বহুরূপী-পূর্ব ‘রক্তকরবী’: উদ্যোগ ও বাস্তবায়ন/ Pre-Bohurupee ‘Raktakarabi’ : Initiatives and Implementation

Abstract

In the summer of 1923, while in Shillong, Rabindranath Tagore began writing his play ‘Raktakarabi’. The play reflects both his observations of the contemporary age and the impact of his travels in the West during 1920–21. Even after a century, its relevance has not diminished; rather, it has continued to grow. Tagore devoted extraordinary effort to the composition of this work, rewriting it in its entirety ten times before publication in order to achieve the expression he desired.

           However, despite being the first producer-director of most of his own plays, Tagore never staged Raktakarabi. This naturally raises the question: why? It is well known that the play had to wait nearly thirty years for a successful production, which was finally implemented in 1954 by the theatre group Bohurupee.

           Yet, prior to this landmark production, ‘Raktakarabi’ had been staged several times, and Tagore himself had made multiple attempts to bring it to the stage. Many others also undertook such initiatives, though not all of them were successfully implemented.

           In this article we try to discuss Tagore’s own efforts to stage the play, the reasons why these attempts was not Staged, as well as other early initiatives and pre-Bohurupee performances of ‘Raktakarabi’.