I had written the following report for my schools quarterly Newsletter last October immediately after returning from an evening in the theatre. Unfortunately, I did not publish this article in the end. The theatre group of "Prachyanat" organized and performed a play of Rabindranath Tagore named "Raaja". The group added its own flavour to the play by implementing some new sequences, and by naming their act "RAAJA...ebong annannya", which literally translates to "The King...and others". Enjoy the review I had freshly made that evening.
“RAAJA…ebong annannya” was excellent! I felt its vibrancy and enigma all over my skin. Moreover, there was not a single seat left – Tagore proved himself yet again!
I was welcomed by a group of military, and everything seemed to be in-place. The stage, the settings, the projected screens, the light-and-shadow games on the background screen – everything seemed to be exactly what it was supposed to be; all the small things worked to their full extent in making the play complete.
I have no words to describe my liking of the performances of the actors. A few famous faced popped up, and so did a few of my familiar ones – such as Mr. Toufiqul Emon and Mr. Rezvi, both of whom had been Drama teachers in my previous school. Plus, I saw a few actors whom I have previously seen in the Ibsen play, and that was a warm welcome.
Uhh! The king never showed up! But it’s the king who made the story so attractive. Although I cannot prove this, I think that “Thakur-da”, played by Mr. Rezvi, was the actual king – one who came and went without seeking public attention, one who shared his power with his subjects, one who loved to love everything and everybody in his kingdom.
As a member of the audience, I believe I have the right to act as a critic and point out the faults of the play. Firstly, since the play was very lengthy, many scenes were trite - I could catch a few yawns from the corner of my eyes. Next, the music was actually very loud yet again! I have no problem with loud music, but at times it was a disturbance as it out-noised the actors’ speeches.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed Tagore’s music with the dances, and that brings me to my next point. Throughout the play, there were numerous dances – I lost count after the second one. Although I enjoyed them, the dance sequences were a bit elongated, and only added more to the length of the play. One of my peers commented, “There’s a dance scene after every pair dialogue”. But the dance scenes were really good, nonetheless.
Comedy was there in the play, specially brought by the projections on the screens and by the foreign leaders and kings. The entire audience laughed at loud when one of the foreign kings squeezed the fake king’s butt!
Let’s come back to the music. Tagore’s songs were really put to use! I could sing along with most of the songs played there, and am happy to have a visual context of those songs in my mind bourn after the play. The overall background music was great too, and I specially liked to see the music artists sitting at the back and doing their work – it seemed to me that their presence on-stage made the entire play look more complete.
Although I can not interpret their use, a few symbols were inevitable to notice, such as the lantern, the cane in Thakur-da’s hands, etc.
As I said, I am still caught up in the play. I have a beautiful music playing in my head that I picked up from the plays chorus. I can not stop adoring this family named “Prachyanat”, where each and every member served equally to the making of a successful evening in the theatre. I wish I was a part of that family too. I wish I had all the time in the world to contribute to the theatre with “Prachyanat”. I wish I had only been more alert about my culture all the time, as to appreciate and engage myself in the theatre. Only if…
I have also seen the play a few months back. IT was really nice.
ReplyDeleteMaisha Ahmed