A comedy play ‘The Proposal’ was performed at Shaheed Bhavan Auditorium here on Tuesday. The play marked the second day of a three-day theatre festival Rang-e-Shanti.
The festival is being organized by Kasauti Ballet and Performing Arts, Bhopal. The fest is being organized in the memory of a renowned ballet choreographer Shanti Bardhan and hence the name of the festival is kept under his name Rang-e-Shanti.
The Proposal, was staged at Shaheed Bhavan leaving the audience into whirls of laughter. Full of dramatic irony, the play is weaved into great story originally written by Anton Chekhov as The Marriage Proposal.
The play was directed by Waseem Khan and was beautifully presented by the artists of Kausauti Ballet and Performing Arts, Bhopal.
The play surrounds three characters, Chubukov, an old man in his seventies, Natalia his daughter, 25 years old and lomov, 35 years old, a neighbour of Chubukov, a large and hearty person.
lomov, a long-time neighbor of Chubukov, has come to propose marriage to Chubukov's daughter, Natalia. After much hesitation, he is able to talk to Chubukov. After he has asked and received joyful permission to marry Natalia, she is invited into the room, and he tries to convey to her the proposal.
On the other hand, Natalia thinks that he is a dealer who has come to pay a visit to her father. lomov is a hypochondriac and while trying to make clear his reasons for being there, he gets into an argument with Natalia.
After her father notices they are arguing, he joins in, and then sends lomov out of the house. After lomov has left, Chubukov tells Natalia that he had come to make her a marriage proposal. She immediately starts into hysterics, begging for her father to bring him back. He does and Natalia and lomov get into a second big argument.
lomov collapses from his exhaustion over arguing and father and daughter fear he's dead. However, after a few minutes he regains consciousness and Chubukov tries to make things clear, but in the end, the couple gets into another argument.
The play was beautifully performed by the artists making comical situations enjoyable on stage.