When lucullus died, audiences witness his trial by jury deciding whether he will be counted among heroes or shuffles through the shadows of darkness.
With the fantastic stage backdrop and the heavy dialogue delivery the five-day theatre fest concluded at Bharat Bhavan.
The play lacua Ka Shahnama was staged on Wednesday marking the grand closure of 6th session ending theatre festival of Madhya Pradesh School of Drama (MPSD).
The play is an adoption of a radio play ‘The Trial of lucullus’ is written by a German poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht.
Directed by the director of MPSD Sanjay Upadhyay, the play was translated in Hindi by Kanhaiya lal Nandan as ‘lucua Ka Shahnama’.
It was beautifully performed by the students of MPSD.
The play starts with strong narration. There is as funeral of the great general of Rome lucullus. lucullus, as people say, conquered many countries and brought honour for the people of Rome.
As the possessions and the corpse make their way to the place for burial, the narrator introduces audience to different classes of the society, from aristocracy to common people.
lucullus is dead and the audience witnesses his trial by the judge and the jury.
The jury will decide whether lucullus takes a place among the heroes or not.
The jury represented lower classes, included a fisherman, a baker, a slave who was a teacher and a courtesan.
Allowed to defend himself lucullus calls forth witnesses to his great materialistic victories including the conquering of East Asia for Rome. But, all the evidences are against lucullus except for the fact that he introduced a Cherry Tree to Europe people and grieved over the destruction of books.
According to Sanjay Upadhyay, “Brecht was a writer who always wrote against wars and destruction and this play too supports peace as lucullus was a supporter of peace. ”