Madhuboni Chatterjee and Manoj Murali Nair stage Red Oleander at GD Birla Sabhagar. Pictures by Rashbehari Das

Tagore with a twist

Fusing Bharatanatyam and Kathakali, Tagore songs and text, Jahnavi Centre for Performing Arts presented a delightful version of Raktakarabi in English — titled Red Oleander — at GD Birla Sabha gar on November 23, in association with

The Telegraph. Based on an English translation of Raktakarabi done by Prof Ananda Lal in 1987, Bharatanatyam exponent Madh uboni Chatterjee choreographed and steered the 110-minute-long dance-theatre piece.

Madhuboni’s power-packed dance and Rabindrasangeet singer Manoj Murali Nair’s Kathakali moves left the packed auditorium spellbound. “I was worried as the play is in English and it was difficult to express the emotions as it’s not my mother tongue,” said Manoj, post-show. Joy Sen’s lighting and Sanchayan Ghosh’s set design enhanced the drama.

Though the husband-wife duo of Manoj and Madhuboni have performed the play in Bengali before, the English act on Wednesday was a first. Red Oleander got special support from the Rabindranath Studies Centre of Jadavpur University.

There are two aspects to this play. First, the use of English in Calcutta in itself is adventurous as we are expected to see and hear Tagore in Bengali. So, the fact that they took it up is positive. Second, many can question the reason behind taking up the dance-theatre form. This form has been taken up as an experiment and it should be welcomed. Unless these experiments are done, Tagore will only remain as a museum piece.

— Ananda Lal, theatre scholar and critic

My brother (Manoj) had learnt dance as a child but this is his first work as a dancer and I really liked it.

— Manisha Murali Nair,Rabindrasangeet singer

The production was excellent; the choreography and dress designing were spectacular.

— Ratna Dutta, retired teacher

This is the first time I saw Raktakarabi in English and I liked it very much. They could have highlighted the miseries of the excavators a bit more to express their pain; otherwise it was perfect.

— Krishna Chakraborty,retired teacher

I brought along my kids who don’t stay in India. I wanted them to understand Tagore and it’s easier for them if it is in English. And I am amazed that they sat through the entire act!

— Pinaki Deb, software engineer

It was a superb effort. Manoj’s performance was really dramatic. He is not originally a Kathakali dancer and this
performance shows his immense talent.

— Mira Kakkar, advertising professional

This was an unusual production! It is always difficult to work on Tagore’s plays but they did really well.

— Tapati Banerjee, social worker