Theatre often produces unforgettable moments of magic. One such moment unfolded towards the end of Totto-chan o Railgari School and caught this reviewer’s eye.
As the strains of the Tagore song, “Sokatore oi knadichhe sokole”, swelled to fill the auditorium, crafting a profoundly touching emotional climax, one noticed the light operator, Rajasi Paul, sitting at the light console and weeping uncontrollably, wholly immersed in the scene that she was co-creating with the actors on the stage and, yet, was masterfully manipulating the console keys to calibrate the hue and the intensity of lights in accordance with the scene’s demand.
More than her expertise in light projection, it was Paul’s intense involvement that sharply underlined a truth about the art of theatre: light operators, sound technicians, set designers, make-up artists and others working behind the scenes remain the unsung heroes of theatre. A bow goes to Paul for being the consummate performer that she proved to be.
As for Totto-chan o Railgari School, Nazat Sundarban Natya Utsav Committee under Raju Bera’s tutelage has thrown up another indisputable winner. Bera has scripted the play, using Moushumi Bhowmik’s translation of Tetsuko Kuroyanagi’s classic, Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window, as his reference.
As director, Bera has wisely chosen to go for visual austerity, using only some plastic chairs and stools as set elements, in an attempt to invoke the aesthetics of Japanese minimalism. This works well to carry the idyllic narrative of the refreshingly life-affirming experiences of a small girl in a fairy-tale-like school in wartime Japan. Soumen Chakraborty has designed the lights using a limited number of sources, keeping things simple.
The soundscape (Subhrajit Sengupta) contains live and recorded music that is evocative and impactful. The actors, young but scrupulously trained, play their characters with impressive poise. The supremely talented Mary Acharya as Totto-chan is bewitching as she breathes authentic life into her character, while Subhrajit Sengupta’s understated yet heartfelt portrayal of the headmaster is a riveting watch.