Oral folk tales ? especially ballads and epics ? have always been a steady source of material for both Western and Indian dramatic traditions. Kasba Arghya’s Chandrabati (Academy of Fine Arts, September 5), directed by Manish Mitra, follows this tradition and also makes significant departures from it. The well-known pala or ballad of the Chandrabati-Jayananda romance is taken from the Maimansingha Geetika.

The traditional flavour is mostly preserved, firstly through homely, rural costumes, and also through the mode of performance. The constraints of the proscenium stage are removed by making the performance participative. A host of actors accompanies the central character Chandrabati, played by Sima Ghosh (in picture), on to the stage and sit on her two sides, just as in a village performance. They are also the chorus, often rising to supplement and echo Chandrabati’s thoughts and to interject between her lines.

Ghosh tackles the verse-text perfectly with her skilled singing. Her voice responds to the intimate mood (shown in her yearning for Jayananda) as well as to the epic and impersonal. The East Bengal dialect and its intonations aren’t easy to get used to, but all the actors tackle it well. However, a bit more of vigour ? so typical of a village perfomance ? would have given the play an added dimension.