THE National Cultural Centre came alive Friday evening with rich performances from the Dramatic Arts Academy whose members showcased their talents in dance, poetry and dramatic performances to hundreds of spectators who turned out to witness some of the works of Rabindranath Tagore, as part of the celebrations to mark his 150th birth anniversary. Prime Minister, Samuel Hinds extended appreciation to the Dramatic Arts Academy and the Indian High Commission for staging Tagore’s Raja aur Rani and Pariksha.
Hinds said that Tagore was an Indian national whom the government and people of India are proud of, as he had made outstanding contributions to the dramatic arts with the work he produced.
“His productions sought to speak to all mankind and reflect the issues that appear in all societies…although he wrote successfully in many literary genres, he was first of all a poet…he has also been the author of several volumes of short story episodes and a number of novels…he left behind volumes of paintings and songs…indeed it is recognised that Tagore reshaped his region’s literature and music and he was the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize for Literature and to be knighted,” Mr. Hinds said.
Indian High Commissioner, Subit Kumar Mandal said that the Indian Government has proudly noted that Guyana joined the worldwide celebrations to mark the birth anniversary of Tagore, ‘someone who charted a course for Indian literature and music’.
“We are also thankful for the Dramatic Arts Academy for presenting this evening two of Tagore’s plays which are being staged for the first time in history…his plays are not easy to stage; in fact it was only 20 years after his death that his plays were introduced, with new interpretations and powerful creative actors who captured the imagination of audiences,” Mandal said.
Director of the plays, Neaz Subhan, said that it is his fervent hope that their staging will serve to rekindle that passion that is seemingly stuck in the past.
Rabindranath Tagore, who died during World War 11, impacted and influenced many as novelist, playwright, composer, painter and humanist, as his metaphoric and poetic penmanship infused a sweet addiction inflicted by one’s hankering for his hypnotic and intensely provocative literature.
In 1913 he won the Nobel Prize for Literature which followed his knighting by King George V in 1915. (GINA)