Audience lauds Probasee Bengali’s satirical comedy ‘Shorkari Officer’

Keeping the theme of political satire comedy, a newly written Bengali play ‘Shorkari Officer’ (Government Employee) has received rave reviews from its audience earlier last week.

The play which is the third iteration of the original work of Russian and Ukrainian dramatist Nikolai Gogoi’s ‘The Government Inspector’ written in 1836 that was adapted in the Bengali language in 1944 by famous Bengali novelist Pramathanath Bishi as Prona Bi.

The theme of the original play and its contemporary Bengali adaptation has been left unchanged with new characters revolving around politics and contemporary contexts deriving situational comedy.

The story revolves around a small suburban town of West Bengal, Payradanga, the administration of which is controlled by the mayor of the local municipality, assisted by the top officers of respective government departments. Everything runs well as they are in a routine until one day when an undercurrent of turbulence shakes the department itself, leading to some moments of embarrassment and comedy.

“I took around three months to script the whole play keeping it relevant to the current political and social context that is ‘post-millennial and contemporary West Bengal’.

“Almost all scenarios that lead to comedy are inspired by real-life situations and examples that have occurred in the recent past involving the real public,” Director and scriptwriter of the play, Shibashish Dutta told The Indian Weekender.

“In one of the scenes, people come to the police station and an officer goes into hiding under his table. On enquired by his authority, he cites his fear being beaten again by the people for not performing his duty- which was actually inspired by a recent incident back home,” he added.

“Like its predecessors, the play builds a situation and creates a satire, which although inspired by real-life situations is staged only for entertainment purpose,” Shibashish said.

The play has ten characters playing their part while more than 15 people were involved in bringing the show together for the audience, be it music, lighting, stage, props, lyrics, and costumes.

The play was overwhelmingly received by 150+ audience at the Playhouse Theatre in Glen Eden on August 17, produced and brought by the Probasee Bengali Association of New Zealand.