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Pune, 30th September 2024: Renowned playwright and author Sewak Nayyar’s latest book, Ten Best One-act Plays, was launched with great enthusiasm at the Swatantra Theatre’s 3-day Theatre Festival at Pune, coinciding with the Hindi Pakhwada. The event was graced by Padma Shri Ram Gopal Bajaj, the former Director of the National School of Drama in New Delhi, who officiated the book’s launch. This year’s festival also celebrated the centenary of legendary playwright Badal Sarkar.
Nayyar’s anthology is the first of three volumes featuring 30 exceptional one-act plays from around the globe, penned by distinguished playwrights from England, Ireland, Scotland, Russia, France, the USA, and Hungary. Each play is accompanied by detailed notes that provide insights into the authors, local references, and a glossary of challenging terms. The anthology showcases a diverse range of moods and themes, including comedies, tragedies, tragi-comedies, satires, suspenseful narratives, fantasies, and farces.
Among the selected works, The Proposal stands out as a brilliant comedy, while The Bishop’s Candlesticks highlights the triumph of love and forgiveness over evil. Refund delivers a lively satire on the inadequacies of the education system. Conversely, Riders to the Sea tells the poignant tale of an old woman bereaved by the sea, and Mother’s Day narrates the struggles of a devoted mother overwhelmed by family demands. In contrast, The Monkey’s Paw delves into the eerie realm of the supernatural, and The Boy Comes Home poignantly addresses the generational gap. Other notable mentions include Trifles, which reveals the power of human compassion within a detective narrative; The Rising of the Moon, a tribute to patriotism; and The Dear Departed, which critiques selfishness within familial relationships.
The launch event also featured a remarkable gathering of esteemed theatre personalities and filmmakers, including Mohan Agashe, Madhav Vaze, Praveen Bhole, Gayatri Chatterjee, Dr. Sulbha Kore, Himanshu Roy, Aseem Chaudhary, Manoj Nair, Riju Bajaj, and Yuvraj Shah, the founder of Swatantra Theatre. They shared their experiences working with Badal Sarkar, honoring his significant contributions to theatre.
To cap off the day, Swatantra Theatre’s actors under direction of Anil Bhowmick, delivered a powerful performance of Sarkar’s renowned play, Spartacus, leaving the audience enthralled and appreciative of the rich legacy of Indian theatre.
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