Kathmandu:

Shilpee’s new play Kathantar was staged at the Russian Culture Centre on August 25. Written by Jagdish Ghimire and directed by Rajan Khatiwada, the play shows the darkness of present times where moral values seem to be extinct and terms like truth and hardwork are ridiculed.

The story revolves around an old blind woman whose husband is a martyr and is happy that her son and daughter-in-law still follow in the father’s footsteps. But the truth is that they have been continuously lying to her making her believe that they are doing well respected jobs, when in reality they are into prostitution to make ends meet.

The bold and brazen way in which this has been shown comes as a kind of shock, but then we cannot deny that it is the truth which has become a part of our society these days.

The actors Kavita Awale, Ghimire Yuvaraj, Bibhushan Basnet, Loonibha Tuladhar, Sabina Badal and Deep Chhetri have given good performances. In this play, the characters and the story do not just have direct implications, but have many underlying meanings like the blind mother depicting our motherland. Besides this many other instances can be seen from how gaining power has become nothing but a game to how people have become almost inhuman to other’s pain when they themselves are living in hellholes, and many dark realities of society. The dialogues are quite direct and to the point.

This is a play which is quite slow-paced with very strong messages, some of which are conveyed in a very straightforward way, while others need to be interpreted. As it has only a few characters, the dialogues tend to be monotonous at times with repetitions even at some instances.

The play will be staged at the Russian Culture Centre on August 27, and at DECC, UWTC from August 28 to September 3.