ZOPALA Play Review

The centre stage is taken up by a traditional swing. Young actors with powdered grey hair and penciled moustaches flit about. But before you can fidget - the deceptively simple narrative has entrapped you and you find yourself swaying on the swing with the actors! Such is the power of the pen of the two Marathi stalwarts - Va Pu Kale, the master of surprise endings and Ratnakari Matkari, the champion of intrigue - whose stories have been adapted by the group Theatre Magic of ML Dahanukar College. The common motif in both the stories is the courtyard 'swing'.



The first story is an emotional drama involving Lalit Shah (Vibhav Rajadhyaksha), an office stenographer who has a chip on his shoulder or as they say in Marathi, he has the 'rubaab'. He boastfully recounts his teen romance with his impoverished neighbour's daughter to his colleagues, but ends up revealing how this sweetheart finally crushed his vain glory with her post marital super riches. He now wants to be assuaged by his college sweetheart who is caught in bad times. The two romances are played out in flashbacks around the 'swing'. The moods and emotions are built up delicately to a feathery, light fluffiness of whipped cream. Simply delectable!

The second story, penned by Ratnakar Matkari has an entirely different gritty texture of broken marriage alliances, the courtyard swing...with an eerie supernatural twist. The central character of Kusum, a middle-aged house wife with a wandering soul, is portrayed convincingly by Vedangi Kulkarni. The mystery of the play is enhanced by effective use of sound and light and the movement of the main character appearing simultaneously at two places on the stage! Kudos to the director trio and the set designers for pulling off the tricks so effortlessly.

This college production, put together by new and upcoming actors and technicians is laudable on many counts. Firstly, the stories are engaging; secondly, the acting is fascinating and finally the direction is very easy-going and therefore very appealing.
When the directors informed the audience at the NCPA Pratibimb festival 2014 that this was their 10th show, the audience cheered the young team by wishing them a century of shows ahead! Bravo Genext!

*Deepa Ranade is a film and theatre reviewer. She has been an entertainment journalist for over fifteen years.