Lalit Gupta
JAMMU, Jan 10: An engrossing performance of Oedipus Rex marked the concluding day of the annual theatre festival, at the Abhinav Theatre, here today. Staged by Samooh Theatre, and directed by Ravinder Sharma, Jatinder Kaushal’s two-hour Urdu translation was watched with rapt attention by the audience who enjoyed the way cast of young and child actors, brought alive on stage the epic quality of 5th-century Greek tragedy by Sophocles.
The play about patricide and incest revolves around Thebe’s King Oedipus, who realizes that he himself is the cause of the plague which has beset the Theban people since the murder of King Laius. At the start of the drama, he denounces the killer and sets out to punish the cursed individual. Informed by the words of prophecy and testimony, Oedipus soon pieces together the sorry events of his past life and concludes that Apollo’s prophecy at his birth, whereby he will kill his father and marry his mother and bear her children, has been fulfilled. Revolted by his guilt he plunges pins into his eyes and seeks banishment far from civilized society.
It goes to the credit of Ravinder Sharma, the young director, for designing a well-orchestrated production. The symbolic opening scene of Oedipus’s birth was followed by a series narrative sequences which while unveiling the story also steadily built up the tempo of the impending tragedy.
Staged against a set with an overhanging large mask on top of the central entrance to royal quarters, use of colorful drapes, appropriately designed costumes, make- up, well-thought light-design and befitting background music that accentuated the emotions-succeeded in creating the feel of the period.
Sandeep Thakur as Oedipus was impressive for almost flawless diction of Urdu, free-flowing dialogues with great control over pitch and tone. Equally good were Neeraj Sethi as Creon, Chetan Charak as Tiresias, Aashima Dutta as Jacosta, Samdish as Messenger, Rohan Sharma as Shephard, Deepika Jamwal as Antigone, Ayushi Bhat as Ismene, while chorus comprised of Harpreet Kaur, Pallavi Jamwal, Nikita Abrol, Sandeep Manhas, Tarun Cahrak, Shubham Singh, Abhishake Sharma, Akshit Sethi, Sakshav Raina, Kartavya Singh, Kousar Chandpuri.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
