GUWAHATI, May 16 � After the immense response to the theatre project christened �Under the Sal Tree,� the Badungduppa theatre group has launched another initiative to take theatre to the rural audience.
Young theatre activist Sukracharya Rabha�s Badungduppa is presently staging some of their selected plays in rural Assam to give an impetus to the theatre movement in the State. Interestingly, the village people have been touched by an adaptation of Kavi Guru Rabindra Nath Tagore�s play Rather Rosi.
�The support to our ongoing project, �Under the Sal Tree,� which was launched in 2008, has encouraged us to undertake this latest venture. We have started this journey not for financial gains but for giving the people in rural areas an opportunity to watch plays that depict their own issues,� said Rabha, adding that his group was surprised by the reaction of the village folk to Rather Rosi.
Tagore�s play narrates the ills of the society like untouchability and the plight of the common people and it carries some metaphors also to add momentum to the play. The chariot in the play is symbolic of the wheel of time.
�We have some preconceived notion about the village people. We think that since they are common people, they would not be able to understand some critical issues,� said Rabha, stressing that his experience has confirmed that village people have the ability to grasp even messages delivered through use of metaphors.
Rather Rosi presented in the Rabha language and in the trademark Sukracharya Rabha style � that is without using unnecessary props and makeup � has won the hearts of the theatre audience in Guwahati. Now the village people of Assam have given a befitting tribute to Tagore by accepting Rather Rosi as their very own.
�What I have found is that hardworking people are more receptive to new ideas. So the rural people of Assam have been demanding more shows of Rather Rosi,� said Rabha.
It needs to be mentioned here that Rather Rosi in Rabha language is also going to be staged in Kolkata including Shanti Niketan in November this year.
