A tapestry of emotions, expressions, stories and histrionic skills came alive on stage when the three-decade-old reputed theatre group Stagecraft recently held a three-daylong festival at the Satyajit Ray Auditorium of Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) and at Mani Square, EM Bypass, earlier this February. The fiesta featured a new cast of actors drawn from current and past members of the outfit. In fact ace theatre practitioner Tathagata Chowdhury, the founding member, actor and director of Theatrecian also acted in one of the plays.

Short plays like September Song by Alex Gottlieb and Lamb to the Slaughter, The Colonel’s Coat and Taste by Roald Dahl, Today a Little Extra by Michael Kassin and Come Next Tuesday, Give the Bishop My Faint Regards and Matchpoint by Frank D Gilroy drew up an interesting collage from the company’s repertoire for the dramafest and successfully engaged the audience in the gallery.

Elements of intrigue, thrill, mystery, mysticism, suspense, suspicion, wit, humour, delightful human relations, ties of bonhomie, wistfulness, reminiscence, loneliness, nostalgia, extramarital affairs, murder, bizarre situations, twist in the tale had painted a plethora of colours imported from life.

Founded in 1986 by Rohit Pombra, the artistic director of Stagecraft, the group has presented 50 performances in English language till date over the past 31 years, inclusive of four children’s musicals, out of which three were telecast by Kolkata Doordarshan. It believes in working with fresh, raw talents and trains them through extensive workshops to become accomplished actors. As a theatre group, Stagecaft has tried to provide with Kolkata’s theatre lovers a variety of themes mostly touching upon human emotions and relationships.

The productions have ranged from classics to immensely popular plays like Becket, Harvey, The Teahouse Of The August Moon to Neil Simon comedies namely Biloxi Blues, God’s Favourite, The Prisoner Of Second Avenue and murder-mysteries such as, Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians and The Mousetrap, Frederick Knott’s Dial M For Murder and in 2003, Mangalam by Poile Sengupta, the first play by an Indian playwright from the Stagecraft stable. A stickler for art with a purpose, the group also undertakes an array of do-good initiatives to serve the society.

For instance, a play was written with cancer as its central theme back in 2008 by Pombra himself. It was at the behest of Prerak, an NGO supporting cancer patients, that he took to pen the script titled Just 10 Days in order to generate general awareness. In the following year, Justice On Trial was rendered revolving around the subject of rape, which is still so socially relevant.

Four springs ago in 2013, Pombra had compiled three Roald Dahl stories for the stage that formed an integral part of the lately concluded festival, besides five other short plays. Celebrating its 30th anniversary, the seasoned group still shows the energy and enthusiasm of a fresher to begin anew. Well, we couldn’t agree more to the adage that the journey is always more important than its destination.