Bhubaneswar: Sonepur based theatre group Trendy Academy staged ‘Kuanri’ on the third evening of state level theatre festival ‘Rang Sangam’ (September 12 to 16) at Bhanjakala Mandap in Bhubaneswar.
The play opens with a scene of some tribal people entering the village head Kankali Sardar’s house, carrying a wooden pole on their shoulders to which a young man is tied in the same fashion as a hunted animal is tied.
Kankali starts preparation to offer the young man, Doma, as sacrifice to Kuanri Sundari, a presiding deity, to avoid draught.
Just then, Kankali’s daughter Dibali intervenes and pleads for Doma’s life. Kankali spares Doma but makes his life a living hell by making him an eunuch.
Meanwhile, Dibali and Doma start liking each other. Kankali too likes to unite them but Doma’s eunuchism stands as a problem.
As the play proceeds towards climax, Dibali helps Doma to get back his virility and then spends the night with him.
But Dibali’s dream to get Doma as husband remains in dream as after regaining his lost memory, the latter leaves for his village, leaving Dibali alone. In a sharp contrast, instead of feeling any remorse or sad for the separation, Dibali bids adieu to Doma, happily.
This reviewer found the pace of the play to be rather slow, enough to make audience doze off in their seats. The plot also fizzled out before the end. When it comes to artistes’ performance, they failed to strike a chord with the audience. Had their performance levels been a bit higher, it would have been an engaging play. However, the saving grace was Munian Panigrahi (Dibali). She has the potential to be a good artiste, she has only to make best use of it. The homework of the director, Dr Purushottam Mishra, who is also the playwright of the play, was noticeable. He took great care of the costumes and stage craft to give it a semblance of a tribal hamlet.
