High on histrionics Of all the folk plays of Orissa, Prahlad Nataka is perhaps the most elaborate and colourful. First conceived by Raja Ramkrushna Chhotray, it is a blend of ancient classical theatre and folk theatre. Not a well-defined dramatic piece in its true sense, it is a continuous text with songs, with its plot held together by a gahaka (interpreter), who describes events that the actors cannot convey. Based on a legend from the Nrushingha Purana, it tells the story of Prahlad, who is a devotee of Lord Krishna, although born in a family of demons. The major characters of the play are Hiranya Kashipu, Nrusingha and Prahlad, a little boy. A musical with 120 songs, it is highly spectacular and dramatic in presentation, with loud music, vigorous dance, acrobatics and dialogues in Oriya and Sanskrit. In a scene of greatly exaggerated histrionics, Nrusingha appears on stage wearing a big mask and is led by a rope as he is supposed to have killed Hiranya Kashipu. Hosted by Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre. Event: Folk play of Orissa, Prahlad Nataka When: Today at 6 pm Where: Bharatiyam Cultural Multiplex, IB-201 Salt Lake

Art

July 3 - July 10 at Gallery 79, 79 Raja Basanta Roy Road; 3 pm - 8 pm: Collages by Mitali Dey and paintings by Prithwis Sikdar, Manimala Dey Basu, Naba Kishore Chanda and Mitali Dey. Till July 4 at Academy of Fine Arts, North Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Seventh solo exhibition of paintings by Samir Saha. Till July 4 at Gaganendra Pradarsasala; 2 pm - 8 pm: Solo exhibition of paintings by Sukhamoy Majumder. Till July 5 at Academy of Fine Arts, West Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Paintings and sculptures by Sharmila Majunder, Kanika Biswas and Tapan Kumar Das. Till July 7 at Chemould Art Gallery, 12F Park Street; 2 pm - 7 pm: Fits of Passion, drawing and painting exhibition by Lalit Maity. Till July 8 (except today) at Anant Art Gallery, 18A Alipore Road; 11 am - 7 pm: Anant Art Gallery presents Summer Exhibition 2006. Till July 8 (except today) at Gallery Rasa, 828/1 Block P, New Alipore; 4 pm - 8 pm: Sculptures: The Bengal Connection, sculptures by Jamini Roy, Ramkinkar Baij, Chintamoni Kar, Sankho Chaudhuri, Kamala Das Gupta, Somenath Hore, Uma Siddhanta and others. Till July 28 at Idiyas Gallery, 15 Dover Road; 10.30 am - 7.30 pm: The Masters of Imagination, works of eminent artists including Prokash Karmakar, Ramananda Bandyopadhyay, Subrata Gangopadhyay, Sanatan Dinda and Suhas Roy.

drama

July 3 at Academy of Fine Arts and July 8 at Girish Mancha; 6.30 pm: Aneek presents Dwitio Basanta. Direction: Malay Biswas. July 4 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: Chetana presents Nirnoy. Direction: Arun Mukhopadhyay. July 5 at Madhusudan Mancha and July 6 at Rabindra Sadan; 6.30 pm: Barasat Anusilani presents Chhut. Drama and direction: Romaprasad Banik.

talk

July 3 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Vivekananda Hall; 6.15 pm: Swami Ritananda will speak in Bengali on Sri Sri Ramakrishna Lilaprasanga.

PERFORMING ARTS

July 3 at Rabindra Sadan; 6 pm: Sarathi presents Anganey Esechhe ....Featuring poetry-reading by Sarmistha Chattopadhyay, Suparna Pal, Molly Debnath, Ishita Das Adhikari, Antara Das, Sucharita Bandyopadhyay, Medha Bandyopadhyay, Moonmoon Mukhopadhyay, Swaralipi Bhattacharya, Tapas Mondal, Santanu Talukdar and Sandipan Sarkar; Pathikere Bujhi Enechho, innovative rendition of Tagore songs (compiled by Joy Goswami) by Rakhi Sarkar, Shikha Pal and Partho Mukhopadhyay; and play-reading by Shibani Samajdar and Shyamal Karmakar. July 3 at Gyan Manch; 6.30 pm: Inaugural celebrations of the 10th anniversary of Nandanik Manipuri Dance Academy features classical and contemporary dances by Debanjan Roy, Krishnakali Dasgupta and Debanjali Biswas.d July 4 at Vidyanjali High School, 20 Rammohan Dutt Road; 7 pm: Natyayan presents a play-reading and improvisation session in Gujarati in memory of playwright Shivkumar Joshi. July 6 at Sisir Mancha; 5.45 pm: Krishnakali presents Imane Kedare Behage Bahare, Tagore songs in classical tunes presented by students of Krishnakali (dir: Shyamal Saha), solo songs by Dhiren Basu and Shyamal Saha and recitation by Pranati Tagore. July 8 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 6 pm: You & I ... Ek Raag Ek Shatabdi, the evolution of one raga over the last 200 years, presented by Soumyojit Das (vocals), Sourendro Mullick (piano) and Moubani Sorcar (compere). Also, an Odissi dance recital by Swapnakalpa Raychowdhury and students, and an audio-play by Jagannath Basu and Urmimala Basu.

photographs

July 3 - July 13 (except Sunday) at Calcutta International Foundation for Arts, Literature and Culture, 1 Rawdon Street, 6th floor; 2 pm - 7 pm: Solo photography exhibition by Sunil K. Dutt.

seminar

July 3 at Mahalanobis Bhavan (conference hall, room no. 109), near Dunlop Bridge; 4 pm: A panel discussion on Opinion Poll and Statistics, to mark the 113th birth anniversary of Prof P.C. Mahalanobis. July 4 at Bangla Akademi Sabhaghar; 5.30 pm: Indian Writers Association hosts a seminar on Globalization and its Impact on Literature. To be followed by a kavi-sabha.

award ceremony

July 3 at Bangla Akademi; 6.30 pm: Professor-researcher Ralph W. Nicholas will be awarded Rabindra Smriti Puraskar and Manas Roy Choudhuri Memorial Award will be conferred on Prof Jayantanuj Bandyopadhyay.

rath yatra

Till July 5 at Swabhumi: Utkala?s Orissa festival features classical dances, music, traditional theatre, folk dance and music, and display of handicraft and handloom. Today: Folk dances of Orissa by Deboditi Biswal (6.30 pm) and Geeta Govinda in Bharat Natyam style by Guru Abhoy Pal and troupe (7.30 pm).

education fair

Till July 3 at Netaji Indoor Stadium; 10 am - 9 pm: Eduquest 2006, the first education fair and festival of eastern India.

workshop

July 5 onwards at The Creative Arts, National Library Avenue: Theatre workshop for children of 5 - 7 years, 8 - 11 years and 12 - 15 years. For details, call #9830775677.

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