Ritanjali Hastir, Associate Editor, 11th May, 2017, Shimla
The results of competition were First Durrent House and Best actor Kunal Rana; Lefroy House second and Best actor Arnav Arya; French third and Best actor Savir Sharma; Matthew fourth and Best actor Paras Thakur
Over all best actor Savir Sharma.
Students of Auckland House School for Boys brought the magic of plays live on stage as the four houses staged plays like Andher Nagri Chaupat Raja performed by Durrant House, Idgaah was performed by Matthew House, Amma Ji ki Pariksha performed by Lefroy and last but not the least Yamraj Ka Nimantran was performed by French House.
Andher Nagri was a satire on the political system. In the story a boy once seeks the advice of his guru about going to a certain country to seek his living. The guru tells him not to go there by saying one line about that country “Andhernagri Chaupat raja; takeh ser bhaji, takeh ser khaja”. He tells the boy that there is one fixed price for spinach and dates and everything. The citizens lack intelligence and it is an undesirable place to live. The young and unwise boy goes anyway. His experience in the city leads to a set of events and in the end foolish king hangs himself without considering the illogical arguments.
Idgaah — the story begins on Eid morning, as Hamid sets out for the Idgaah with other boys from the village. Hamid is notably impoverished next to his friends, poorly dressed and famished-looking, and has only three paise as Idi for the festival. The other boys spend their pocket money on rides, candies and beautiful clay toys, and tease Hamid when he dismisses this as a waste of money for momentary pleasure. While his friends are enjoying themselves, he overcomes his temptation and goes to a hardware shop to buy a pair of tongs, remembering how his grandmother burns her fingers while cooking rotis.
As they return to the village Hamid’s friends tease him for his purchase, extolling the virtues of their toys over his tongs. Hamid retorts with several clever arguments and before long his friends become more enamored with the tongs than their own playthings, even offering to trade their items for his, which Hamid refuses. The story ends on a touching note when Hamid gifts the tongs to his grandmother. At first she scolds him for making the purchase, rather than buying something to eat or drink at the fair, until Hamid reminds her of how she burns her fingers daily. She bursts into tears at this and blesses him for his kindness.
Amma Ji ki Pariksha was a story of a mother of three children who is trying to pass an examination. It was a comic play where the fear of examination takes over the mother and she even fails to realize that her examination date is ten days later.
Yamraj Ka Nimantran a comic play revolves around a king who is invited by Yamraj as his life is over. He requests to ask his near and dear four people how much they need him and hence he cannot die like that. All his illusion breaks when none of his chosen one desired him to live any longer and on contrary were more than happy on his death.
Through each play students tried to give message may that be of importance of educating females on one hand in Amma Ji ki Pariksha to compassion on other in Idgaah. Importance of thinking logically as to come out of our own false dream world as in Andher Nagri and Yamraj Ka Nimantran respectively.
Though the performances were good yet there was a great scope of improvement. Blocking in each play was loose and most of time actors had their backs facing towards the audiences. Too much use of pro items in Idgaah and change of scenes killed the interest and lost continuity of play.
Sanjay Sood and Bhupinder Sharma were present on the occasion as Judges who gave their valuable advice to students for polishing their skills.
