Aarohan National Theatre Festival 2007

Aarohan-Gurukul, in association with Shree Lunkarandas- Ganagadevi Chaudhary Sahitya Kala Mandir, organized a 27 day long Aarohan National Theatre Festival from April 15 to May 11, 2007. Twenty Six different theatre groups all the way from Panchathar in East and to Surkhet in the west of Nepal presented their unique performances representing different cultures and geographical locations. Seminar on Nepali Theatre and Interactions with Directors and artists were other attractions of the festival.

The festival was inaugurated by Chitralekha Yadav, Deputy Speaker of the House of representative on April 15, 2007. The session was chaired by playwright and culture expert Satya Mohan Joshi and was graced by other prominent guests including Bhojraj Ghimire, the chief secretary, Bairagi Kainla, litterateur, Basanta Kumar Chaudhary, President of Lunkarandas Gangadevi Chaudhary Sahitya Kala Mandir, Prof. Durga Prasad Bhandari, and prof. Abhi Subedi, president, Nepal Chapter of ITI. The subjects raised in most of the plays were indigenous myths and cultures, effects of decade long 'people's war' and political turmoil of the time.

Almost 16000 audiences turned to see the performances during the festival. This festival is probably the biggest and the most inclusive theatre festival ever organized in Nepal.

Aarohan Theatre Festival 2007

Aarohan Theatre Group was established by a group of five theatre enthusiasts, namely Sunil Pokharel, Chandrakala Sharma, Badri Adhikari, Pradip Shrestha, and Samanta Kansakar in 2038 B.S. (1982 AD). This year Aarohan Theatre Group completed its successful 25 years. To celebrate its Silver Jubilee, Aarohan-Gurukul organized a three-week long Aarohan Theatre Festival 2007 in January-February 2007 (Magh 2063). Commencing on January 23 (Magh 9), and continued till February 12 (Magh 29), the festival saw the performance of 7 of its most popular plays, each play being performed for three days.

Inaugurating the festival, Honourable Minister for Tourism and Culture, Mr. Pradeep Gyawali expressed his appreciation for the perseverance shown by Aarohan in reviving, promoting, and professionalizing Nepali theatre. Among those who addressed the inaugural meeting were its founders, playwright Abhi Subedi, and the pioneer culture expert Mr. Satya Mohan Joshi, among others. Minister Gyawali also distributed tokens of love from Aarohan to its founder members.  

Among the plays performed during the 21-day long festival were: "Jeevan Dekhi Jeevan Samma" (From Life to Life) written by Abhi Subedi and directed by Sunil Pokharel, "Jaat Sodhnu Jogiko" (Ask the Ascetic His Caste), written by the Indian Playwright Bijaya Tendulkar, adapted into Nepali and directed by Anup Baral, "Mayadevika Sapana" (Dreams of Mayadevi),written by Abhi Subedi and directed by Nisha Sharma, "Putaliko Ghar", a Nepali adaptation of Ibsen's "A Doll's House", Translated and directed by Sunil Pokharel, "Agniko Katha" (Fire in the Monastery), written by Abhi Subedi and directed by Sunil Pokharel, and "Tarabaji Lai Lai", an improvisational play directed by the Norwegian director, Morten Crog.

Talking about the festival, artistic director of Aarohan, Sunil Pokharel says: "The objective of the festival was, in fact, manifold. We wanted to bring all its founder members together and honour them. We wanted to celebrate the successful 25-years of Aarohan. And, apart from that, we wanted to give our audience an opportunity to see all the good plays from Aarohan-Gurukul they had missed before. And for all these, the Silver Jubilee Celebration was the most appropriate occasion."

According to Milan Kumar Karki, the box office manager of Gurukul, about 7000 people turned in to see the performances, and became a part of the silver jubilee celebration.

- Prakash Subedi

Ibsen Theatre Festival 2006

To commemorate the death-centennial of the famous Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, Aarohan-Gurukul, in association with Shri Lunkarandas Ganga Devi Chaudhary Sahitya Kala Mandir, organized an 11-day long Ibsen Theatre Festival, from 1 to 11 November 2006. Ten Ibsen plays and plays on Ibsen performed by nine theatre groups from Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Norway were the main attraction of the festival. But apart from these performances, But apart from these performances, release of the books on drama and theatre, Ibsen Seminar, and a musical performance based on Ibsen plays became successful in inviting throngs of people to Sama Theatre and Rimal Theatre of Aarohan-Gurukul.

The festival was inaugurated by the Honourable Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala on November 1, 2006, amidst the enthusiastic presence of artists, academicians, and theatre lovers. Present in the program also were Mr. Tore Torang, the ambassador of Norway to Nepal, Mr. Shiv Shankar Mukherjee, the ambassador of India to Nepal, Prof. Abhi Subedi, President of international Theatre Institute, Nepal Chapter, and Mr. Basanta Kumar Chaudhari, Chairman of Shri Lunkarandas Ganga Devi Chaudhary, among others. In his inaugural speech, chief guest Prime Minister Koirala shared his reminisces about watching plays like "Mukunda Indira" and "Muna Madan", and assured the support of the government to the reviving Nepali Theatre. The inauguration was followed by the release of books by the chief guest. The released books include Nepali Theatre As I See It by Prof. Abhi Subedi, Putaliko Ghar (Nepali Translation of Ibsen's A Doll's House ) by Sunil Pokharel, Nepal Ma Rangamanch: Shrot, Shadhan ra Shrijana by Dr. Shiva Rijal, and Ibsen: Beyond Time and Space edited by Prakash Subedi, Jeebesh Rayamajhi, and Bal Bahadur Thapa.

On the same day, after the inauguration programme, Aarohan presented the opening performance, "Mahan Shilpi", a Nepali adaptation of Ibsen's "The Master Builder." Translated from English into Nepali by Jeebesh Rayamajhi and Bal Bahadur Thapa, the play was directed by Sunil Pokharel. In his note, the director gave two reasons for liking the play: one, because it deals with ego, inner world, selfishness, quest and whims of creators, second because it deals with the conflict between the generations. The audience expressed their appreciation for the way one of the difficult plays of Ibsen had been well-adapted to Nepali context.

The second day (November 2) saw two performances of Jan-Shatru, a translation of "An Enemy of the People" by Shailnat, a theatre group from Uttarkhand, India. While answering a question from the audience regarding why there was no effort made to adapt the play in the local context, the director, Shrish Dobhal, a graduate of National School of Drama, replied that the play had a universal theme which would be equally poignant even while performed in its original form.

Ritweek, a group based in Baharmpur, India, presented two shows of another version of "An Enemy of the People" on the third day of the festival (November 3). Adapted to an Indian town, "DeshoDrohi", though in Bengali, a language majority of the audience did not understand, nevertheless gained high acclaims for its vivid characterization, and mostly for the role of Dr. Mitra, played by the veteran actor Amal Bhattacharya.

A Bengali adaptation of Ibsen's "Ghosts" entitled "Pretachhaya", was performed by NatyaBhumi Tripura, another group from India on the fourth day of the festival (November,4). The lavish setting created all out of bamboo work remained the attraction for Nepali audience apart from the performance. Discussing about the Bengali adaptation of the play, the director, Sanjaya Kar, mentioned that though he had tried to keep deep adherence to the text of Ibsen, he also had taken freedom to add some flashback. He further said that he had taken the 'privilege' to regenerate Ibsen's realistic approach.

The fifth day of the Festival (November, 5) saw an experimental adaptation of Ibsen play, "The Wild Duck." In this Norwegian presentation entitled "The Story of the Wild Duck", all the characters were enacted by a single artist, Ingunn Oyen. The actress expressed the changes between different characters through her voice and gestures. Directed by Stig Braten, the play signalled the innovations and experimentations sought within Ibsen.

On November 6, the sixth day of the festival, M. Art Theatre, a Nepali Group based in Kathmandu, presented another experimental performance on Ibsen- "The Death of Happiness", a performance based on Ibsen's three poems, "The Tear", "Amid the Ruins" and "Dance". Birendra Hamal, a versatile Nepali theatre artist, had used his skill and ingenuity in dealing with Ibsen poems, translated by Jeebesh Rayamajhi. Talking with the audience during the interaction session, Hamal said that his effort was to explore another talent of Ibsen, i.e. his poetry, about which many people did not know anything at all. Beginning with the birth rituals of a Limbu boy from eastern Nepal, Kansare, the performance showed all the stages of his life nearing with the life of Ibsen. Hamal mentioned the performance as a tribute to Ibsen.

The sixth day of the festival was also marked by a seminar under the topic "Ibsen Studies in Cross-Cultural Context". Coordinated by Prof. Abhi Subedi, President of international Theatre Institute, Nepal Chapter, the seminar was conducted in two sessions. In the first session, chaired by Prof. Subedi himself, Dr. Krishna Chandra Sharma from Nepal, Dr. Utpal Banerjee from India, Dr. Arun Gupto from Nepal, and Prof. Shafi Ahmed from Bangladesh presented their papers dealing with the issues of adaptation, translation and performing Ibsen in different languages and contexts, and   the significance of such activities. The second session which was chaired by Dr. Benerjee, included three papers presented by Ranavir Singh from India, Gunnar Thon Lossius from Norway, and Prof. Abhi Subedi from Nepal. Participated by theatre workers, teachers and students, the seminar saw active participation and discussion.

Aarohan presented its second performance during the festival, "Putaliko Ghar" a Nepali adaptation of "A Doll's House" on 7th November. Translated into Nepali and directed by Sunil Pokharel, the play which had seen its hundredth performance long time back, surprised all by the immense number of audience who turned in to see it. Hundreds of viewers had to be sent back, and out of the immense pressure from the audience, the organizers had to declare another schedule to perform this play continuously after the festival.

On November 8, the eighth day of the Festival, a Pakistani group, Ajoka Theatre, presented its performance "Dushman", the third presentation of "An Enemy of the People" during the festival. Directed by Shahid Nadeem, this play in Urdu, was set in a Northern Pakistani town. The effort of the play was to see the classic play in the modern light. The ultimate question the performance tried to raise was whether majority was always right, and, though collective will and wisdom was still a virtue, shouldn't we question the established and certified truths every once in a while.  

This performance was followed, on November 9, i.e. the ninth day, by one more solo performance of the festival, "Inviting Ibsen for a Dinner with Ibsen" by Parnab Mukharhee from the Best of Kolkata Campus, Kolkata, India. Subtitled 'A Play on life and times of Ibsen', Mukherjee brought the issues of translation and interpretation and the underlying complexity into discussion through a study on his life and works. With his versatile acting and exceptional sense of humour, Mukherjee invited loads of appreciation for performance.

On November 10, i.e. the second last day of the festival, the famous Nepali classical band Sukarma performed a musical composition based on three great Ibsen plays, Master Builder , Hedda Gabler , and A Doll's House .   In their performance, the members of the band, Dr. Dhrubesh Chandra Regmi, Shyam Nepali, and Pramod Upadhyaya made an effort to present the main themes of the plays, characters and situations in a musical form. According to Dr. Regmi, they tried to make the composition lively and interesting by adding different kinds of short melodies which were based on either some ragas or popular folk tunes of Nepal.

The last day of the festival saw another unconventional performance on Ibsen. Centre for Asian Theatre, Bangladesh, presented its performance "Resurrection", based on Henrik Ibsen's life and works. Filled with music, songs and dances, this play was an effort to understand Ibsen at present. The play was directed by Kamaluddin Nilu, a pioneer theatre person of Bangladesh.

After the performance of "Resurrection", a brief closing ceremony was organized. Sunil Pokharel expressed his gratitude to all who had supported the festival, and thanked the audience for their enthusiastic presence. He described the festival as a grand success with five counties participating in it and with more than 6000 audience turn out. When Abhi Subedi described the difficult days Aarohan Gurukul had come through, and narrated the story of the relentless efforts Sunil Pokharel had made for it, every one in the audience was filled with awe for the pioneer and versatile theatre artist. What followed ahead was an unceasing applause.

- Prakash Subedi