Jammu: On World Theatre Day, March 27, the artists and people of Jammu were treated with a scintillating theatrical performance at Abhinav Theatre today.
The play written by world renowned playwright George Bernard Shaw and adapted and translated by Vikram Sharma was performed by the NGO Care For You before a large section of audience drawn from various fields.
The play which produces a telling tale of deceit and disrespectability brought to a great general had a strong storyline where a woman planted by Austrian forces tries to demean and showcase Bonaparte his deeds through the prism of factual history.
In an Italian inn, the young Napoleon is spending the evening. A young Frenchwoman has succeeded in beguiling an empty headed lieutenant and pilfering some dispatches and letters he was to deliver to Napoleon. The theft was made to retrieve an incriminating love letter written by Josephine to Director Barras.
It is based on an historic incident at the early stage of Napoleon Bonaparte’s military career following upon his advancement to General. As such, Bonaparte is the lead character and a Lady Emily Preston, the second principal character. They meet at an inn and the innkeeper, Joseph, is instrumental in helping to reveal information about them to each other and to the audience.
The fourth character, the Lieutenant, Alex Cooper is instrumental in setting up the conflict, which is introduced at the very beginning of the play and pursued hotly from the start. The action is mental; nothing physical rally takes place except for the innkeeper’s comings and goings.
The plot is a simple one: the lady has stolen Bonaparte’s letters from his Lieutenant on the highway in order to remove a personal one written by Josephine to Director Barras and maliciously sent to Bonaparte.
He encounters her and attempts to retrieve his mail while she attempts to keep him from reading the contents of Josephine& her personal letter. With the conflict of the mental action there is the battle between them for possession of the physical letters and then the contents of the one letter. The theme is that of how destiny turns on single events and remarks. Two key lines are spoken by the Lady because her brief comments, in the face of sure defeat, turn events in favor of her achieving her end by raising the right questions and motives in Bonaparte’s mind.“ What if Ceaser’s wife finds us both here alone”
Aditya Bhanu, the senior stage and film actor and director as General Napoleon Bonaparte rose to a position of command and authority as the general of world command and gave a histrionically the best roaring performance.
Mila Raj, a new theatrical find, was the pick of the show as her maiden stage appearance left the audience spellbound as she maneuvered the role of cunning Emily Preston to her best.
Arun Sharma, Lieutenant Alex Cooper, another new stage entrant did not falter a line and kept his motion well-paced with the dramatic nuances of the drama.
The play was produced by Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art Culture and Languages and directed by Vikram Sharma who also chipped in with a cameo to support the production which was presented as a tribute to late Smt Santosh Sharma ( mother, Vikram Sharma).
Others who supported the production in various roles at backstage included Sapna Soni , Shilakha Sharma , Shalini Sharma , MJ Sunny , Vikran Mehta, Bindia Chandan, Supreet Kour , RJ Rahul , Ravi Sharma ( Dhanraj Studioz), Rahul Khatri, Tani Deol, Simone Prabhakar , Dilshad Shazi , Juhi Kalsotra , Pankaj Sharma and Lokesh Sharma.
