A scene from Mahaproloi: aru mathu eghanta being staged at Rabindra Bhawan on Tuesday evening. Picture by UB Photos

Aug. 3: Death, which has always attracted thespians from William Shakespeare to Harold Pinter with its dramatic mechanism, is the theme of Kula Saikia’s Mahaproloi: aru mathu eghanta (The Apocalypse: an hour away), which was staged at Rabindra Bhawan last evening as part of the Natasurya drama festival.

“Death is always uncertain. However, all equations of life change in front of a certain death,” playwright Kula Saikia said. These “dead lines” are brought to life by the characters in the hourlong play, which begins with a projection image of the universe on stage. Lights slowly break the spell of the projection and the almost dark stage gives way to the drawing room of the Chaudhurys.

As Rashmi and Sunil Choudhury share a light moment, the mood of the drama is set when Rashmi’s mobile beeps and a message of the world coming to an apocalyptic end leaves the couple baffled.

“When death is certain, the characters start looking at their lives from different angles,” said the playwright.

It was not only the Choudhurys but their friends — the Das couple, a scientist and a businessman — all undergo changes after knowing about the nearing disaster. As all these friends assemble in the Chaudhury drawing room, they agree to gamble — to drink from a bottle that will lull them to sleep. And the names will be drawn from a jar.

The Das couple are the first to die. As the play progresses the characters also starts to reveal their past and their psyche.

The Choudhurys’ world had already ended as their 22-year-old son was kidnapped and brutally tortured. He was undergoing treatment. It was the hope that time would heal all his wounds that kept the couple alive. The businessman’s hope was to see his empire expand.

“With death staring in the face, everybody has only one dream — to live on. It brings everyone to one common point,” the playwright said.

The dream of the Choudhurys to see their “brutally tortured and barely living” son healed left the audience shocked. The maid’s dream to see her son study in an English-medium school, as she proudly says “he will be the first one to do that in our family” and to see her husband turn teetotaller brings a comic relief.

Other than death, the play also deals with the theme of suffering. The characters of the Das couple and the maid Junu portray the suffering of the working class and the economically backward people. “Sufferings of the people, their dream, the development of their psyche under the threat of impending danger and irony of life are all dealt with the help of the characters,” director Dulal Roy said.

“This is a new and challenging play. We have given our best. The lines in their written form are other ‘dead’ which the actors have given life today in the stage,” Roy said.