Artistes in Assam perform 1,000 shows of a play in a day

Guwahati: A group of around 3,000 young artistes performed 1,000 shows of a play based on class discrimination on a single day here on Monday.

An alumnus of India``s prestigious National School of Drama, Himanshu Prasad Das, who had conceptualised and directed the 25-minute street play named ``Bhuk`` (hunger), came up with the idea of holding 1,000 shows in one day. Pranami Bora, director of the play, said that the play is being performed in every district of the state. The artistes have formed 200 groups and each group performed five shows in different parts of the state. "We are performing 1,000 shows of one play in one day. We are performing in every district of Assam and have started morning. Many such groups are performing everywhere. Around 3,000 artistes are part of this work and around 200 groups have been formed," said Bora. The young artistes were being trained since May 01 as several training programmes were organised in various states. Speaking about the theme of the play, Bora said that the play speaks about the class struggle and caste division, which is prevalent in our society and is dividing the country. "The theme of the story is survival of the fittest and if you see at the present trend, the hard work is done by somebody else and someone else is reaping the fruit. This is the theme of the play," said Bora. Bora hoped that these efforts would help to revive the street plays in the state at a time when the commercial plays continue to dominate the scene. Northeastern India has been ravaged by 50 years of bloody conflicts, and people belonging different religions, races reside over here. The people of the region speak different languages and there are some 400 tribes and sub-tribes in the region, many of whom fear loss of identity. ANI