Surnai Theatre and Folk Arts Foundation along with the Royal Norwegian Consulate General brings to us the story of the erstwhile royal families in India through Peechha Karti Parchhaiyan. The play is a Hindi adaptation of the Ghosts written by the well-known Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen which will be staged on the 26th & 27th of November at the Royal Opera House. This year not only marks the 7th season of the Ibsen Festival but also the 40th anniversary of Surnai Theatre and Folk Arts Foundation.
On completing 40 years of Surnai, Ila Arun shares, “Surnai, a musical instrument, identified as тАШsheтАЩ, a female, was our voice and grew with us. Through good times and bad. We grew together into maturity, looking for the perfect protagonist. And then Ibsen entered our lives! And our world changed. For twelve years we sought him, in the mysteriously beautiful mountains of Norway, in the fascinating fjords and even in his birthplace, Skien. Today, as we celebrate forty years of SurnaiтАЩs birth, we still carry a torch for Ibsen, celebrating the Ibsen Festival each year with support from the RoyalNorwegian Consulate in Mumbai.”
When talking about the process behind the adaptation, Ila Arun shares, “The play comes with characters so undoubtedly relatable to the present generation who struggles to break away from the shackles of the past. It focuses on the repercussions of dwelling on the old outdated traditions and not changing along with the world. The audience can witness how these traditions act as chains restricting the characters to break away from them by haunting the future generations as the ghosts of the past.”
India has had a glorious past when it comes to royal families, their palaces, their language, their lifestyle, and much more. The past is good only when it helps to build a better future. The shadows of the past start chaos if one allows them in the present. Peechha Karti Parchhaiyan is about royal families still living on their past feudal glories, clutching onto old traditions and decrepit lifestyles.
The drama depicts the characters, played by Ila Arun, K.K. Raina, Vikay Kashyap, Param Singh and Priyamvada Kant break down within the four walls of their ancestral haveli. The magic of the play is in how beautifully this breakdown is symbolized through the destruction of the Havelis they inhabit. A destruction that destroys every piece of the haveli but ghosts of the past still remain smiling at you.
Come celebrate Surnai’s 40 years with the magic of Ibsen’s writing on the 26th and 27th of November,2022!
