5th Guwahati Theatre Festival concludes in City

GUWAHATI: The 5th Guwahati Theatre Festival ended on Sunday with staging of 'Rusty Screws', written and directed by Meherzad Patel, a rib-tickling comedy which kept the audience in splits throughout. There was hardly a dull moment during the 90-minute play.

An animated satire about life and lies, the play presents a dilemma about friends over family. The cast led by Danish Irani were at their hilarious best, informed a press release.

The highlight of the day was conferring of 'Life in The Theatre Award 2022' to one of Assam's most acclaimed and multifaceted drama personalities, Dulal Roy for his exceptional contribution to theatre over many decades.

Accepting the award, Roy said, "I immensely thank The Guwahati Theatre Festival for conferring the Life In The Theatre award to me. This award will give me further inspiration to propagate meaningful theatre in Assam and will also help the younger fraternity to dream and aspire to work in theatre."

A recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, Roy, through innovative mechanisms of light, music, sound, stage craft and modern techniques has give some memorable and outstanding productions. Roy has also worked relentlessly to preserve and promote traditional art forms like Xatriya dance and Ankiya Naat Bhaona.

Earlier recipients of the Theatre Award include Kulada Kumar Bhattacharjee, Late Arun Sarma, Late Surkracharjya Rabha and Late Nipon Goswami.

Nandinee Kalita, advisor of the Guwahati Theatre Festival, felicitated and presented Dulal Roy with a Seleng Sador, a citation and a cheque of Rs 50,000.

Sunit Jain, chairman of the Guwahati Theatre Festival said. "I am happy that the festival ended with great success and we could present to the Guwahati audience a few remarkable productions, across genres and subjects."

The 5th edition of Guwahati Theatre Festival was inaugurated on November 11 at Pragjyoti ITA, Machkhowa. On the inaugural day 'Taking Sides', directed by Atul Kumar, was staged. The play witnessed a stellar performance from Atul Kumar. Sukant Goel, Mallika Singh, Richa Jain, Kashin Shetty, Kenny Desai and Kashish Saluja delivered equally impressive performances to enthrall the audience.

On the second day of the festival, 'Vodka & No Tonic', a depiction of lockdown woes with a dash of humour, was staged. The packed house was enthralled by this powerful drama which explored the play of relationships and emotions. 'Vodka and No Tonic' and other stories from 'Lockdown Liaisons' by bestselling writer Shobhaa De explored the fragility of human relationships in a collection of short stories that trace the subtle world of emotions as they shift and are redefined within the four walls of the home. The five stories or rather segments had a common thread of Covid and lockdown. Brilliant performances by Lillete Dubey, Ira Dubey and Joy Sengupta kept the audience completely captivated.

The festival also recognized and rewarded the winners of the All Assam Theatre Competition which was conducted at the Kumar Bhaskar Natya Mandir on November 6 last. The All Assam Theatre Competition was introduced for the very first time with a prime focus to encourage and ignite young minds into dramatics and performing arts.

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