The oppressor and the oppressed were a part of society then, and are a part of society now. But this play The Blooming Orchard shows us how the oppressed can find ways to overcome this oppression. In a chat with a few of the crew, we find out more about the play.
The theme of this play is kind of an upturned reality. Further explaining the theme, director Ranjon Ghoshal says, “It is a kind of a comedy where reality has been turned on its head. It has a whole host of characters from a ghost, a thief to an old man. This play was originally written in the 70s, and we have chosen it because it is good, fun, humorous and has a lot of one-liners.” Every society has an oppressor and oppressed, and this never changes. Sangeeta Ghoshal, production adviser says, “The play explores the theme where a landholder tries to exploit the peasant with his cunningness. I feel that this kind of thing is still present around us both in rural as well as urban areas.” The play’s relevance comes in through this. But the good thing about this play is that it does not leave you despondent. “It also operates on a level of fantasy and that’s where the literature comes in,” she adds. Explaining more about the story, she adds, “The play shows an octogenarian fruit farmer who loves his orchard immensely. His only heir has deserted him, and his orchard has come under the greedy eyes of a land holder who makes a unique deal with the farmer. Sustenance brings the heir back but he is in for a shock. The play is all about this deal, and how the farmer and his family overcome this, and save the orchard.” While there is no particular message, the crew wants to show that even though oppression has its own ramifications, there are ways in which the downtrodden can triumph.
Arita Biswas has always been interested in every form of art yet this is the first time he has ventured into theatre. He also plays a 95-year-old fruit farmer. He says, “This play has been performed before but with a completely different cast. But for this edition, almost 80 per cent of the cast is new. We have received rave feedback from people who have seen us perform.” He has been impressed by the way in which rehearsals are progressing. Sagnik Sinha who is a software engineer says, “A character I play is called Nakori, who is the zamindar’s son. Although he has inherited his father’s title, he is not a zamindar in the real sense. He tries to extort, grab properties from the under-privileged who have been exploited by zamindars. He wants power. He is somewhat dim-witted, and makes rash business decisions but I feel that that he is very smart and calculating. This was a personal challenge for me as I have never done a comedy. In comedy, it’s all about timing. It’s a new genre for me as earlier I have only done negative roles. It was a challenge as on the one hand, he is a villain and on the other, you want people to love him. This character has a lot of layers; I am 26, playing a 60-year-old man. I had to bring in that age into my walk, talk and more.”
— The play will be staged on January 13 at the Rangoli Art Centre, MG Road.
