Soumitra Chatterjee in Raja Lear. A Telegraph picture

Raja Lear is set to stage a comeback at Minerva Theatre. After a four-month hiatus, the spotlight will once again be on Soumitra Chatterjee as the elderly king in Suman Mukhopadhyay’s adaptation of the Shakespearean tragedy.

Shows of Raja Lear had been cancelled after the production was deemed “too expensive”.

On August 4, t2 had carried an appeal by filmmaker Suman Ghosh — backed by Mukhopadhyay — for the show to go on. On August 11, Metro had reported that the Minerva Repertory Theatre Production, with education minister Bratya Basu as the newly appointed chairman, was planning to revive Raja Lear.

On Tuesday, Basu said: “After a meeting with Suman Muhopadhyay, it was decided that shows of Raja Lear will resume as soon as the logistics are worked out.”

Production costs “must come down”, said the chairman. “Lear will be staged in other large government halls to minimise losses. New productions of the Minerva Repertory will continue at the theatre on Saturdays and Sundays. Shows will be increased according to public demand. We have many things planned for Minerva and will take them up in due course. For instance, we are planning to bring in a director from Europe for the next production.”

Raja Lear will have two shows a month starting late September or early October. The other play to be staged there is Debi Sharpamosta, written by Manoj Mitra and directed by Debesh Chattopadhyay, which opens on September 3.

Mukhopadhyay said he was “excited at the prospect of Lear’s revival” and that he would “work out the dates with Soumitra Chatterjee”.

Minerva Repertory member Arpita Ghosh cited a “flaw in the planning” for the losses suffered by Raja Lear.

“Pre-production costs amounted to Rs 13,58,000 and even after 21 shows the returns were not more than Rs 5,44,000. Expenses for each show was Rs 38,000 at Minerva, whereas, given the number of seats and the price of tickets, the maximum returns that could be expected per show was Rs 18,000. So there is a loss of Rs 20,000 even if there’s a full house. This can change if the play is staged in a larger auditorium like Rabindra Sadan.”