Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, January 3

The first show of ‘Tathagat’, a Newari play on the life of Gautam Buddha was held at Royal Nepal Academy on January 3. It was organised by The Stage Nepal and the main sponsor of the event was Annapurna Post. Chief guest for the day was the mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City Keshab Staphit.

Since the play was in Newari everyone was handed a playbook that contained the transcript in Newari and translation in English. The eight-act play was indeed a very good presentation. The costumes, stage set-up, lights, sounds and the acting by the various characters were exemplary.

The role of prince Siddhartha was done by Narotam Manandhar. This is not the first time that he has acted in any play. Till date he has acted in almost nine Newari plays and is looking forward to do plays in Nepali too. He is a radio jockey. “I have always been interested in stage drams. The six months practice was very fine. More than working in FM, I prefer to act.”

Six months back, The Stage Nepal had advertised for interested candidates for this particular play. One-hundred-sixteen people responded out of which 32 were chosen. Raju Maharjan performed the role of Gautam Buddha. This was the first time Raju had dabbled in acting though his characterisation did not reveal any of that. “I tried to do my part nicely but I think I still can do much better,” informed Raju.

The play starts with the life led by prince Siddhartha in his palace. Slowly it moves towards various hindrances he faced after he left the palace till he achieved enlightenment and became Gautam Buddha. The play ends when Gautam Buddha along with other monks goes to Kapilvastu asking for ‘bhikshya’ in his own palace.

Writer of ‘Tathagat’ is Prachanda Malla and monk Sushil has done the Newari translation. Surendra Tuladhar, chairman of The Stage Nepal and the director of the play, stated, “This is the first attempt of The Stage Nepal and we are happy with the response we have received. We are planning to organise two events in a year. First a Newari or Nepali play and the other one will be Newari music award.” Surendra Shrestha, marketing director of The Stage Nepal, shared that he was satisfied with the response on the first day of the play.

The hall was packed and the audience sounded pleased with the results. Shyam Shrestha said: “The play is very good. Everyone performed very nicely. In one word: excellent.”

If you could not catch it on Saturday, watch it on Sunday, January 4 at Royal Nepal Academy, Kamaladi at 3:30 pm. Tickets:

Rs 50, Rs 100,

Rs 200,

Rs 500.