Lalit Gupta
JAMMU, Mar 14: Samooh Theatre staged J. N. Kaushal’s Urdu translation of Oedipus Rex, a Greek tragedy by Sophocles based on the myth of Oedipus, as the third play of the ongoing theatre festival organized by Sangam Theatre Group, Reasi, at the Abhinav Theatre, here today.
Directed by Ravinder Sharma, today’s performance was once again was a captivating performance by Samooh Theatre’s mostly young team of amateur actors.
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 own mother and bear her children, has been fulfilled. Revolted by his guilt he plunges pins into his eyes and seeks banishment from society.
Reflecting the continuous evolution of the presentation design, today opening of the play was a lyrical dance sequence portraying queen Jacosta in gay abundance, her conception and birth of Oedipus, prophecy and subsequent banishment of the child. Other scenes-with exception second scene where Oedipus make his appearance for the first time-were prosaic both in terms of text-heavy dialogues and somewhat static scene compositions and placements of the ‘chorus’.
Sandeep Thakur as Oedipus, once again carried the play almost singlehandedly. His impressive performance was noticeable for perfect delivery of long winding Urdu dialogues coalesced with free-flowing body movements. Others who also impressed included Sandeep Manhas as Creon, Chetan Charak as Tiresias, Aashima Dutta as Jacosta, Samdish as Messenger, Rohan Sharma as Shephard, Deepika Jamwal as Antigone, Ritika Jawal as Ismene. While ‘chorus’ comprised of Nikita Abrol, Hempreet Kaur, Nainsi, Anjali Sharma, Pallavi Jamwal, Tarun Charak, Shubham Singh, Abhishake Sharma, Surjeet, Akshit Sethi, Pallavi Jamwal, Sakshav Raina, Kartavya Singh and Kousar Chandpuri.
Today’s performance, staged in the backdrop of colorful set creating the ambiance of Oedipus’s royal quarters, supported by appropriate costumes, light design, make-up, background music and choreography, gave the production a befittingly aesthetic fillip. Tomorrow, Yeh Meri Wife Hai, a solo play by Pankaj Sharma will be performed.
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