Obituaries of the Bengali bhadralok mostly concentrate on the colonial hangover and the flight of capital. But there are other losses too. Some of these are perceptible and others intangible. All these aspects taken together, the bhadralok form a cultural milieu that holds a volume of Shakespeare’s collected works close to the chest and sings Rabindrasangeet to express itself, both with equal passion and conviction, especially in moments of crisis.
Ahon Gooptu takes up this issue and scripts Seasons of Love, dubbed “A memory play about love and loss”. Three generations of a Bengali family spread out over Calcutta and Chicago find it difficult to connect, while missing links, entangled in time and space, keep them together or give them a semblance of ‘togetherness’. This forms the crux of this 70-minute-long play that Vikram Ayenger directs. The inaugural run of this Curl production took place at the Padatik Studio Theatre II.
Although linearity in terms of seasons is ingrained in Gooptu’s script, Ayenger decides to keep realism at bay. He designs a fluid space with suggestive props like bricks, earthen lamps and, most poignantly, saris, where three actors — representing three generations — interact in varying degrees of proximity. Jayati Chakraborty plays Dimma, the grandmother, who has a career in teaching Shakespeare’s sonnets and plays behind her. Indudipa Sinha enacts Ma who balances a corporate career as she looks after her mother’s fragile health. Gooptu plays Sahyr, the name suggesting an inter-racial marriage that seems to have been annulled. As the grandson who studies at the University of Chicago, his concern and anxiety about the life he had back
in Calcutta make Seasons of Love an experience that gets intimate with every minute, relating to each member of the audience personally.
Besides competent acting by the cast, which used linguistic registers — English and Bengali — flawlessly and moved effortlessly within the overlapping zones, the light designer, Sudip Sanyal, and the singer, Rajeshwari Ganguly Banerjee, also contribute handsomely to the immersive feel.