Rangmanch presents its 8th Hindi Production, back by popular demand Mareech Ka Khel – on October 28 at 6:30 p.m. at the Playhouse Theatre – Glen Eden, Auckland.  

Mareech ka Khel is a Hindi Translation of the original Mareech Sangbad in Bengali, which was written by the famous Bengali actor – Director – Playwright Sri Arun Mukhopadhyay of the Kolkata Based theatre group Chetana in the year 1983. It has been adapted to Hindi and presented in Auckland by Rangmanch.

This Rangmanch production is directed by Jayanta Bhaduri - a well-known and highly regarded theatre personality in Auckland, who has so far directed most Hindi Productions by Rangmanch.

This play has several songs mostly set to tune by Amit Sengupta – another very well-known and accomplished personality in Auckland, regarded for his contributions in the field of music.

‘Mareech ka Khel’ is a classic tale, oft-repeated through generations. But who is Mareech? He is a shape-shifting demon from Ramayana, Ravana’s ally. The plot revolves around the life of Mareech, who was relative of the demon king Ravana. His father was the Rakshash Shund and mother was the Rakshashi Tadaka.

This play gives him a voice to express his morality and sankalp to adhere to the path of truth and dharma.  The play brings to fore the perspectives of various  ‘Mareech’ in different eras – from the period of The Ramayana to modern times thus explore the possibility of different outcomes to their stories.

We learn from the Ramayana that Mareech abandoned all the worldly pleasures in pursuit of spiritual happiness. This, in spite of him being a Rakshash (Demon) born of Rakshash Parents. During a war between the Rakshashas (Demons) and the Devatas (Gods), Mareech was cleansed of his demon blood by the ‘vayuban’ hurled at him by Lord Sri Ramchandra.

He was a devout follower of Sri Ramchandra, but he submits to the patriotic and religious exhortations of Ravana thus participating in what he considers to be an unjust war, leading to tragic results. 

This play recreates the same story set in the modern world. Through an arresting character analysis of the Ramayana illusion-expert Mareech, this story shines a spotlight on the contemporary social woes of the oppressed Indian peasantry in a typical setting of an Indian Village.

Mareech ka Khel is a cleverly structured, intelligent, humorous look at the changing forms of exploitation through space and time, starting with the story of Mareech the demon from the Ramayana and travelling through the Indian Villages and then taking in USA's Vietnam intervention, and coming down to the contemporary period told in true Brechtian Style of Theatre.

The clever narrative explores themes with Mareech at their centre – class struggle, exploitation, oppression, hypocrisy, democracy and the impossible situations that define the choices that Mareech must make under severe oppressive and threatening compulsions. In doing this, it subverts the popular perception of those fringe, but critical characters in legends that are ordinarily seen to align with the oppressor. 

In the end, there is hope and light. The play ends with a moral wish that the fight for justice should continue without any form of surrender to the evil and oppressing powers of the rulers of the society.

In its first showing a couple of years back, Mareech proved to be immensely popular with Auckland audiences. That it is in Hindi, adds to the universality of its theme. It’s a treat to be able to get an opportunity to watch it again. Rangmanch, New Zealand’s first Indian language theatre group, and their production is bound to fully meet audience expectations. The group has previously brought reputed Hindi plays such as ‘Zimmedari’, ‘Ballbhpur Ki Kahani’, ‘Dildar’, ‘Sunehre Sapne’, ‘Raj Darshan’, ‘Ek Adhuri Kahani’ and Gujarati plays ‘Badtameez Dil’, ‘Marmabhed’, ‘Yeh Hai Zindagi’ and ‘Ver Na Bhabetar’ to Auckland.
The group has also presented a Marathi play ‘Karti Kaljat Ghusli’ and couple of Bengali Plays – ‘Gulbaz the Man of The Match’ and ‘Agyatobas’.

 All of their productions till date have been immensely successful and have drawn widespread critical acclaim from the Theatre lovers of Auckland.

For any further information and tickets please contact 0276784966, 0212374181, 0212506823 or 021445166. Or please visit Rangmanch at www.rangmanch.org.nz.

Event: Mareech Ka Khel - Hindi Play by Rangmanch
When: 28 October 2017 at 06.30 pm 
Where: Playhouse Theatre, 15 Glendale Road, Glen Eden, Auckland