EK SOIRACHARI RAJAR KATHA (The story of a despot)

Synopsis

Caligula, the Roman emperor, who succeeded Tiberius and preceded Claudius andruled for less than four years (AD 37-41), remains mythic for his fanatical approach to power. The play, “Ek Soirachari Rajar Katha” is not a period piece i.e. a play concerned with a historical time. It has drawn from Camus' “Caligula” the concept of deification of emperors which was common to the pagan world, theGreek and Macedonian kings, including Alexander the Great, who ordered their priests to proclaim them Gods, as did the Caesars startingwith Augustus.

In spite of restraining convention and law, the innately vicious or dangerously capricious autocratic tendency still exists. This enabled modern figures like Amin and Milosevic to indulge in ‘Caligula-ism’ – their dangerous whims and murderous eccentricities. Though it also meant that the only remedy for those who terrorizedwas assassination, "I (Caligula) am still alive!" (Caligula, tr. by Christopher Williams, 2007).

About the group

Shudrka Hyderabad, an amateur theatre group based out of Hyderabad, has been performing plays in Hindi, Bangla and Telugu since 2004. Some of their major productions are ‘Charandas Chor’, ‘Kinu Kahar Ka Thitr’, ‘Tukaram Ki Bekufi’, ‘Kissa Andher Nagri Ka’ in Hindi, ‘Meemu Aatavikulam’ in Telugu and ‘Aajir’ in Bengali.

PLAY: EK SOIRACHARI RAJAR KATHA

                                                                    (Inspired by Albert Camus’ “Caligula”)

LANGUAGE: BENGALI ADAPTATION &PRODUCTION: SHUDRKA HYDERABAD DIRECTION: SWAPAN MONDAL DATE OF PERFORMANCE: JUNE 11,2016 TIME: 8:30 PM DURATION: 1 hour VENUE: LAMAKAAN

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