What isn’t political? Art has always been a platform for discussion, debate, and dissent. Tagore's iconic play Raktakarabi, set between two world wars, is being staged by director Shomik Ray on Sunday, with the same intent — to spotlight current events, especially those in power. Tagore, a well-known reviser of his own works, penned 11 distinct drafts, reshaping characters, tone, and overall structure. The play will be staged at the National School of Drama on Sunday, 6.30 pm onwards.
"Everybody thinks it's only a symbolic play, but it's not. Tagore wrote in the foreword that it's a "shottomulok natok" (based on a true events). He wrote it when capitalism was rearing its head, industrialisation had taken off, and the world was engulfed by war,” says the director.
The play is set in a world ruled by a king who forces his people to mine for gold. One of the main characters is Nandini, who opposes the oppressive regime and demands freedom for the imprisoned rebel Ranjan, the man she loves, and other miners. Nandini forces a change of heart in the king; at the end of the play, he joins the workers in revolt.
Raktakarabi, says Ray, has characters similar to our lives. Its text is contemporary, says the director who heads the city-based theatre group Shapno Ekhon. The group has been staging socio-political plays for 17 years.
“To make a powerful statement on stage, you need both the theory and the practice of theatre,” says Ray, who learnt the craft of theatre from Samik Bandyopadhyay, the well-known critic of Indian theatre and film from Kolkata. Raktakarabi is the group’s “stand on present-day world events”.
Shapno Ekhon members started reading the play in 2024. They sharpened their understanding by drawing from world events and using radical art, the latter still being one of the most popular forms of political commentary, as stage props. A painting of a king by Rouault has been used as a backdrop to the play. Costumes similar to the ones Picasso designed for Serge Diaghilev's 1917 Ballets Russes performance of Parade will also find space on stage. Photos of fascist rulers of various periods will also be placed on stage.
The core themes of Tagore's Raktakarabi are freedom, human dignity and resistance to an exploitative system. It is set in the fictional kingdom of Yakshapuri, where people work for a powerful king. Nandini challenges the rigid, mechanical world of Yakshapuri.
As the play progresses, the workers begin to question their condition. The carefully controlled system starts to break down. The king eventually emerges from his isolation, and the conflict between the machinery of power and the human desire for freedom reaches its climax.
In Ray's interpretation, Nandini is a symbol of freedom and progressiveness. She isn't just a catalyst who brings the conflict out into the open. The king, too, is not merely the head of state; he represents a world that tries to use science as a smokescreen to justify its actions. Furthermore, the king is under the false impression that he calls the shots. He is just a “pawn that ultimately benefits capitalism,” says the director. Both in Tagore’s play and in the Shapno Ekhon production, the same conclusion is reached: power blinds, and those who think they are kings are actually nobodies.