By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 9 Feb: On the fourth day of the ongoing parallel Bharat Rang Mahotsav in Dehradun, it was the turn of Malayalam play “Bolivian Stars” to be staged at the new Auditorium of the State Culture Department. Bolivian Stars is the story of a group of seven footballers who lose all their matches. The play is set in a football field which has one goal post and it is staged with a minimal use of stage properties.
The characters of the play are seven mismatched footballers pushed into desperation. All the seven players have their own individuality and physical traits. The team has a black, a white, a handicapped, a migrant, a female and even one transgender. The team despite facing defeats learns its lessons of life and also the art of protest and survival. While they are learning the lessons, the play has scenes where a number of issues plaguing society are also discussed. Ultimately, they use their acquired skills in the playground treating the playground as a battlefield to finally overcome their weaknesses.
The play is directed by well known Malayalam theatre director Arun Lal, who has to his credit having directed more than 30 plays in the past 20 years and he has exhibited his abilities at various levels across the country. PV Shajikumar, the playwright, is also a well known writer in Malayalam and has several books to his credit. He is also a recipient of several national and international awards for his writing.
The play was staged by Little Earth School of Theatre from Kerala, which is active in the field for over 20 years now.
The cast included Suresh, who played the team captain, Jishnu, Akhil, Sanjay Sankar, Abdul Majeed, Sudev, Amrutha, Vipin Das and Anas. The musical production and operation is by Sonu.
