World Theatre Day was organised by Bengal Association Delhi, at Muktadhara Auditorium in the Capital on 10th April 2022.

The celebration of World Theatre Day is once again alive with the victory song of the Bengali Theatre in Delhi. Fourteen theatre groups were gathered at the Muktadhara to celebrate the amazing works of some of the brilliantly-talented playwrights.

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The festival succeeded in bringing together all these theatre groups of Delhi-NCR and it depicted the traditional richness of Bengal’s literature, art and culture came to the fore in a very brief time slot of 20 minutes for each of the 14 Micro-plays.

 On the occasion, Prarambh, a noted theatre group in Delhi, staged a Non Verbal play, “Pursuit of Pleasure” directed by Rabishankar Kar. He also did the light design, Mask preparation, and Music Execution was done by Soma Kar.

The play is about four old-aged persons living in an old home named The Nest. In daily life, these old guys although used to playing music, playing cards, and fighting against each other but it seems like life is tedious without any colour. One fine day a lady caretaker comes to take care of them and certainly the meaning of life changes for these guys. Each one of these old chaps starts to pursue some pleasure and visualizes being the partner of the lady caretaker. Obsessions toward the lady somehow stopped their daily activities. One morning the lady went out and met with an accident and died. All these four people are heartbroken, life is again meaningless. Certainly, another lady appears as caretaker and everything changes for these old chaps, life is again full of color. Once a nobleman said “Winter always turns into spring”. The play explores human complexities as well as love treasured by mankind.

The play provided interesting viewing for the audience, especially for children, who were spellbound by the enactment, visual effects of mask and lighting effects, and use of beautiful props.

 Rabishankar Kar, a renowned theatre artist and director of the capital, who has been trying to reinvent the stage as an art space since 1998, told The Statesman about the significance of World Theatre Day. He said “This year world theatre day has a special significance as in the last two years world theatre has suffered a lot due to pandemic. This year all theatre artists are determined to stand together and promise to do their best for the sake of society. Art of theatre cannot be destroyed as this wonderful art is inherent in the life of all theatre artists around the world”.

School children are to be motivated by achievements in the field of theatre, in his opinion.  The director also explained the importance of theatre that “the theatre should be compulsory in the school curriculum, as it teaches one to work as a team, to lead a group and it helps an individual to grow as a human being who respects other’s feeling and teaches to extend a helping hand”.

 Navapalli Natya Sanstha (NNS), a leading amateur Bengali theatre group in the capital, brought to stage “Swarnamrinalini”, another play worth mentioning. Every dramatic price of NNS reveals social orientation and aesthetic sensibility in theatre.”Swranamrilani” is one such production.

It was a play based on a character Mrinalini Devi who was a neglected character in Rabindranath Tagore’s life. This personality is short-lived, almost on its way to extinction. The play pays homage to Mrinalini Devi on her 120th death anniversary. 

 Renewed theatre artist Soma Sinha has done the main character role of Mrinalini Devi She is always highly inventive, her casting is generally impeccable, as it is here, and her work is very entertaining.