A summer of classics
Be it Toba Tek Singh, Gurumukh Singh ki Wasiyat or Sahai, the stories written by Urdu short story writer Saadat Hasan Manto around the socio-political background of partition have always managed to elucidate a positive response when performed for the city audience. It comes as no surprise then that Asmita, the theatre group headed by Arvind Gaur, began their festival with Manto’s partition stories.
This will be followed by a range of plays like Bertolt Brecht’s Ramkali based on Good Person of Setzuan, Dario Fo’s Can’t Pay? Wont Pay!, Munshi Premchand’s Moteram Ka Satyagraha, Mahesh Dattani’s Final Solutions and 30 Days In September and several others. The festival that recently kicked off will continue till middle of July at Sri Ram Centre and Indian Habitat Centre.
“We need to create awareness about the current social and political scenario in the country and theatre is an apt medium to do so. Therefore, most of the plays chosen for our festival have a certain socio-political context,” says theatre thespian Arvind Gaur.
The festival will also host theatre workshops for enthusiasts across age-groups.
Shilpi Marwah, one of the senior actors of the group, says, “I am involved with more than 12 plays this time and it is enriching to play a range of characters from manual scavenger to a journalist.” With the society undergoing major upheaval owing to aggravating crime and corruption, theatre has always managed to capture the essence of the society.
“I play Gandhi in one play, a selfish government officer in another, a helpless father during partition searching for his daughter and a proud army doctor in another. The scope such roles offer is tremendous for any actor. Through our plays, we first work towards understanding issues, reflecting on them and changing our mindset wherever needed. It is then that we seek changing the mentality of the society,” explains theatre actor Gaurav Mishra.
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