The Flame, based on Somerset’s play, to be staged in city again

BENGALURU : A drama mystery, The Flame, based on the Somerset’s play The Sacred Flame (1928), is going to be staged in the city. Directed by Susanto Banerjee from Ventures — a theatre group based out of the city — the story revolves around Mrinmoy, who, owing to an accident soon after his marriage, is confined to a wheelchair. The drama about his married life and the relationship issues with the family, develops to a mystery following a horrifying discovery during the course of the story.

“This story has been in my mind for a very long time. I came across the story way back in the early 2000’s, when I was part of a theatre group in Kolkata,” says the director Susanto Banerjee. “It is a very powerful story that brings out the nuances of a relationship and keeps you guessing as an audience. At the same time, it gets you thinking about the relationships that you see in life and the way they are pushed to their limits during difficult times,” he says.

The story, though originally based on Somerset’s play, is a translation of Tirthankar Chada’s Bengali adaptation Khub Kachher. “In fact, the group’s first large scale production was Khub Kaccher in 2015, which was well appreciated by the theatre audience in Bengaluru. That was when we decided to do it in English,” he says. Initially planning to use Somerset’s work, the group found that the Bengali version was a much better fit. “On carefully reading it, we found that his version was a little too British.

The entire story, the writing style, the dialogues and the emotions that flow through it, was not relatable. But, Tirthankar’s adaptation perfectly fit the Indian context. It was also placed in a more contemporary setting.” It was then that the group decided to translate this adaptation into English. “There were a few tweaks that we added. But the different layers of the work have been keep intact. We didn’t want to lose the crux of the story while translating it,” he adds.

He claims that this play had a successful run when staged at Jagriti last year. “During the October shows, people were moved by the performances. Quite a vast cross-section of people, from theatre enthusiasts to IT professionals, reached out me to talk about the play and its characters,” he says. Due to the high demand, the group decided to bring to it on stage again. “Besides, it was an opportunity for us to stage it at Ranga Shankara. We couldn’t refuse such an offer,” he adds.

Susanto strongly feels the story is a relevant one that should be seen by all. “Whether I stage it or somebody else decides to bring it to the public, the story is an important one. It will resonate with the public and will leave them with something to take home,” he says.Besides Bengaluru, Susanto does plan on taking it to other cities. “We are planning on taking it to Hyderabad, Pune or maybe even Mumbai. But I really want to stage the play in Kolkata because it was there my career in theatre started,” he says.
Tickets are available online. The play will be staged today at 7.30 pm.