The mystery woman Based on an English play written by Susan Hill, Shey combines the ingredients for a suspense thriller with a dash of the supernatural, to provide an evening of stimulating entertainment. Set in the desolate marshlands of the British east coast, the play begins with the death of Alice Drablow, who lived in a massive old mansion all by herself. Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor in a legal firm, arrives from London to attend her funeral and sort her papers of inheritance. A city-bred young man, he is naturally reluctant to stay in a remote, rural place, and is filled with a sense of dread upon reaching his new, unfamiliar surroundings. When he spots a mysterious, emaciated-looking young woman dressed in black at the funeral, he tries to find out who she is and her relationship with the deceased, but in vain. Puzzled and curious at the villagers? refusal to disclose anything about her, he waits until he meets her again. Finally, when the moment comes, she reveals to him her true identity and her terrible purpose. Direction: Saswati Biswas. Event: Play in Bengali, Shey, produced by Theatron When: Today at 6.30 pm Where: Madhusudan Mancha

art

Till December 15 at Chitrakoot Art Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Open Window presents the works of Amitava Dhar, Dipali Bhattacharjee, Hiran Mitra, Janak Jhankar Narzary, K. Muralidharan, Pradip Rakshit, Samir Aich, Sudeshna Halder, Sunil Dey and Tapas Konar. Till December 15 at Chemould, 12F Park Street; 2 pm - 7 pm: Paintings by Sanjoy Majumder and Chitralekha Kanjilal. Till December 16 at Academy of Fine Arts, Central Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Paintings by Diya. Till December 17 at Academy of Fine Arts, New South Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Paintings in oil and watercolour by Sisir Kanjilal. Till December 17 at Galerie 88; 3 pm - 7 pm: In Search of Sublimity ? recent works of Prabhakar Kolte.

DRAMA

December 15 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: PLT presents Utpal Dutt?s Bibighar. Direction: Mrinal Ghosh. December 15 at Sisir Mancha; 6.30 pm: Rakshasbadh Pala, presented by Hattamela and directed by Gurudas Bandyopadhyay. December 16 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6 pm: The inaugural ceremony of Nandikar?s 22nd National Theatre Festival. Nandikar presents Life and Creation, to be followed by Marten Hedman?s puppet show The Cat?s Journey. December 17 at Tapan Theatre; 6.30 pm: Nandipat stages Mrityu Na Hatya. Direction: Bibhas Chakraborty.

TALK

December 15 at Ashutosh College; 2.30 pm: The cast of Krantikaal, a film by Shekhar Das, meets students of Ashutosh College for a talk on the film?s theme, Love?s Triumph Over Fear. December 15 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 19A & B Raja Rajkrishna Street; 7 pm: Swami Samshuddhananda will speak in Bengali on Mandukya-Karika.

PERFORMING ARTS

Till December 18 at Uttam Mancha; 5 pm: To celebrate the birth centenary of Pandit Krishna Kumar Ganguly (Natu Babu), Tollygunge Sangeet Piyasi presents a classical music festival. Today: Shubhra Guha (vocal) with Ananda Gopal Bandyopadhyay (tabla) and Rupashree Bhattacharya (harmonium), Debojyoti Bose (sarod) with Bikram Ghosh (tabla), Amiyo Ranjan Bandyopadhyay (vocal) with Tarak Saha (tabla) and Subhrokanti Chatterjee (harmonium), and Sharda Sahai and Sanju Sahai (tabla lahara) with Ramesh Mishra (sarangi). December 15 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Vivekananda Hall; 6 pm: Hansa Veena recital by Barun Kumar Pal, with Abhijit Banerjee on the tabla. December 15 at Gyan Manch; 6 pm: Kala Manthan Academy?s 7th annual concert features Dance Today, choreographed by Nishi Arora. December 16 & 17 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 6 pm: Maharashtra Lalit Kala Nidhi?s Gunidas Sangeet Sammelan features Shubha Mudgal (vocal) with Aneesh Pradhan (tabla) and Purshottam Walawalkar (harmonium), and Satish Vyas (santoor) with Kumar Bose (tabla) on December 16; and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt (Mohan veena) with Kumar Bose (tabla), and Ulhas Kashalkar (vocal) with Abhijeet Banerjee (tabla) and Rupashree Bhattacharya (harmonium). December 16 at the Sandre Hall, Calcutta School of Music; 7 pm: A violin and piano duet by Raja Halder (violin) and James Willshire (piano).

EXHIBITIon

Till December 24 at Sasha, 27 Mirza Ghalib Street; 10 am - 7 pm: Sasha Christmas Festival showcases pasmina & lambs wool shawls, stoles, woolen items, bamboo & madur grass products, silver tribal jewellery, candles, embroidered Christmas cards and hangings. Till December 17 at Ciao Bella, 3 Queens Park: An exhibition of menswear, womenswear & accessories. Till December 21 at Soumya?s Creation, 57/9 Ballygunge Circular Road; 10 am - 7 pm: An exhibition to celebrate Calcutta?s brief winters, titled Dress-up December, offers home accessories including ceramic ware, durries, framed pictures and candles, and wearables including costume jewellery, T-shirts, bags, chanderi and cotton dress. December 15 - 17 at Kanishka?s, 2/1 Hindustan Road; 10.30 am - 8 pm: Tussar Utsav showcasing a collection of handpicked tussars from the looms of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal.

FILM FESTIVAL

Till December 18 at Priya cinema & 89 Cinemas: 1st India International Women Film Festival 2005, hosted by Calcutta Film & Media Studies. Today at Priya: Kali Salwar (9 am), Diary for my Love (11 am), Reply (7.15 pm) and The King?s Daughter (9.15 pm). Today at 89 Cinemas: Bas Yari Rakho (9 am), Love without Boundary (9 am) and Disha (11 am). Till December 23 at Nandan; 2 pm & 6 pm: Seagull Foundation for the Arts, in collaboration with National Film Archives of India (Pune), Films Division and Nandan, presents A Retrospective of Films by Adoor Gopalakrishnan. Today: Past in Perspective (at 2 pm) and Elippathayam (at 6 pm).

book launch

December 15 at Oxford Bookstore; 6 pm: Oxford Bookstore Cha Bar and Pearson Education launch Best of India ? The Choicest Regional Recipes by celebrity chef Sitangsu Chakravarty.

---

All those who wish events to be included in this column should write not less than a week ahead to:

Time out, The Telegraph, 6, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta-700 001;
Fax: 2234-8244