Theatre Play Review

Nowadays, when play’s subject are ruthlessly stuffed with cheap humour, satire and sarcasm for commercial ticket sales,  success seems to be the ultimate  motto for theatre makers are in the full swing, on such time, witnessing the mental turmoil that arises in your inner self in a powerful play,  while observing the dramatic material of the revolution, as born from the continuous mental churning, its seems to finding an oasis in the desert!
Recently, the famous play ‘Saari Raat’ by Master playwright Badal Sircar was staged in the auditorium of National School of Drama, New Delhi by cooperation of the  Ministry of Culture. Directed by renowned theatre personality Ashraf Ali under the banner of Anuragana Theatre Group and translated by Dr. Pratibha Agarwal.
Sudhindra Sircar, a. k. a.,  Badal Sircar in the theatre world, is known for his revolutionary writing, direction and acting skills. Badal Sircar possesses a unique mastery of revolutionary writing, direction, and acting. He has written several plays like ‘Evam Indrajit’, ‘Ebong’, ‘Basi Khabar’, ‘Pagla Ghoda’ , ‘Phir Kisi Din’ and ‘Kavi Kahani’ etc. through  his playwright work he has created his own unique impression and identity, which has been given a high status and appreciation by dramatist fraternity.
In this particular play, ‘ Saari Raat ‘
during a stormy heavy rain night  a young tourist couple arrive at a mysterious dilapidated place , where they encounter the place owner an older insomniac man. Where the old man shakes up the couple’s calm, flat, traditional contentment of married life by throwing few verbal pebbles into  stored still pond of misconceptions! Rest is the typical situation of dissatisfied wife’s inner conflicts and clashes  as shows a psychological analysis of the situation arising from the sarcastic questions raised by the old host . This is a story of three characters based on one night and one place fixed drama beautifully. It exposes the inner self of a woman at the subconscious level, her tangible and intangible aspirations and her projections, layer by layer, of soft imagination and harsh realism. Basically it’s discloses the real ‘Triya Charitram’, the complexities of a woman’s mind, nature and emotional decisions, which as per old saying eloborates even God doesn’t know it.
The wife till now facing an extovert, arrogant , non romantic,  a blunt talking practical narcissist husband who is totally ignorant of understanding the delicate feelings and desires of wife’s heart. Her suppressed desires and increasing age insecurity  constantly slipping away from her grasp forces her to fall for an imaginary ideal man, ‘Ranjan’! For whom she searches all night long, sacrificing her sleep!
This host, the Old Man, becomes a shadow character and provides a momentary supplement to her unfilled quest. Earlier, the old man stirs up the woman’s deepest emotions and makes her realize the emptiness of her married life, which she had considered successful and satisfying. Now the woman is already facing the storm internally and externally when the husband’s slander breaks her badly.  The beautiful use of poetry in this one and a half hour play gives it a unique charm!
Ultimately it’s reflects a battle between human consciousness versus sub consciousness. External Societal restrictions versus inner soft emotional solace and gratifications of soul.
Staging this complex subject was very challenging for a director and his production team, where revealing and acting the inner feelings of a woman to the final audience was like unraveling the tangle of a mental web!
Therefore, director Ashraf Ali can be considered successful to some extent in maintaining the interesting level of this play, which was testified by the applause through clapping and pin-drop silence of the audience,  from time to time.
He succeeded in portraying play characters with authoritative control over the actors and all-round efficiency in quality acting, razor cut dialogue delivery, costumes, background music, lighting, stage decoration and stage management in totality. For example, his use of a cage literally depicts the marital confinement of a woman and the heroine’s monologues create a different world from these scenes! Similarly, the attack by the enraged husband on an indirectly cut tree made of woven iron wires demonstrates the excellent use of props, where the props themselves become characters.
Still, some limitations plague these scenes! For example, the character’s arrival in the heavy rain at the beginning could have been better depicted through more gestures! Shining shoes emerging from the mud diminishes the visual imagination.The director could have explained why the old man needed the coat, pants,  hat and boots costume when he’d been living alone at home for days!
Furthermore, the old man’s character needed a little more development. Due to lack of coordination between the actors in the ongoing play, some scenes were missed, which was confessed by the director himself.
Actor Vinay Kumar, playing the role of the ‘Husband’, has played his character quite satisfactorily but he needs to make own efforts to develop his character and take it above average. His timing errors and  overlapping early dialogue delivery are forgivable lapses!  As the ‘Wife’, actress Komal Singh does justice to her character. She captures the inner desires of a woman accurate and emotional portrayal of fantasies, conflicts, frustrations, compulsions, dilemma and insecurities gives her cause for appreciation. She can further excercise on dictation and voice modulation for perfection! Hat’s off to Komal for controlling scenes lapse with overlapping dialogues of main script, to indemnifie eleventh hour blunders typed loss. Likewise in role of eccentric ‘Old man’, Actor Kamal Rexwal has beautifully exhibited the emotional ups and downs of lonely person Who lives in sleepless nights and memorise of his past life and becomes a symbolic complement by becoming a catalyst character in the awakening of the heroine. However he needs to break his own introvertness for excellence.
in the back stage , Lighting by Oasis  Sougaijam, Costumes by Anjal Sharma, Music and Set design exclusively by Ashraf Ali self.
Meanwhile, the Editor of journal ‘Colour Canvas’  Vijay Seth was the chief guest of this play who appreciated the artists team alongwith Theatre director Shyam Kumar, actress Paribhasha who addressed the stage  with their graceful presence. The nicely presentation of stage host by Munmun was another added attraction of that day.
:- Sanjay Singh ‘Susarthak’