Remembering Tagore

On Rabindranath Tagore's 154th birth anniversary this Thursday, watch the play, She-He-Shey, based on the Bengali poet's book, Shey

If you’re looking for ways to bond with your teenager this vacation, head for the play, She-He-Shey presented by the city-based theatre group, Gillo Gilehri.

A still from She-He-Shey

It will be staged at Prithvi Theatre on May 7, which is the birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore. The play is suitable for all above 12 years of age. “The play is based on a string of stories that Tagore had made up to narrate to her nine-year-old granddaughter, Nandini, and these were later brought out as a book titled Shey, meaning ‘It’ in Bengali. It’s about the made-up character, Shey — a man constituted entirely of words — and rather talented at concocting tales,” explains Shaili Sathyu, the play’s director who has adapted the Bengali text into English and Hindi for stage.

Apart from the dialogue, the play is high on movement, with patchwork curtains inspired by Tagore’s paintings form the backdrop. “At the time Tagore was telling these stories to Nandini, he had also started painting. That is what inspired me to use his compositions in the still images and movements that we have used in the play. Most movement have been developed with the actors and reflects their interpretation of Tagore’s ideas. Some short stories are narrated using particular mudras and abhinay,” elaborates Sathyu.

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