Guwahati: Drama critic Sailen Bharali on Tuesday called for an uplift of literary values in Assamese plays and said the permanence of a play does not depend only on its stage performance.

"The permanence of a play depends on its literary values," Bharali said. He was speaking at the release of Abinash Sarma's Saptanatak, a collection of seven plays, at the courtyard of Rabindra Bhawan where Sarma had spent a significant portion of his life directing plays.

Bharali said the plays of Shakespeare, Henrik Ibsen and Jyoti Prasad Agarwala are still remembered and read because of their literary values. "People read these plays and feel their literary merit. After the 18th century more emphasis has been given on Shakespeare's plays' literary merit rather than their enactment. Ibsen's plays were once considered not fit for stage. But they won the hearts of people across the globe because of their literary values," Bharali said.

He also said improving literary values of the plays cannot be expected from mobile theatres ( Bhramyaman). "The amateur groups should take the responsibility," he said.

Bharali said lack of published plays has generated the notion among people that there are not many plays in Assamese language. "Plays are staged almost everyday in Guwahati. Besides, in places like Tezpur and Jorhat, plays are staged frequently. There are plays for mobile theatre and radio. But they never come to the people in the form of a book," he said.

Dramatist Dulal Roy, who was also present at the programme, stressed the role of amateur theatre groups in maintaining quality of plays. He appealed to the new generation not to distort the messages of plays in the name of experiment.

Folklorist Birendra Nath Datta and retired professor of Dibrugarh University Pona Mahanta were present in the programme among others.