Bhubaneswar: Amid protests from various quarters against exhibition of nudity and obscene content in a play staged at Rabindra Mandap here Friday evening, the state government decided to seek undertakings from theatre groups prior to staging of plays in auditoriums.
“Before allowing theatre groups to stage plays we have planned to take undertakings from them that no offensive and obscene content will be shown during the play,” said culture minister Ashok Panda, adding, “Adequate steps will be taken by the department to avoid such things in future.”
Tightening its noose, the Orissa Sangeet Natak Akademi, under the culture department, decided to review content of plays from outside of the state and abroad.
“We will take CDs of a play from concerned theatre groups from outside states and abroad and will review the content of their play prior to its staging,” said Dhirendra Nath Mallick, secretary of the Orissa Sangeet Natak Akademi (OSNA).
“Groups can stage only those content which the authority allows. Violation of this rule or showing any scene hurting public sentiment will lead to action,” he said. Polish play ‘Sonka’, a wartime romance set on the borders of Poland and Belarus, was staged at Rabindra Mandap as part of the concluding ceremony of the six-day International theatre festival organised by National School of Drama (NSD) Friday. The controversial scene depicted the torture of a woman by Nazi soldiers. A member of the audience on condition of anonymity had said, “The scene was not there to titillate the audience, but to elicit their sympathy and pity,”
In the meantime, a group of women activists Saturday locked down Rabindra Mandap and burnt posters of ‘Sonka’ in protest against nudity and obscene content in the play. Traffic at Rabindra Mandap Square was also held up for almost an hour as the protesters burnt a huge hoarding in the middle of the road.
However, OSNA secretary had Saturday said NSD told OSNA that the controversial scene was not there in the CD that the Polish director had sent to them before staging the play at Rabindra Mandap. “NSD also informed us that it would take action against the director concerned and would not allow any more performance by the Polish group in the country,” said Mallick. PNN
