Once in a while, along comes a theatrical production — modestly publicised and without much social media fanfare surrounding it — that turns out to be a surprise package. The quirkily titled Hawabhut ar Haatir Golpo, produced by Anandapur Gujob and written, directed and performed by Biswabasu Biswas (with Uddalak Bhattacharya as the assistant director), is one such play. Performed one evening within the snug confines of Anuchintan Art Centre — a relatively new, but already quite popular, venue in Calcutta designed for ‘intimate’ performances — Hawabhut ar Haatir Golpo stood out as a stirringly impactful, performative interpretation of the form of storytelling.
The text, which is in actuality a third-person narrative and not a formally structured drama, is written in crisp Bengali that is able to accommodate strands of the fantastic within the body of earthy realism. Thus, a vaporous ghost and a white elephant cohabit the textual space along with humans. The story is a dystopian fable that seeks to sharply critique structures of patriarchal control in the domestic sphere. The play also foregrounds issues of female sexual desire and sexuality with equal measure of sensitivity and maturity, while weaving into the narrative an ecocritical awareness that is often missing in urban theatre.
If Biswabasu Biswas deserves unstinted admiration as writer, so does he as director and actor. Probably the best directorial decision he has taken is to mount the production minimally — a low rostrum and three hanging screens (painted by Swastika Banerjee) are all the set elements. The light design (Saheb Sanyal) avoids unnecessary eye candy, and the effect music is equally restrained. However, it is Biswas’s low-key acting that constitutes the main charm of the play. The play is speech-driven, with the scope of physical acting deliberately rationed as a result of Biswas keeping himself permanently anchored to the rostrum. Biswas has backed his own ability to literally speak a play, using
his vocal skills to mesmerise, to engage and, ultimately,
to profoundly disturb his audience, as art is expected to do.