Jammu ,jan 3
Hindi play ‘Aadhi Raat Ke Baad’ written by one of the most revered playwrights of the country, Dr. Shankar Shesh marked Natrang’s first performance in the year 2021. The play was featured in Natrang’s Sunday Theatre Series and was ably directed by Mohd. Yaseen who has an experience of 20 years, he is also a National fellowship and Scholarship holder from Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India.
At the occasion, Director Natrang, Padmashri Balwant Thakur online addressed the audience from South Africa and said that despite facing challenging times, Natrang has mustered the courage to resume its creative endeavours. He complimented Yaseen for venturing a full-length production and hoped that others would also be inspired to take up meaningful initiatives. He assured all encouragement and support from his side for such praiseworthy efforts. The play Aadhi Raat Ke Baad is a captivating play where a thief attempts a theft at the house of a judge and dramatically solves a murder mystery of a journalist as he is the eye witness to it. The play begins with a thief entering into judge’s house. The thief is on the run, as a rich builder whom he wants to expose is after his life. Surprisingly the thief wants the judge to hand him over to the police, as he would feel safer in a prison than he does when he is free. In a very interesting manner, a law breaker and law maker remain engaged in series of dialogues about several issues which appear to be random but had an obvious relevance. During their discussion, the thief narrates the murder of a journalist and discloses that it was not a road accident, but the murder. The play ‘Aadhi Raat Ke Baad’ is a collage of reality and choices. The play was well presented and the audience also loved the play. Shankar Shesh’s wonderful writing style made the dialogues stronger, beautiful and immensely meaningful. Brijesh Avtar Sharma as ‘Judge’ and Sushant Singh Charak as ‘Thief’ played their respective characters very impressively and complemented each other in contrasting roles. Abhinav Sharma as ‘Neighbour’ was also praiseworthy as he could mark his presence despite having just a few lines to speak. The light and sound, which elevated the impact of the play manifolds were brilliantly designed and operated by Neeraj Kant and Gopi Sharma respectively.
