A scene from Guti Phular Gamosa. A Telegraph picture

Bidyawati Phukan’s Guti Phular Gamosa turned out to be an exceptional production in the contemporary era of Assamese theatre, thanks to an explicit use of folk elements in dealing with a simple, universal storyline.

The play was staged at the Defence Academy in Gangtok by the Centre for Research, Training and Performance, Utsha, at the Purbottar Natya Samaroh under the aegis of National School of Drama on November 22.

The central theme of the play was Bihu and its related aspects. The storyline revolved around four main characters: Shubha, his beloved Ghunusa, his elder brother Damodar and the latter’s wife Putuli. Damodar and Putuli are childless. One day Putuli tells Damodar that he should marry another girl who may give birth to a baby and bring happiness to the family. Damodar agrees and seeks Ghunusa’s hands in marriage.

Since Damodar is known in the village as a diligent worker, Ghunusa’s father gives his consent to the wedding. This development came as a rude shock for Shubha. However, knowing that Shubha and Ghunusa were in love with each other, Damodar does exactly what an elder brother should do. He arranges the marriage between Shubha and Ghunusa.

Playwright Pankaj Jyoti Bhuyan has created some interesting sub-plots in the simple storyline and knitted these with Bihu, the lifeline of rural Assam. While the happiness of the villagers, including the romance between Shubha and Ghunusa, is visually expressed through various forms of Bihu, the mental agony of childless Putuli is depicted by hand and body movements of Bihu dance.

Equally impressive was the presentation of some other traditional festivals of rural Assam like the frog marriage to invoke rain, buffalo fighting, et al.

With Bidyawati’s imaginative and skilful direction, the energetic performance that saw usage of six drums and around 20 dancers was a treat for the Gangtok audience, despite being unfamiliar with Assamese language.

But there is no denying the fact that at moments the play seemed to be overloaded with folk elements.

Skilful editing of the script would certainly make this lively and technically flawless production more crisp and captivating. Anil Gohain’s music deserves special mention.

The freshness in the artistes — all amateurs — was apparent though.

Nevertheless, director Bidyawati, also an experienced actress, in the role of a herbal medicine practitioner, took the overall presentation of the play to a different level altogether.