A play at the Shumang Leela. A Telegraph picture

Two plays, staged in the recently concluded Shumang Leela Festival, reflected on the menace of drug abuse that is eating into the fabric of Manipur society.

Both the plays romanticise the idea of de-addiction but neither shows directly the genesis of drug addiction among youths in the state.

One of the plays, Bidai (Adieu), presented by Lamjingba Artistes Association, suggests that drug addicts have a hopeless future.

The play focuses upon drug addicts being treated at a counselling centre but ends with one of them, Lan, dying.

The playwright, Herojit, does not clearly depict why Lan begins to take drugs. Nor does director Lai Ibotombi attempt to make it an experimental play.

The other drama, Opium War, presented by Peace Maker Artistes Association and directed by Birjit Ngangomba, generates more hope.

It is the story of a woman and her drug-addict son. The mother gives the boy a book on Chinese opium war. He reads it carefully and on learning how the British had unleashed their opium agents in China to dominate the Chinese and how the latter fought against opium addiction and foiled their evil designs, he gives up narcotic substances.

The play has a message: trace out the root cause of the drug menace.

But the writer could not express fully why youths are attracted to drugs.

The actors in the play, Lai Ibotombi, Denny, Loken and Iboyaima Khuman, were brilliant. The play uses costumes, sets, props and music of South East Asia to create a Chinese environment.

Shumang Leela is a traditional medium that targets audience at the grassroots and is equally popular among intellectuals. So playwrights should be careful while taking up subjects like drug addiction, insurgency and AIDS.

The festival was held at Iboyaima Shumang Leela Sanglen in Imphal from February 12 to 23.