirthankar Chanda from a play The Beauty Queen of Leenane by Martin McDonagh, is based on the relationship between a widowed mother and her eldest daughter. The daughter has spent a number of years in an asylum after her father’s death as she was unable to handle the burden of responsibility. When she comes back, all her sisters have been married off and she again has to bear the responsibility of her mother. The play follows the dynamics of this self-centred relationship.

Seema Mukopadhyay, director of Rang-Roop has received numerous awards for her acting, playwright and direction. She shares that Mayer Mato came into being in 2010 and Jalchhabi in 2008-09. “Performing and directing both the plays has been a fabulous experience. In Jalchhabi, the spirit of Martin McDonagh lives and it is always a pleasure to perform the play. Every time I go on stage, I discover something new,” Seema  says.

She informs that the plays have been performed in Allahabad and Patna apart from being staged in every college in almost every city of West Bengal. “Jalchhabi was also one of the only two plays selected from Kolkata for the South Asian Mini Theatre Festival held in 2010.”

“Every age group can watch these plays and in some corner of their hearts, they will be able to connect to them,” she adds.

The Kolkata-based theatre group, Rang Roop has been highly acclaimed by eminent theatre personalities, critics and viewers. Both the plays by the group have won rave reviews and an overwhelming popularity since their inception. Bijan Mukherjee, president, Impresario India, says, “The plays chosen for the festival are an initiative to promote regional theatre. ”

Mayer Mato will be screened on June 23 and Jalchhabi on June 24 at Shri Ram Centre from 6 pm onwards.
Entry by invitation only.