Amarsing Ko Khojima Amarsing Natak

"Amarsing Ko  Khojima Amarsing Natak" was performed on Natya Theatre Hetauda on 22/02/070. 

This play attempts to unfold the pages of history and its significance. It was performed in an experimental way. Suspense was created in order to hook the interest of the audiences. In fact, the whole play is the preparation for the play that pre performance activities.

At first, a student appears on the stage reading a book and seeking his nation. Then there appears another student and both of them talk about the size and boarder of the country. They talk about the encroachment of India at the border and say that there may not be country like Nepal and it will be encircled in no man’s land. They burst into laughter. Then a back stage voice is heard. It asks them to watch the paly which may tell about the nation and nationality. They agree and go out.

On the second part, some characters and a director appear on the stage. The director asks the characters to set the stage and to wear appropriate dresses to perform the play. As they set the stage, they converse each other and talk about the hero of the play Amarsing ( vijay) . Other characters such as Queen ( Mina) Pradeep ( the body guard of the Queen, Queen’s helper, Ajay are on the stage. They are all seemed busy in teasing each other and being dressed up. The director reminds them their role in the forthcoming play and also asks them to be lively in their performance forgetting their self. They all are waiting the main character Vijay who is going to perform the role of Amarsing.

When Bijay is late, they all seem worried. Time is slithering and the audiences might be furious with them. They call the characters of set 5 for rehearsal before they perform the play. Characters are asked to appear on their right position. A soldier from the battlefield appears. It was the war between Angrez and Nepal. The soldier [messenger] informs that there is no way of winning the war since the enemy soldiers are all equipped with modern arms and ammunities.  He purposes a treaty. Queen appears enraged and speaks in a louder voice, “don’t talk these words to me. There will be no treaty with my enemies. You and me too, will go to the battlefield and fight with the enemies.” As soon as she completes her dialogue, the director shouts at her. In fact, she has changed the script. The script [history] is about the treaty. The queen’s body guard supports the queen [mina] and says that it was the true performance. They are not interested in performing false role of the historical characters. The Queen wants to play the role of marginal people like a labourer, hawker, or the farmer. Similarly another character wants to join the foreign army. This dissatisfaction comes due to the predicament of the actors on the theater who can’t earn bread by preforming.

Again they all are worried about the delay of the performance because Amarsing [ Vijay]  has not come yet. Bhimsen Thapa’s sacrifice is conveyed through the characters’ conversation. However they are waiting for ‘Godot’; everybody says he will come, but he doesn’t come. Again the director asks them to complete the rehearsal of set five; the same scene which some times before they performed but cancelled by the director. This time the messenger comes to the queen and purposes a treaty. But this time the queen agrees for the treaty. The director becomes happy with her performance. At the meantime, the body guard of the queen [ Pradeep] speaks sarcastically, “ right performance or the right surrender’. The director is worried about the delay of the show. He asks the characters to perform Amarsing’s role by one of them. Mina asks [Ajay?] to play his role and he is dressed up in hurry. One student is asked to perform the role of Aktorloni(?) the enemy of Amarsing. As they start to perform Vijay [ Amarsing] appears in a sad mood. But he denies performing the role of the great hero. He says that he went in search of Amarsing before performing his role but he found him nowhere. Furthermore, it would be injustice for him if he played his role since he was incomparable to him.

Then the director tells the audiences that the Great National Hero Amarsing is in the heart of every Nepalese. If we all feel this pride, we don’t have to go to live in ‘no man’s land’. But this feeling is dying in us which we all have to revitalize. With this moral the play ends before it begins.

The play raises the issues of nation and nationality. The nation is abstract feeling of the people. It can’t be protected in the form of symbols like a national flag, national bird or any other objects. It also unfolds the genealogical history and gives the characters their voice. The characters revolt on the stage for their false role. They want to be spontaneous as one of the audiences, student, is asked to perform the role of Aktorloni.

As an audience, I was waiting for the beginning of the play after the entrance of the central character Amarsing[ Vijay]. But i was stunned when I came to know that the play was ended.

This is experimental paly which gives space for audiences’ curiocity and drags them to the end by a big suspense and surprise.