Jatra artistes ready to unlock the stage

Unlock 5.0, just ahead of Durga Puja, seems to have injected a new lease of life among residents of Kolkata. After an interval of nearly seven months, performing artistes are now gearing up to take the stage by storm. While some are planning new projects, others are trying to recreate old plays and jatra productions. CT spoke to a few jatra personalities to find out how they are adapting to the new normal.

We’ll stage new show on Kali Puja: Mitali Chakraborty, jatra artiste

We were supposed to come up with jatra pala, titled Ami IPS Ragini on Poila Baishak but it didn’t happen because of the current situation of the pandemic.After we got a go-ahead, we are now rehashing so that we can come up with our show during Kali Puja. Social distancing will be strictly maintained and the composition of the scenes will be such that there is a distance between two actors on stage. Previously, the distance between two microphones used to be one and a half meters but now it will be more.

We’ve started our rehearsals: Manjil Banerjee, president of Songrami Jatra Prohori, director and jatra artiste

Our rehearsals have started as we are coming up with two new jatra palas — Kolonkito Nayak and Boumuni Zindabad. I am playing the lead in the latter. On October 6, we have a meeting with Aroop Biswas as he is the chairman of Jatra Academy, where he will share with us the mandates that we have to follow during stage performances. Earlier, about eight-nine actors used to be there on stage for a particular scene, but now we will restrict it to three-four actors. Wearing masks and sanitisation are mandatory in green rooms. Jatra is for the family, so we never have intimate scenes. Maintaining social distancing is not a problem between two actors.

We will come up with our new show post Kali Puja: Piya Sengupta,

jatra artiste

My last show, Sindoorer Adhikar, was on March 16 after which the lockdown happened. After CM Mamata Banerjee gave a nod to Jatra shows, we are gearing up for new shows but it will happen post Kali Puja. Jatra too needs pre-production time before it is staged and we want to entertain the audience with new stories. As of now, we know that the audience capacity should be 50 per cent like in theatres but we need proper SOP’s before we start our shows. Rehearsals will start soon. Dhopbaaj Swamir Rongbaaz Bou was also very popular and we might do some shows of that too if the audience demands.