Dream Theatre’s latest production Ebong Abanee (Sujata Sadan, October 31) attempts to explore the angst-ridden psyche of the artist in modern consumerist society. To depict the fragmentation and frustration of the stifled creative mind, director and scriptwriter Gautam puts together a collage of myriad mediums of art, including painting and poetry, with music ? which punctuates every action ? playing the key role in holding the parts together. But the imagery representing each art form is so cliched ? Dylan, Van Gogh, Chaplin etc ? the production borders on being predictable, not to mention pretentious. The music, however, manages to entertain with lead singer Animesh, guitarists Arindam and Shrijit and the percussionist.
Dola Mitra
Nrityalok presented Mohua Sundari, an elaborate dance-drama based on Moimansingha Geetikavya at Rabindra Sadan on October 29. Directed and choreographed by Sutapa Aon Pradhan, a Bharatnatyam dancer, the production displayed a colourful canvas of human relationships with songs, music, dance and dialogue. Aon Pradhan as Mohua, the central character of the production, was glamorous and convincing. Using Bharatnatyam and other styles, she brought out different hues of the character. Jahar Das as Humra, the dacoit leader, was the backbone of the production. Music by Debasish Bannerjee was an added attraction. Somen Basu in tarsanai, Gour Pal in flute and Jayanta Bhattacharya in sarod gave a good support.
Sharmila Basu Thakur
Dipto Narayan Chatterjee’s painting exposition ‘Revelation’ at Birla Academy had many experimental works, none of them with a name or a number. Chatterjee has a keen sense of form and knows the value of colours. Yet he wavers between style and content, pictorial sensibility and illustrative sentimental nonsense. Most of his mature renderings are mixed-media on board. In some he has used strips of cardboards parallely. Sometimes they look like hardened ribbons arranged to define animate figures or inanimate objects. As these superimposed strips are slightly raised from the surface, they look like reliefs and add a sculptural dimension to the works. Chatterjee’s brus-hworks are so diverse that some seem to be oils or watercolours or tempera. In some other paintings he is fascinated with present-day abstract speculative expression.
Sandip Sarkar
