Bhubaneswar: That Biplab Keshari Satapathy knows the art of striking a chord with theatre lovers was proved once again on November 2 when ‘Mankada hatare salagrama’ was staged under monthly series of Natyadhara at Bhanjakala Mandap in Bhubaneswar.
The play written and directed by Satapathy was staged by Uttarayani Club, Jatni in Khordha district, one of the oldest theatre groups in Odisha.
What would happen if something valuable is in monkey’s hand? The play helps the audience find the answer, while leaving them rolling in the aisles.
Also read: https://kalasanskruti.in/naye-natuas-nakshi-kanthar-math-strikes-emotional-chord/
The play opens in a royal court where a woman citizen of the kingdom comes with a complaint that her neighbour’s wall collapses on her pet dog, killing it on the spot. She seeks justice for her pet. She wants her neighbour should be hanged.
The King summons her neighbour to the court. Her neighbour holds the contractor responsible for the mishap. The contractor is summoned. He holds the mason responsible for the mishap. The mason holds the brahmin, who performed ground breaking rituals, responsible and the brahmin holds his guru, a saint, responsible.
The saint is summoned to the court. It is when the king asks the hangman to hang the saint, the saint readily accepts the judgement which leaves all surprised.
When asked the reason for his eagerness to die, he says it is the auspicious moment when someone dies would become a powerful king with many queens.
Hearing this, all present in the court wish to be hanged first. The king is no different either. Hoping to get a bigger kingdom with more wealth and many queens, he puts the noose around his neck and dies.
This reviewer as well as many in the auditorium thought the play ended with the king’s death.
But there Satapathy gave a twist to the play, making it more enjoyable.
After the death of the king, the saint reveals his identity. He is actually the chief minister and the woman complainant is his daughter. Then it is revealed that a plot was orchestrated by the chief minister and his daughter to kill the inefficient king for the betterment of the kingdom.
The director brilliantly depicted various nagging issues we are coming across in our day-to-day life.
All the artistes did their level best to give justice to their characters. Umakant Muduli and Nibedita Samal need special mention for their mind-blowing portrayal of king and complainant respectively.
Another thing which this reviewer found worth mentioning was the group’s initiative to improve the play. Before the beginning of the play, the members had distributed plain papers in the auditorium. And at the end of the play, the members distributed pens, asking the audience to write a few lines about how they received the play and their suggestions for the improvement of the play.
There was nothing much to write home about the light design. It could have been better to enhance the impact of the situations.
Natyadhara’, a monthly series of four plays-three plays on the first, second and third day and the second Sunday of every month, is organised by the Culture Department, Government of Odisha in collaboration with the Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi and Odisha Natya Sangha.
Odisha Natya Sangha was formed in 1988 and persuaded the government to start a series of plays to keep the theatre movement in the state alive. Finally the government listened to the demand of the Odisha Natya Sangha and thus ‘Natyadhara’ was born in 2012.
