Naihati: Rangasena’s three-day long 4th Rangoutsab National Theatre Festival is all set to begin from February 15.
Like the past editions, this fourth edition of the festival is also bringing selected plays to theatre connoisseurs. This year, a total of 11 plays are going to be staged at Oikatan Mancha, Naihati, West Bengal.
The inaugural evening will witness three plays. The first play is ‘Shreecharanakamaleshu’, staged by Rangasena and directed by Dhrupad Ghosh. The second play is ‘Jor Ayu’ and the group is ‘Sahajiya’ from Baguihati, West Bengal. This play, directed byArnish Sen, has all the ingredients of entertainment. The third play of the evening is ‘Kichu Nei’. The group is Baharampur Repertory, West Bengal, and the play is directed by noted theatre personality Pradip Bhattacharya.
There are four plays in the second evening. The evening’s first play is ‘Ketaki Upakhyan’, directed by Deep Bhowmik and the group is Rangasena. The second play is ‘Notebook’, to be staged at muktamanch. Udaypur based Abhimukh theatre group will stage the play. Prasanta S. Dhar is the director of the play. A Hindi play ‘Betiyaa’n’ is the third play of the evening. While the play is directed by Shah Jahan Khan, Mumbai based Kalapremee theatre group will stage it. The fourth play is ‘Security’, staged by Abahoman, a theatre group from Halisahar, West Bengal and directed by Tirthankar Chanda.
Similarly, the concluding evening will also witness staging of four plays. They are ‘Rubichhaya’, ‘Ekta Mather Janyo’, ‘Eidgaha’ and ‘Gandhinka Saha Gotie Rati’, staged by Rangasena, Esho Natak Shikhi, Kolkata; Rangapeeth, Shantipur, West Bengal; and Taranga, Bhubaneswar, Odisha respectively. The respective directors are Chiranjeet Mondal, Dr Tapas Das, Nilima Biswas and Gyanaranjan Sathya.
This year the manch has been dedicated to two doyens- Prasanjit Bardhan and Usha Ganguly. There will be ‘Director’s Meet’ everyday at 3:30 pm and the staging of play begins at 5:00 pm. Similarly, there will be seminars on February 16 and 17 at 4:00 pm at muktamanch. Speakers like playwright Soumen Pal; editor of Bhabna Theatre, Abhik Bhattacharya; theatre activist Sanjay Achariya; editor of Pother Aalap, Chamak Majumder, reporter Bishnupada Bhowmik and young playwright Souptik Pal have given their consent to take part in the seminars.
Apart from this, there will be several cultural activities everyday at muktamanch by Naihati Muktadhara, Chhotoder Rangasena, Nimta Punshcha, Kancha Mati and Naihati Rangasena.
During the entire festival, COVID-19 guidelines prescribed by WHO, Health Ministries of West Bengal and Government of India will be followed, said the organizers.
Established in 2017, Rangasena is known for its theatre activities taken up all throughout the year. During COVID-19 pandemic time, it carried out a lot of activities to help out people stuck in various problems as well.
By kalasanskruti
