Averi Dutta as Basantasena and (right) Namita Majumdar as Madanika in Mrchchhakatika

Theatre performers and their productions are like fireworks. “No matter how high they fly or how brilliantly they sparkle, it is ephemeral, gone the moment the show ends,” says thespian Kumar Roy. He was speaking at his group Bohurupee’s 61st birthday celebrations at the Academy of Fine Arts held on Friday.

Apart from the staging of two plays each day between May 1 and 3, the group launched Bohurupee 60, an album of photographs providing rare glimpses of productions directed by Sombhu Mitra, Tripti Mitra, Amar Ganguly and Kumar Roy.

“We are not trying to cash in on our group’s past achievements. Rather, we are bearers of that tradition, striving each moment towards it. I am proud to declare that we are not dead, not even just surviving, but alive,” says Roy, adding that even at 83 he found it impossible to stay away from the group’s activities.

Staged at the festival were Birjoshulka by young director Tulika Das, Kalasandhya, Phullaketur Pala, Nishiddha Thikana and Deepdanda, directed by Kumar Roy and Chhanch Bhanga Murti, directed by Tarapada Mukhopadhyay.

The album compiled by Swapan Majumdar is a tribute to the founders of 1948 — Sombhu Mitra, ‘Maharshi’ Manoranjan Bhattacharya, Gangapada Basu, Sabitabrata Datta, Tripti Mitra, Mohammad Zachariah, Sobhen Mazumdar, Amar Ganguly, Kumar Roy and Gita Bhaduri.

But Sombhu Mitra’s new style, vision and thought drew to the group the immense talents of set designer Khaled Chaudhuri, light designer Tapas Sen, make-up artist Debi Haldar and playwright Tulsi Lahiri. Later a host of fine actors joined, including Namita Majumdar, Saoli Mitra, Averi Dutta, Anasuya Ghosh, Soumitra Basu, Dipa Ghosh and Debes Roychoudhury.

Sombhu Mitra encouraged photographers like Mono Mitra, Dulal Guin, Samir Ghoshal, Satyabrata Ghosh, Apurva Banerjee, Mahendra Kumar and Nemai Ghosh to capture the intense theatrical moments, though they were not allowed to use a flash bulb during performances. Digitally restored stills from the group’s files and newspaper clippings take us from Pathik, Ulukhagda and Chhenra Tar to Tagore plays Char Adhyay, Raktakarabi, Bisarjan, Muktadhara, and Raja, which established Bohurupee’s eminence.

Bohurupee has in its repertoire the works of a wide range of playwrights from all times and places — Ionesco, Ibsen, Sophocles, Brecht, Chase, Anouilh, Manoj Mitra, Badal Sircar and Vijay Tendulkar.

The album, however, has few details on the names of directors and production background. This is more keenly felt in the assortment of photographs of set layouts, informal snaps and Bohurupee publication designs. Perhaps a group like Bohurupee deserves an album on a larger scale.

So do some other theatre groups of Calcutta and one hopes that with Bohurupee setting the trend, others too will give more thought to archiving and documentation.

Bohurupee 60, priced at Rs 1,000, will be available at a 40 per cent discount at the festival venue.