Sometimes mishaps make certain moments worth remembering. Had the moment been devoid of the mishap, there would have been no fun in it and we would hardly have remember it. I’m reminded of some of the beautiful mistakes that happened amid stage performances during our school days.
Once during our school’s centenary celebrations, our teachers enacted a play entitled Belalasena—the story of the legendary son of Bhima from the epic Mahabharata. Our Jena sir, who had a robust body, was playing the character of Bhima. A particular scene was supposed to conclude with bombastic dialogues from Bhima. However, the confused screen man started rolling the screen down prematurely. A furious Jena sir ripped off the screen with a mace and continued his dialogues in a penetrating voice. Claps, whistles and cheers followed.
A few years later, to raise funds for charity, some office bearers of the school decided to perform a drama. Due to paucity of time after office hours to practise, the protagonists were largely reliant on the prompters. During a particular scene, the chief prompter took a break to have a cup of tea. He had handed over the script to an assistant and left the stage. Soon afterwards came a scene in which a character had to laugh loudly followed by a dialogue. But in the script it was mentioned “Ha… Ha…Ha...” within bracket, followed by the dialogue. The nincompoop assistant prompted the dialogue and added “within bracket - Ha… Ha…Ha...”. The dependant protagonist repeated the same and it turned out to be a thigh-slapper for the audience.
On another occasion, during our street club’s annual play, one of our friends named Runa was playing a villain character. He was supposed to deliver his dialogues while smoking. During rehearsal, he practiced with a piece of chalk. But on the day of performance, in order to get into the skin of the character, he held a real cigarette. His mother, who was among the audience, could not condone her son smoking. In a fit of rage, she rushed home, which was nearby, and returned with a broom. The audience couldn’t help but laugh as Runa was chased down by his mother while other actors stood frozen on the stage. Today, years later, these mishaps bring a smile to our faces.
Anil Patnaik
Email: anilpatnaik8@gmail.com