SUMAN MUKHOPADHYAY

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THEATRE

RAKTAKARABI

Play	Rabindranath Tagore
Design, Editing and Direction	Suman Mukhopadhyay
First performed	August 5, 2006
Production	Tritiyo Sutra Performance Company

About the play

Rakta Karabi'(Red Oleanders) depicts the conflict between mechanization and the free human spirit. It is a critique of the ideology of regimentation and exploitation of technology that leads to dehumanization. In such a world, free life does not exist. Nandini is a representation of undying love. Love and life assert through death and recreate themselves once again. It is play about the suffering and hope of our times.

Director's Note

I have for long cherished a desire to do Raktakarabi as a performance. There is a common aphorism about Rabindranath's dramaturgy that it is essentially 'verbose' and 'non-theatrical'. It is not something I agree with. I believe that Rabindranath's plays are full of 'dramatic action'. To bring out that action one has break out of the stereotypical performance codes attached to Rabindranath's plays.

Sombhu Mitra in his legendary production of the play (which of course I didn't see) had succeeded in creating a unique and authentic performance code. Many years have passed since then. I have only tried to explore a contemporary version of Raktakarabi. In my reading of the play, I have tried to explore new contexts that constantly seem to open up. History has gone through major shifts in last twenty years. I have tried to re-contextualize Raktakarabi in a contemporary setting, without making it a modern costume play.

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