National School of Drama emerges from a two-year hiatus of pandemic with the staging of the classic Abhijnanasakuntalam
National School of Drama emerges from pandemic’s two-year hiatus with staging of classic Abhijnanasakuntalam
National School of Drama (NSD), which recently established Prof. Ramesh Chandra Gaur as its new director, re-opened after a hiatus of two years with the staging of Kalidasa’s Abhijnanasakuntalam.
The NSD Repertory Company staged a 1,800-year-old play in a packed hall, enacting it on the principles described in the Natya Shastra.
Music, Set Design, Choreography and Direction by Prof. Rita Ganguly did it. The script was rewritten in Hindi with clever interpolation of Urdu poetry and modern contextual references. Surprisingly, the latter did not budge. Various traditional theater forms across India such as Chakyar Koothu of Kerala always incorporate relevant socio-political contexts.
According to Rita Ganguly, the 30-member team started rehearsing from mid-February but the two-hour show with dance sequences and newly recorded music went off without a hitch.
The play traditionally began with the setting of ‘Jharjhara’, colloquially called ‘Nazar Batu’, to ward off the evil eye and spread positivity among the audience. Senior dancer Geeta Chandran performed the traditional installation ceremony. As Rita said, the traditional approach to the classical arts is to assimilate the art with open receptivity, not to put one’s important faculties at the fore.
the right choice
The music was appropriate for each scene, and Rita’s rendition of each song reflected her training under greats such as Siddheshwari Devi and Begum Akhtar. The court scenes were presented with Carnatic music, with veena and mridangam being played in the background. The tanam based on the Amritvarshini raga sung during the dramatic scenes was apt. And ragas like Khamach and Bihaag were liked to depict the love scenes between King Dushyanta and Shakuntala. Songs were sung in the accompaniment of shehnai, flute and pakhawaj.
a view of Abhijnanasakuntalam, , photo credit: special arrangement
It was realistic to play out the dialogues with hand gestures. The costumes and dance moves were in sync with the mood. Geeta Chandran commented, “Getting non-dancers to gracefully approach music is a challenge in itself. I would say this practice is one of the most important results of this play, apart from, of course, the traditional text. We have always included the works of Mahakavi Kalidas in our dance productions, but using it for a full-length theater production is really impressive.”
Mic was not required in an auditorium with excellent acoustics. The walls were decorated with textile paintings with themes taken from scriptures. The entire experience was immersive in every sense.
Delhi-based writers write on art and culture.