Excelsior Correspondent
A highly entertaining performance of Balwant Thakur’s acclaimed Dogri play Ghumayee-being staged continuously since last 18 years-came out as a befitting finale to five-day Theatre Carnival, at the Abhinav Theatre, here today. It was heartening to note that Balwant Thakur’s Dogri play Ghumayee, came a notch higher than the other plays staged by invited groups from Haryana, Varanasi and Chandigarh for the novelty of its story drawn from Dogri folklore and the eclectic theatrical idiom characterized by a unique amalgam of Dogra forms of folk theatre, music, dance and contemporary experimental and innovative expressions. Written and directed by Balwant Thakur, Ghumayee, Play ‘Ghumayee’- with distinction of being the first Indian play to feature in 2009 Frankfurt Theatre Festival, Germany, 2010 Commonwealth Games, and number cities in the country-has emerged as a kind of ambassador of Dogra cultural life as well as high sense of ingrained moral and ethical values that define the character of Dogra men and women. A clever mix of narrative and musical format, the play has made its place in modern Indian theatre scene for bringing to fore the rich repertoire of Dogra folk performing art forms and to beautifully coalesce them with physical theatre language in such an innovative idiom leading to a kind of unique poetic ensemble where the dualism of meaning and form tends to disappear.
