THEATER When Manav met Mayaavi

As the glossy red curtains draw apart, we are introduced to the colour brown. It adorns the walls and covers the oddly shaped furniture. A man—dressed in brown—is seen brooding in the corner. You soon realise that the setting is meta-physical—it is the manifestation of the inner subconsciousness of the brooding figure.

The man is Manav Shastri (played by Divya Dev), the protagonist of Shilpee’s ongoing play ‘Tranzit’. Directed by Shilpee’s Ghimire Yubaraj, the play is written by Kumar Nagarkoti, one of the few writers in Nepal working with surrealism and experimental fiction. Ghimire and Nagarkoti previously worked together in the surreal play ‘Bathtub’ back in 2019.

Nagarkoti’s literature—plays, fiction and articles—are always a roller-coaster of absurd plot lines and amusing wordplay. He has an extraordinary capacity to seamlessly weave Nepali and English, and this play is no exception. In fact, it’s this very amalgamation that makes the play exciting.

Going back to our protagonist Manav Shastri—to be said with a pause between the two words, or it would mean manavshashtri (an anthropologist)—is a playwright by profession, and his most famous play is ‘Lipstick, Cigarette, ra Anya Ekanta’ (other solitude), which he has showcased for the past three years during the month of December. However, he claims that all three actresses mysteriously died after the play ended.
reference : kathmandu post