What happened when a group of friends, all members of a book club, came together on an ill-fated night for a book reading on the empty grounds of a half-constructed hotel? That’s exactly what Emma set out to find, at the ICCR auditorium on March 15, in Winter Hill, a play by UK-based playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker.
Presented by Jadavpur University’s Department of English, the 120-minute play was professor Ananda Lal’s last directorial venture with the department.
Featuring an all-female cast who are also current students of the department, Winter Hill alternated between two timelines — one following a young Emma (played by Sreerupa Bhattacharya) trying to piece together the details of the mishap that evening; the second being a reconstruction of the events that led to the death of two of the protagonists — the idealistic, fierce and politically active Dolly, who is also Emma’s mother (played by Tannistha Sinha), and Felicity (played by Bulbul Rajagopal).
The mishap also resulted in the permanent mental instability of Beth, Dolly’s bookish best friend and ideological rival (with Urvi Shah as the younger character, and Raidhani Debnath as the older version), and the incarceration of Vivian (played by Paramita Purkayastha).
A sparse setting and low-key lighting added to the sombre mood of the play, while the dialogues provided perspective to the opposing political views held by the main characters.
Winter Hill is about women and how they are often written off history textbooks by a patriarchal machinery, despite being an active cog in the wheel of social and political change. It also points a finger at the commoner, the one who wants to be a rebel, hates to be a passive daydreamer, and yet ends up compromising in the face of an upheaval.
“The selection of the play was commendable, especially for a play put up by students, since such productions usually stick with classics instead of choosing contemporary works. In terms of staging, perhaps the timing of dialogues and stage set-ups could have been crisper,” said writer, translator and editor Anjum Katyal.
“I have always wanted to encourage young amateur artistes and give them a platform, to promote Indian art and culture, especially student-driven initiatives like this theatre performance,” said Gautam Dey, director, ICCR.
“The play comes with a message for the younger generation, providing us with the key to intellectual development. As a student of a technological college, I liked it because we don’t get to see such plays all the time,” said Abhiroop Banerjee, a first-year BTech student of Government College of Engineering and Leather Technology.
Director speak: “I am happy that my directorial activities for JUDE ends with an all-women play, because I seem to have specialised in them, and that I end not with a classic but with a contemporary work,” said Ananda Lal, former professor of Jadavpur University, Department of English.
Rushati Mukherjee
Pictures: Arnab Mondal
