Week-long performances wind up

The festival ended officially on Sunday evening in the presence of  Director of National School of Drama(NSD), Waman Kendre. The recent endeavor of Kalindi Bratyajon in conducting theatrical exchange nationally and worldwide was not an easy task at all. 

Acknowledging this, Kendre did not suppress his amazement at the colossal effort put in by Kalindi Bratyajon in organizing such a large event. He described the festival as one of the important events in terms of bringing together many theatre groups to Kolkata. He was elated to announce the forthcoming grand event of ‘Theatre Olympic’ that NSD has planned for 2018. 

He was also hopeful that Kolkata would be one of the important venues for this mega event. The event also saw Debasish Majumdar, noted playwright and director unveiling the biannual theatre journal, Bratyajon Natyapatra.

The participating nations in this year’s Festival were Egypt, England, France and Russia. Neighbouring state Bihar participated along with the local theatre troupes. Each performance was unique in its own capacity in  practicing theatrical art.

The production from Russia won hearts of the audience with their dynamism on display on the fourth day.  The stage was divided into two halves- one accommodating distinguishing guests on the back of the stage and the other part allocated for the stage show.

 They exchanged words, they fought with their swords, pistols, they danced, and played piano for the performance, To Save Kammerunker Pushkin. The timeframe depicted was the end of the eighties and beginning of the nineties in Russia. 

In the play, the protagonist, Mikhail Pitunin started disliking the legendary Russian poet Alexander Pushkin which was unthinkable, thereby creating lot of confusion in the society. The funny beginning turned sour in the end.  The Consul General of Russia, Irina Bashrikova, admitted to have observed a play of this kind for the first time, that too in India. The play was presented by ‘Moscow Dramatic Theatre’ headed by the Director Iosif Raykhelgauz. 

The festival ended with the final performance of Mumbai Nights, presented by The Minerva Repertory Theatre. Ila Gurhoisha by Theatre Platform and Meghe Dhaka Tara by Naihati Bratyajon were presented on June 4. The penultimate play was Awdyo Sesh Rajani by Paikpara Indraranga, staged on June 5.

The spectators got the opportunity to watch the powerful performances by the famous theatre artist Goutam Halder, Suvasish Mukherjee and great contemporary artists Anirban Bhattacharjee, Sumit Kumar Roy. 

The week-long festivity has definitely left behind an aftertaste of theatre which the people of Kolkata and of  West Bengal in general will savour for a long time. 

The Convener of the festival, Bratya Basu, also gave a vote of thanks to Waman Kendre for his presence and congratulated him for planning to host a global theatre event in India. He expressed his gratitude for the enthusiasm shown by the matured audience who made the festival a gala event.