By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 2 Apr: A Theatre Festival was organised by the Theatre Department of Doon University and ‘Kalamanch’, Dehradun, on World Theatre Day (27 March) from 27 to 31 March.
On the last day of the festival, Vice Chancellor Prof Surekha Dangwal, Registrar Dr Mangal Singh Mandrawal, Prof HC Purohit, Dr Chetna Pokhriyal and TK Aggarwal inaugurated the day’s event by lighting the ceremonial lamp. Various theatre groups of Dehradun presented their performances at the festival.
On the first day of the festival, the play, ‘Jaaneman’ was performed by Doon University alumni; followed by ‘Nazir Kirtan Katha Gayan’ by ‘Khel Tamasha’; the play ‘Khidki’ by Eklavya Theater Group; and Park by Aarambh Theater and Movies.
On the last day, the play, ‘Medea’, written by Euripides and translated by Devendra Raj Ankur was staged under the direction of Dr Ajeet Panwar by students of the Theatre Department. The play is part of the MA Theatre Course. It was mutually decided to produce and stage this play during the class discussion session.
The tragedy, Medea, by Euripides, was performed in 431 BC. One of Euripides’ most powerful and best-known plays, Medea is a remarkable study of injustice and cruel retribution. The Colchian princess Medea marries the hero, Jason. They lived happily in Corinth for some years and two sons were born to them. As the action of the play begins, Jason has decided to leave Medea and marry the daughter of Creon, king of Corinth. After a terrible struggle between her passionate sense of injury and her love for her children, Medea determines that she will punish Jason by killing not only her sons but also the Corinthian princess, leaving Jason with neither. They would grow old together. She commits murders and escapes in the chariot of her grandfather, the Sun-God Helios. Euripides succeede in arousing sympathy for Medea despite her brutal actions.
For centuries, folk tales have reflected culture. The situations and circumstances of the past are reflected in the story and it is a challenging task to bring them on the stage through drama. It was a challenging task for the director as well as the students. Some experiments were done, such as the central characters of the play being two female students playing the role of Medea.
The performers were Midwife – Bhavan Negi, Teacher – RipulVerma, Chorus – Shalini Rana, Akanksha Kohli, Vinita Rutunjay, Medea –Gayatri Tamta, Gitanjali Poddar, Creon – Arun Thakur, Soldier – Ripul, Chandrabhan, Devyanshu, Siddhant, Lakshya Jain, Jason – Siddharth Dangwal, Aegius – Chandrabhan Kumar, Messenger – Siddhant Sharma, Chudail – Shalini Rana, Akanksha Kohli, Vinita Rutunjay, Music Recorded – Ujjwal Jain, Light Design – TK Aggarwal, Live Music Composed by- Ashish Kumar, Varsha Thakur, Backstage- Kapil Pal, Siddharth Joshi, Sajid, Devyanshu, Rajneesh Bisht, Manish, Saini, and brochure production Dr Aditi Bisht.
The second play, Khadu Lapata, written by Lalit Mohan Thapliyal, was directed by Dr Rakesh Bhatt. Directed by Lalit Mohan Thapliyal and Rakesh Bhatt, Khadu Lapta is a satirical drama that tells the story of a village in Garhwal where a man loses his sheep and goes to different villages in their search. The play takes many twists and turns and succeeds in tickling the audience. The performers were Hari Singh – Dr Rakesh Bhatt, Vaidhraj –Shailendra Tiwari, Parmanand – Dr Manvendra Barthwal, Tulsiram – Mohit Ghildiyal.
Artists from all over the city gathered on the last day of the theatre festival. Prominent among these were SP Mamgain, Jagruti Doval, Vijaya Jain, Kaushalya Agarwal, Shrish Doval, Poonam Naithani, Anita Nautiyal, Manjula Tiwari, etc. Teachers and employees of Doon University present included Dr Harsh Dobhal, Dr Rajesh Bhatt, Dr Suneet Naithani, Dr Nitin Kumar, Dr Narendra Rawal, Dr Arun Kumar, Prof Reena, Dr Smita Tripathi, Dr Naresh Mishra, Dr Dhriti, Dr Gajendar Negi, Dr Mala Shikha, Dr Rashi Mishra, Dr Shanky Chandra, Dr Prabhat, Dr Sonu Dhillon, Prof Vipin Saini, Dr Preeti Mishra, Pallavi Joshi, Abhinav Joshi, Dr Gazala Khan, Dr Ashish Sinha, Shubham Nautiyal. Also present were, from Kalamanch, Dr Jagriti Dobhal (President), TK Agarwal (Secretary), Rajiv Jain (Treasurer), Almuni Vipin Naithani, Himanshu, Khel Tamasha, New Delhi, Eklavya Theatre, Dhaad Natya Mandal, Aarambh Theatre and Movies, Jitendra, Kaushalya Agarwal, Agarwal Stage Crafts and – Gyanchand Pokhriyal.
