Scenes from Belghoria Ethic’s Brittanta and (below) Nandik Kanchrapara’s Debkotha. Pictures by Gopal Senapati

Draupadi makes an interesting subject for most theatre directors and playwrights. Many have tried to portray the various shades of her character. Belghoria Ethic’s Brittanta is another such experiment that provides an insight into the character of Draupadi while trying to draw a parallel with the lives of women.

The play is mainly a soliloquy. Draupadi speaks of her life and sorrows, after seeing the bodies of her five sons and brother lying beheaded in their tent after the war. The rest of the characters on stage act out the scenes in silence as she speaks to the audience. The 40-minute play was staged at Natadha’s Mahanatya Samaraho, being held at Ramgopal Mancha from February 1 to 14.

Belghoria Ethic is one of the 30 groups participating in Natadha’s short play festival and it is a regular at the festival every year. Most of the groups are from Howrah, all of whom are members of Ramgopal Mancha Natyakendra. A few from the districts were also invited. This is the sixth edition of the festival that started in 2007.

Mahanatya Samaraho was inaugurated on February 1 by Rangakarmee director, Usha Ganguly. The group also staged its play, Manasi on the same day. After the inaugural day, Nandik from Kanchrapara staged Debkatha. Love blooms in old age between a widow and a widower who meet regularly at a park. When they finally decide to marry, family and other social constraints stop them from taking the step. Trisha’s Khela Bhangar Khela is a story of solitude and neglect seen in elderly people. Trisha’s was the second play in the second day of the festival.

The festival this year had no new productions except for Natadha’s. The group has come up with a one-act play, Ekhon Je Rokom based on inter-personal relationships. “We have tried to highlight how a problem in a mother-child relationship can generate problems in other relationships within a family, like conflict between husband and wife, and problems in relationships between siblings,” said Arna Mukhopadhyay. The play will be staged on February 10, after Theatre Platform’s Samay Jan and a discussion on the process of making theatre.

Theatre personalities Manish Mitra, Arpita Ghosh, Kaushik Sen, Avanti Chakraborty and Sohini Sengupta will be present at Ramgopal Mancha to take part in the discussion. Samipesu will stage Sadar Darja in the evening. On February 11 is Barrackpore Mayuk with Jhorer Kheya followed by Haripal Natyaprahari’s Sesh Siksha. Fourth Bell, an upcoming group from Calcutta has found space on February 12 with their play Nobel Chor. The festival’s last day will feature Jhargram Kathakriti’s Boloygras and Anubhash’s Nishkriti.

Apart from plays, the members of Natadha also gave away two awards at the festival to theatre workers. Set designer Sukumar Bera was given the Prakriti Smarak Samman. Shyamaprasad Bandopadhyay, who looks after Berhampore Rabindra Bhawan, received the Sutopa Smarak Samman.

Dalia Mukherjee