PERFORMANCES 01
[ Glimpses of performances by People's Theatre Group ]
Describe your image
Chotushpod 2006 - 07
Chotushpod talks about the animals which human beings are and a contrast between the two kind of citizens; wolves and sheep. Responding to the youthful vulnerability, the generations get lost in fabricated situations where political interests take over the liveliness of society. The nexus between pillars of democracy thrives on the innocence of youthful generation.
Language: Bengali
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Iti Krishna travels through three eras, in which a comparative line is being drawn between mythology, medieval age as well as modern age with political relevance of Krishna and his existence as a God. The three deaths on the same day, yet different ages relate to the opulence of religious hegemony, which is a parasite to normalcy of faith in 'being simple' through it's basic social structure.
Language: Bengali
iti Krishna 2008
Swapner Shohor 2009 - 10
Swapner Sohor is a contemporary play, focusing on the growing cities and deteriorating human aspects of mankind. Purnendu wants his business to channelise further into realty estate which seems to be a booming business. However, his problem arises with different kinds of issues and one being the house of Mrs. Becker, who has a much more humanitarian outlook towards life. The city grows but the people remain disconnected and lonely. The city finally falls apart due to different issues and Purnendu breaks down along with his dreams. Mrs. Becker finally makes him understand that it is the social bonding and human values which bind the civilisation. A city build with human aspects will stay forever. That is how one man's dream can be everybody's dream; a dream city can be build with everybody's dream.
Language: Bengali
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One of the most critically acclaimed Bengali plays of People's Theatre Group, Abaar Ekattor (Return of '71) goes back to the horrifying days of 1971, when the human race in east was paralysed by famine, war and birth of Bangladesh from the womb of sacrifices. The migration of millions to India led to instability and borders were drawn with political knives. After more than four decades of those dark days, 71 has come back to haunt us. The bifurcation of India into new states and new castes have taken out those knives which might be rusted but has not lost their illumined features. Regional conflicts, rotten grains, uncontrolled prices for necessities, corrupt axis of power and growing discontent over the very existence of constitution, mark the return of those days.
Language: Bengali
Abaar Ekattor
(Return of '71) 2011
Ekti Ayena Duti Oboyob - 2013
People's Theatre Group staged 'Ekti Ayena, Duti Oboyob', which means 'A Mirror and Two Countenances'. This is a theatrical attempt to go through reminiscence of feelings where characters who are lost in the dust of time, revive their glory through living lights, awakened accolades and sudden passionate remembrance of their glorious past.
Language: Bengali
Typewriter' is a simple story of love, betrayal, touchiness, self respect and all the human emotions, except that of hatred. The presentation is based on the Brecht’s principle of alienation effect by using innovative theatrical techniques to “make the familiar strange” in order to provoke a social-critical audience response. Moving ahead from his epic theatrical involvement, People's Theatre Group has tried to experiment with loneliness of characters being depicted with emotional elements which are provokingly dissimilar to the situations.
Language: Performed in Bengali and Hindi
Typewriter 2014
Woh Nahi Gandhi 2015
Woh Nahi Gandhi, dwells with the vision that we seek within our leaders, disregarding our esteemed self. This play reverberates the crisis of distinctiveness of self in the melee of political and communal ideologies. Polarisation and bifurcation of political ideologies further aggravates the unnerved youth who become rootless in thoughts. The story moves within span of a night, reflecting a timeless ordeal of internal as well as external human conflict. The doings of right and wrong are not limited to human relics or leaders' judgement but one's understanding of changing times. society and willingness to pass on the demonstrative moderation of wisdom to next generation. The colours of communal indulgence is not related to saffron or dynastic influence but a culmination of intentions to attain the coveted political majority. The play begins and ends with a quest of uncertainty that youth of the day would like the politicians and self proclaimed leaders to answer.
Language: Hindi
3 brings in the conditioned situation in which three woman remain together within a hemisphere of lost past. Yet, the past comes back one day to remind them of their relationship with the same man but in different ways.
Language: Bengali
3 (Three) 2016
Podatik 2015
Podatik' or the infantryman is a play that detects internal conflict of identity in middle class, wrangling against circumstances and personal dilemmas. Padatik is story of a family which consist of a retired infantryman, his lonely wife and a son who is fighting the societal war of existence. The social war takes its toll on relationships of characters as well as daily life. The relationships are torn apart by the shells of mortal mortars, leaving beyond recondite wounds. These are constantly pricked and kept afresh by the spineless maggots of society, who thrive on choking lives. A soldier might lose the passage of arms in the societal combat but never forgets that death comes only once. The battle continues.
Language: Bengali
Written by Shankar Shesh and directed by Sameep Singh, the play seeks solace in understanding the relationship between Shekhar and Lalita.
Shekhar is lost in his artistic world as a painter whereas Lalita struggles to meet the daily needs of household, debts and materialistic ends. The entwined stress is further extended by Shekhar's sister Neelu, whose relationship with a rich opportunistic man creates further unreasonable stress, Anaadi, a friend of Shekhar supports through thick and thin as well as brings a sense of hope. The twists and turns finally lead to fulfillment of aspirations through family's exploration of truth.
Language: Hindi
Murtikar 2016 - 17
O' Othello
- The Moor and Spaghettis
2016 - 17
O' Othello - The Moor and Spaghettis is an adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello. The play takes us through the intricate values of human beings which are marred by sins. The relationships fall apart due to overindulgence in greed, pride and ambitions. Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, pride, and Sloth are present throughout peoples everyday lives. William Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello is a literary example of how these vices slip into our daily behaviors and, ultimately, ruin our lives.
The adaptation implores the Othello as timeless catalyst to these sins of mankind being enlarged as glorious existence.
Language: English
Life is interweaved within three generations of existence, where God and Human beings are equally challenged by death, The play encompasses time, dealing with the last days of mythological Krishna, medieval Madhav and contemporary Govind. They live through their goodness as well as vices embraced by their mother and earth alike.
The last moment of remorse is blended with different characteristics of death. They have their faith in life, hindered by existentialist moral equity. Life ends in death.
Language: Hindi
Atah Krishna 2017
Khoya Hua Aadmi 2019
Written by Sushant Supriye, Khoya Hua Aadmi is the search for human within human. We have all lost ourselves in the crowd of uncertainty . The human being within has also stopped being a human and have walked away from the soulful being of goodness.
Staying together, we don't see much of goodness in others as well as within ourselves. Khoya Hua Aadmi is a story which narrates this eternal search which should continue to understand as well as explore the inner beauty of mankind. The kindness follows.
Language: Hindi
Lady Macbeth disappears in Act V of Shakespeare's Macbeth, presumably dead. The aspirations stay alive through every contemporary woman, who is left behind to wander through desires within the walls of her house. She has a past and a bleak present, whereas future deceives her. The characters of past are what she fears, skeptically enough to protect her child obsessively from the outer society. In lieu of death, she barters hollowness. Lady Macbeth's lipsticks, mascara, nail polishes, fantasies and desires, remain silent.
Though we find Macbeth, Banquo and Duncan through Shakespeare's verses, they are more of real characters than ghosts, as much as the visitor whom Lady Macbeth doesn't recognise as the man for whom she had been waiting for. Meanwhile, Anna the girl through her puberty raises doubts over the edges of reasoning that is confronted with womanhood.
Thus, Lady Macbeth remains a story of woman's psychology which we deliberately push through ignorance.
Language: English
Lady Macbeth's Lipstick 2017
Lady Macbeth's Lipstick 2017
Shoonya Theke Shesh 2019
Shoonya Theke Shesh initiates a dialogue for the widows of Syria, who are in a state of dire apathy due to continuous war and insurgency. The migration of millions in war torn Syria and other countries have worsened the situation, which needs humanity as it's messenger of peace.
Language: Bengali
Truth, Lies: Lies aren't True; 2018
Shotti, Mithye: Mithye Kintu Shotti Noy
People's Theatre Group presented Truth, Lies: Lies aren't True; a micro-play based on playwright Luigi Pirandello's 'Right You Are (If You Think So)' (Italian: Così è (se vi pare), also translated as 'It Is So, (If You Think So)'.
Language: Gibberish, Bengali, English
The relationships' intricacies are webbed in the darkness of urban tangles. 'The daughter', as 'Atmaja' means, delves through the maze of unaccustomed relationships in midst of an intrusion by uncertain expectations. While Amrita searches for the fulfillment through Nakul's existence in her otherwise detached life, Jaya gets into a doubtful situation that instigates her fiancé to momentarily part his way. The story unfolds the intrigue behavioural change of different characters. Jaya's father Venkat is confronted by Pannalal, who suddenly reaches Chennai and claims to be the biological father. The cynicism unblocks the emotional stream and leaves stains of uncertainty in mind of characters. Portrayed through unadorned reflexes, the story telling of Atmaja takes a form where intricate relations are morphed with existence of forest's depth which acts as imagery of byzantine relationships as well as human thoughts.
Language: Hindi
Dadu
[Technical Rehearsal 2015]
Dadu
Dadu
[Technical Rehearsal 2018]
Dadu is a story of a lonely man, who has been searching for the lost art of puppetry. The neighbourhood children used to call him dadu and spend time with his puppets and stories. After attaining popularity across the world, Dadu is affected by Parkinson's disease at the ripe age. His family being run by wife's earnings, his companions are old memories, children and urge to keep the art alive. Kids hardly come to him nowadays as they are generally busy with laptops, mobiles as well as regular tuitions. His frustration gets transformed into anger towards his life. However, the kids return one day. They return with hope for Dadu with a trust that art of puppetry will live. Artists die but the art form lives forever.
Language: Performed in Bengali and Hindi
Arth 2017
'Arth', a path breaking experimentation with physical theatre, embedded into a periodical story. The play challenged human limitations along with parameters of story-telling capability in an unconventional way.
'Arth' the substance or the financial value as it might be connoted, is a periodical play that is set in 283 BC. The play reveals intricacies of values in life and society, when even Mauryan empire falls prey to internal conflicts of a human being. Though non-specific to any particular historical character, 'Arth' brings the essence of economical dominance marred by political lineages.
Language: Hindi
The sense of power and knowledge beget in every embryo as a nest of definitive absolute existence. This understanding of truth gets diluted with growth of complexity in human beings, who defy time and space to confront the continuance of life in the womb. Few characters live through nonchalant deliberation of existence, that will take them beyond boundaries of reality. However, the same characters also try to understand the vices that brings in darkness in civilisation.
Rajjo, a tyrant and politically inclined woman controls the axis of power by controlling the souls as well as corrupting the minds. Maan is against this concentrated corruption and segregation of people on the basis of their caste and religion. Maan is supported by Debi, who represents the elitist class of self proclaimed goddesses. Osur and Gandhari become catalysts to the changing times whereas Che takes the responsibility of storytelling through criticality of situations. Rajjo’s conflict with Maan reaches its epitome through treachery and diplomacy. The darkness recedes to dawn with the advent of a classless, casteless generation.
Language: Bengali
Gorbho Jaato 2018
Gorbho Jaato 2018
Mad Mad Horses 2018
People's Theatre Group presentsed Mad Mad Horses as the urban morphosis of Badal Sircar's Pagla Ghoda. The interludes of urbanity are knotted in the stressed mutations of individual self and being social alike. The madness is in the concretes which are growing like molasses on the desires and dreams. Memories are sweet unlike the bitter diabetes. The ecstatic horses are all there, racing against themselves.
Language: English, Hindi
What is that anxiety which engulfs human mind, smokes it with depression as well as highlights a restless moment to snatch away the peaceful coexistence within the society? With questions unanswered in the urban melee of affairs, loneliness is the companion whom we hate to get detached with.
Set in an interactive mode, People's Theatre Group had intended to create an atmosphere of evoking the inner senses of audience with deliberate slowness and paused clocks of time.
Absorption of truth can also be subtle and not to be shouted and scouted through urgency.
Deny it, if you want to.
Nonetheless, you will soon wake up to the reality of urban loneliness and hidden fears of sleeplessness.
It's a story of loneliness which is reflected in the days of staying connected through social media. Virtual images can be broken into fragments of understanding by talking, meeting, touching each other in the mortal world. We all miss out on being together in the real world of humanity. Spoken through the language of loneliness and defined through a sparrow as metaphor, the play is so much relevant in days like these, when global lockdown has given us the moment to ponder through the lose of human touch. Virtuality is in ardent need of conversion to real relationships by people who can weave back the civilisation's fabric.
Language: English, Hindi
A Sparrow in the City
2018 - 19
