Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 3: This Sunday, Natrang presented an experimental performance of Stanley Houghton’s popular play ‘The Dear Departed’ which is a social play on the condition of the elderly people who are being abandoned and neglected by their own children.
The play is optimistic that even elderly people may choose to live merrily, despite their old age. The play was directed by Neeraj Kant who very intelligently accommodated a number of actors in the play without changing its texture and pace.
In the beginning of the play, ‘Mrs Slater’ goes to offer something to grandfather ‘Abel Merryweather’ and finds him quite cold and motionless. She declares that the grandfather is no more. Accordingly, her sister and her husband, the ‘Jordans’ are informed about the sudden demise of the grandfather. ‘Mrs Slater’ and her husband are busy making arrangement for the mourning.
‘Victoria’, daughter of Mrs Slater does not like all these but reluctantly she is helping her parents in these matters. Mrs Slater is not willing to share everything of her father’s belongings with Mrs Jordan. When all these arrangements are being done, the Jordans arrive to join them. The family members start detailed conversation on the deeds of the grandfather, planning the details of the obituary announcement in the papers and the insurance premium payment.
They start discussion over the distribution of grandfather’s belongings among them. Amid these discussions and debates, to everybody’s surprise, grandfather (who was actually alive) is seen coming downstairs. No one dares to tell him that he has been declared ‘dead’. While taking tea, the truth comes out and the grandfather gets to know how his daughters have been in a hurry to divide his possessions among them.
On knowing the harsh reality, the grandfather decides not to live with any of his daughters. He even expresses his final intention to change his Will. He declares that he is going to give everything to ‘Mrs Shorrocks’ whom he will marry. He feels that by marrying he will have someone to look after him wholeheartedly without considering him to be a burden.
Natrang’s young actors who performed in the play include Agam Kaur, Ashley Mehta, Kushal Sharma, Priya Thakur, Chahat Katyal, Imtiyaz Ahmed Shah, Shahrukh Malik, Ravees Ahmed Khan, Redhima Gupta, Blessy Teji, Ashish Thakur, Toyab Hussain, Mannat Gupta, Kyannat Gupta, Brijesh Avtar Sharma and Rakshit Arora.
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