English theatre group set to celebrate 50 years of journey

The Red Curtain, one of Kolkata’s oldest extant English theatre groups, is gearing up to celebrate its 50th anniversary with a gala three-day-long festival. To mark the event, three plays —

Wait Until Dark

by Sumit Lai Roy, Six Dead Queens by

Shatarupa

Bhattacharyya from Bangalore and An evening with Mr Tagore by Katy Lai Roy — will be staged on three days. The third play will feature Jayant Kripalani in the lead. Sumit, one of the founder members of the group, said, “These 50 years actually tell the story of my life. I met Katy while we were forming The Red Curtain. It has been a roller-coaster ride and a constant learning experience for me. I think I am still in the process of discovery. During today’s rehearsal, I realised that there are other ways to do characterisation than the one that I was following,” he added.
Besides Sumit, the Red Curtain was formed by Arjun Chowdhury, Katy, Paul Lopez and others.
After the first day’s event, the next two days (December 28 and 29) will see theatre critic

Ananda Lal

conducting a fun, interactive session, that will include quiz questions and pop-up scenes enacted by the leading national theatre luminaries.
The names of these personalities are still under the wrap. According to the organisers, the names are “withheld to retain the element of surprise”! The interacting
session promises to walk the audience through the last 50 years of Indian theatre in English.