The wise girl agrees the term only if she can take her dearest possession along with her. But everything does not turn out to their expectation. One day, the queen reacts to an unfair decision made by the king which takes the queen back to the hut along with her valuable possession, which turns out to be the king. This wise move of the queen makes the king realize she is equally important in his works.
Just two days into the 99th international women’s day, Aarohan Theater Group joins hand with Passepartout Theatre production to stage the theatrical adaptation of a Nordic folk tale “Bathi Rani (The clever queen)”, which ends with the note that gender doesn’t play any role in determining the intelligence of a person.
The relevance of the topic in a relatively backward society like ours is also aptly reflected in the play. The play directed by a seasoned Danish play director Jacques Mathiessen is being performed by four regular artists from Gurukul Theater.
Pashupati Rai plays the queen in very elegant manner. The dialogue delivery, at times, seem immature. Saugat Malla with his lithe movement has proved that a Nepali actor can equally be graceful in the body language as his counterpart. When he dressed like king some one in the audience commented that he looks like Jung Bahadur Rana. Besides his Rana look, Malla’s acting is realistic and candid showing hints of charisma.
Bijay Rai
Other two actors, Rajkumar Pudasaini and Prabin Khatri are like wise more than good at their performance. On asking how did it feel to portray an old lady’s character to Prabin, who also played the queen’s mother role, he said, “We thought about using my real voice for the mother’s role but molding my voice to woman’s was a challenging job for me.”
Dialogues are simple yet it maintains the wittiness. Live music played with the help of madal, singing bowl and taa not only demonstrated the change in the moods of the actors but added that extra uniqueness to the play. Sticks were used to define the whole set. (Same sticks were used for several purposes like designing the hut, room of the king.)
The idea came about when he discussed of working together with Sunil Pokharel three years ago in Denmark. "And the result is the clever queen”, says Mathiessen.Director Mathiessen adds,” as the play is to be staged in and out of the country the minimalism in the number of actors and set design makes travelling lot easier.” The play is scheduled to be staged in Children Theatre Festival, Denmark and schools in several rural parts of Nepal in the sponsorship of Danish Embassy.
"The story is light yet carries important message and is easy to communicate to ordinary people,’’ says Mathiessen. It is also apparent from the director’s note that folklore can reach to a wider audience and help in discovering the common needs and feelings of people around the world.
The play will run from: March 7-28
Time: 5:30 P.M.
Venue: Gurukul, Old Baneshwor, Kathmandu
