The National Cultural Centre in Georgetown last Friday evening came alive with rich performances from the Dramatic Arts Academy whose members showcased their talents in dance, poetry and dramatic performances to hundreds of spectators who turned out to witness some of the work produced by Rabindranath Tagore as part of the celebrations to mark his 150th birth anniversary.
Indian High Commissioner Subit Kumar Mandal delivering brief remarks at ‘An Evening of Drama’ at the National Cultural Centre
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds extended appreciation to the Dramatic Arts Academy and the Indian High Commission for staging the plays: Raja aur Rani and Pariksha, in a performance called ‘An Evening of Drama’. The prime minister said that Tagore was an Indian national whom the government and people of India are proud of as he has made outstanding achievements to the dramatic arts with the work he produced.
“His productions sought to speak to all mankind and reflect the issues that appear in all societies… although he wrote successfully in many literary genres, he was first of all a poet… he has also been the author of several volumes of short story episodes and a number of novels… he left behind volumes of paintings and songs… indeed, it is recognised that Tagore reshaped his region’s literature and music as he was the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize for Literature and to be knighted”, he said.
Indian High Commissioner, Subit Kumar Mandal said that the Indian government has proudly noted that Guyana has joined the world wide celebrations to mark the birth anniversary of Tagore, “someone who chartered a course for Indian literature and music”. “We are also thankful for the Dramatic Arts Academy for presenting this evening two of Tagore’s plays which are being staged for the first time in history… his plays are not easy to stage, in fact, it was only 20 years after his death his plays were introduced with new interpretations and powerful creative actors who captured the imagination of the audience”, Mandal said.
Towards this end, staging one of Tagore’s plays reflects the director’s interpretation of the text and as such, the audience would truly witness how Tagore has been interpreted in Guyana by the Dramatic Arts Academy. “This brave and bold attempt is complimentary”, Mandal said.
Director of the plays, Neaz Subhan, said that it is his fervent hope that the dramatisations will serve to rekindle that passion that is seemingly stuck in the past.
“There was a time in the performing fraternity when such writings were aggressively sought after and actors clamoured and competed to be associated with such poetic delivery… for some reading Tagore, self-proclamation of literary wizardry can dissipate upon realisation of the delusionary glorification one may have attached to his or her vocabulary”, Subhan said.
Rabindranath Tagore, who died during World War II, impacted and influenced many as novelists, playwrights, composers and painters. As a humanist, his metaphoric and poetic penmanship infused a sweet addiction inflicted by one’s hankering for his hypnotic and intensely provocative literature.
In 1913, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature which followed his knighting by King George V in 1915.
