Guwahati, Dec 14: ‘Under the Sal Tree,’ a unique theatre festival in the midst of nature, is poised to woo art and culture lovers to the Badungduppa Kalakendra at Rampur village in western Assam’s Goalpara district, come Friday.
Notably, Badungduppa Kalakendra, which is hosting the 14th edition of the three-day theatre festival, will step into the silver jubilee year of existence next year.
Acclaimed internationally for its ecofriendly setup amid sal tree plantations, the festival which was started in the year 2008 by Sukracharjya Rabha, one of the widely respected theatre personalities of the region, is being organised completely under natural settings – with no artificial devices, not even a microphone to enhance the voice of the actors.
The organisers are using only bamboo and straw to build the stage and the sitting arrangements for the spectators.
“It has not been a cakewalk for us. Challenges were many but so immaculate has been the support of the people that it made everything seem possible and most significantly unforgettable,” Badungduppa Kalakendra managing director Madan Rabha said.
Now the 14th edition of the unique theatre festival seeks to undertake an introspective journey down the memory lane to facilitate a discursive session of self-evaluation and retrospection before the forthcoming silver jubilee celebration due next year.
Five plays will be staged. On the inaugural day, a Rabha language play, ‘Madaiah Muchi,’ will be performed by Badungduppa Kalakendra.
In the afternoon, Bengali play ‘Srijon Hobe Kabe’ by scriptwriter and director Bidyutjit Chakraborty will be staged by Kalabhumi, Agartala.
On Saturday, ‘Pala Kuntala’, a Bengali play by Chena Adhuli, West Bengal, will be staged. The script and direction are by Rajat Das. Later in the afternoon, Assamese play ‘Ratnakar’ will be performed by Purbaranga, Guwahati. The script and direction are by Gunakar Dev Goswami.
On the concluding day, Hindi play, “Charandas Chor,” will be performed by Naya Theatre, Bhopal. The play will be directed by Habib Tanvir.
On all the three days, the plays will be followed by discussions in the evening amid bonfire.
It may be mentioned that theatre groups from South Korea, Brazil, Poland, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh had participated in the festival.