Jammu May 01 : On the 23rd Day of Natrang’s online Quarantine Theatre Festival, Natrang presented Shanker Shesh’s landmark play ‘Raktbeej’ under the able direction of Rakesh Kumar Gupta (Retd. IAS) on its social media platforms.
It is pertinent to mention here that Natrang actors got lifetime opportunity to work with and learn from vateran dramatist, ace engineer and brilliant administrator, Rakesh Kumar Gupta during his illustrious tenure in J&K. He has the credit to act pivotal roles in professional performances of the world classics at National and International platforms. Even being at key positions as an administrator which require highest degree of responsibility and time, he had been instrumental in doing quality theatre throughout his life, balancing all his responsibilities miracously.
Today’s play ‘Raktbeej’ begins with a lively debate amongst the protagonists of the play on the theme of suicide. Does every suicide by an individual mean murder by the society due to the circumstances created by it? The characters decide to leave this decision to the audience. They present two incidents to them in support of their argument.
The first incident involves a young clerk and his wife who have invited the Managing Director of the firm for cocktails in their house. The intention is to cultivate contacts with him to climb the corporate ladder. The husband plans to use the wife to entrap the boss. The wife is initially hesitant to be a part of this scheme but becomes a willing party later. The complex situation arising out of these relationships culminate in suicide. The husband in the meanwhile has successfully climbed the corporate ladder and has no hesitation in even blackmailing the boss further. The exploited become the exploiter.
The second event narrated involves a senior scientist in a research institution who attempts to cultivate the Director for getting foreign trips and recognition in his research work. He has deliberately included the name of the Director in his earlier research papers to please him and to use him to get fame and recognition. He now plans to publish a major path-breaking research work independently and hopes for support from the Director.
The Director, who himself is a past master in such manipulations, publishes this work in his own name to get fame and name for himself. The climax of this event leaves everyone stunned.
Dr. Shesh introduces us to this demon but leaves the question of dealing with it open ended. Does our society have the inner strength to deal with the RAKTBEEJ or do we have to wait for divine intervention alone to come out of this cycle?
Anil Tickoo, Neeraj Kant, Sanjeev Gupta, Sangeeta Thapliyal and Atima Kala gave engrossing performances.
On Saturday, the 24th day of this online theatre festival, William Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo Juliet’ directed by Aarushi Thakur Rana would be featured.
