Lalit Gupta
JAMMU, Aug 30: An impressive and highly entertaining performance of ‘Do Kouri Ka Khel’ staged by Amateur Theatre Group, Jammu, (ATG) in collaboration with National School of Drama, New Delhi, augurs well for the theatre practice in Jammu as it provided a wholesome dramatic experience for the audience which incidentally mostly comprised of young brigade.
The story of play revolves around Bhayanak Singh, a dacoit who marries Phoolan. This displeases her father Narhari Poddar who controls a big contingent of beggars and endures to have Bhayank Singh hanged. His attempts are hindered by police chief Pandey who has been taking bribe from Bhayanak. Narhari eventually gets Bahyanak arrested and sentenced to be hanged. Bhayanak escapes moments before his execution and becomes a leader in the end.
Designed and directed by young talented Ifra Kak, the Hindustani adaptation by Parimal Dutt’s of world famous ‘Three Penny Opera’ by Bertolt Brechtt, was presented by participants of month long theatre workshop ‘An Actor Prepares’ at the Police Auditorium, here today.
Today’s performance came out clearly as a director’s production wherein each and every member of collective of young actors performed respective roles like a well synchronized orchestra of body movements, entries and exits. The phenomenal energy level of the young actors was also an experience to watch.
The production design, marked by flowing dance and rhythmic body movements and groupings, supported by an admixture folk and popular music numbers from Bollywood and Tollywood, not only brilliantly approximated the spirit of original play in opera form by Brechtt to major extent but also proved befitting for dialogues in verse of the Hindustani adaptation. Further, the use of minimal props also came out as a refreshing challenge to conventional notion of property viz a viz., theatre.
The apparent comedy dangerously lurking to become a farce, in the end came out to be a scathing attack on rampant corruption and on the double standards of present day society where so-called elite, like characters of films, live multiple lives: Sadhus in day light and Criminals in the night.
The cast of the play included Deepak Virdhi, Sunil Sharma, Vikram Khatri, Azem Wani, Vicky Kaw, Mohit Mehra, Ankit Sharma, Sushil Gupta—the beggars, Sunil Sharma, Vivek Sandotra, Sanket Chauhan, Varun Wakiff, Ayaan Ali—Dacoits, Sourav Verma as Narhari, Ayaan Ali as Bhayanak, Delight William as Manmohni, Aparna Kapoor as Rampayari, Sakshi Kaul as Phoolan, Pankaj Sharma as Police Chief, Mohit Mehra as Daroga. Today’s production is certainly a feather in the cap of young director Ifra Kak who has proved that such competent drama production can certainly help in entrenching theater as regular part of cultural life of Jammuites.
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