BALURGHAT: Balurghat Municipality has organised a week-long theatre festival in memory of renowned dramatist Harimadhab Mukhopadhyay, coinciding with the civic body’s 75th anniversary. Mukhopadhyay, who passed away recently, is widely credited with shaping Balurghat’s identity as the “City of Theatre”.
The festival began at Rabindra Bhavan on Wednesday evening and will run till August 31. The opening play, Pathashuddhi, written by Mukhopadhyay and directed by Pradosh Mitra, was presented by the municipality. On Thursday, Raiganj Institute staged Shakespeare’s Othello in translation and direction by Surajit Ghosh, a member of the West Bengal Theatre Academy. Friday’s performance was featured by Rabindranath Tagore’s Kanakchampa, directed by Ranjan Dutta, with MP Partha Bhowmick as chief advisor. On Saturday, audiences can watch Dayabaddha, directed by Aritra Bandopadhyay, while the concluding play on Sunday will be Purono Trunk, directed by Abhi Chakraborty.
Balurghat Municipality Chairman Ashok Kumar Mitra said: “Balurghat has earned the distinction of being the City of Theatre because of Harimadhab Mukhopadhyay’s immense contribution. We have organised this festival both as a tribute to him and to mark 75 years of Balurghat Municipality. Our aim is to bring theatre closer to people and therefore no entry fee has been kept.
We invite every theatre lover of Balurghat to participate in this celebration.”
The municipality expressed confidence that the festival would be a success, providing residents with an opportunity to enjoy diverse productions without any cost.