Play to be staged in honour of veteran director

NAGPUR: To mark the 75th birth anniversary of veteran theatre director Ramesh Ambhaikar, and to laud his contribution to theatre, city’s theatre group Shefali will be presenting a play, directed by Ambhaikar himself. Titled ‘Oye ... le le’, the play will be staged on July 15, which will be followed by Ambhaikar’s felicitation on July 16 at Sai Sabhagruha, Shankar Nagar.The two act play has been written by Dipesh Sawant. In a programme organized on Sunday morning, the first act of ‘Oye ... le le’ was performed. The programme was held at Pandit Bacchhraj Vyas School, Rambagh. Artistes Prabhakar Ambone, Aparna Lakhmapure, Nikhil Tongale, Bhavna Choudhari, Lalit Ghavghave, Shyam Aasarkar and Sachin Giri are the actors in the play. The play’s performance at Sai Sabhagruha will be its first production.With a makeshift stage and a handful of props, the actors intrigued the audience with their acting skills at the school’s auditorium.The play is the story of a family with two generations — an old couple and their son and daughter-in-law. The crux of the play is the idea of buying new and newer things online in this age of materialism where the difference between want and need has been rendered really thin. The protagonist, played by Ambone, feels saddened when his old yet prized possessions are sold online by his son without his permission, for buying new and better things. The protagonist says that his feelings are attached to everything he has every purchased in his life. In contrast to people around him who don’t remember the first thing they ever purchased, he knows when and where he purchased things for his house. Director Ambhaikar says that he looked at several plays before finalizing on this one. Ambhaikar’s career in theatre spans over 40 years, and he has been a student of noted playwright Purushottam Darvhekar. “Today, the number of playwrights is going down. I hope the play brings people closer to theatre,” said Ambhaikar. Ambhaikar is known for directing the play ‘Raktapushpa’, written by playwright Mahesh Elkunchwar, among others like ‘naatak baste aahe.’