Saka Jallianwala Bagh presented 104th time

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, October 25

Punjab Naatshala’s most acclaimed stage play, “Saka Jallianwala Bagh”, presented its 104th show over the weekend recently on its premises. Written by Punjabi writer Jatinder Brar, the play is based on the Jallianwala Bagh massacre that took place on April 13, 1919.

The play was staged for the first time after the pandemic. It took Brar almost 10 long years to pen the script, getting the details right and researching about the facts preceding and succeeding the fateful day. He has used the original designs of Jallianwala Bagh, maps of undivided Punjab and several unknown facts were narrated through the story.

The play had been staged extensively at several platforms across Punjab during the centenary anniversary celebrations of Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 2019, but its presentation was halted due to Covid-19 pandemic. “Post pandemic, we wanted to resume the play for live audience but due to the several factors, including the scale of production and artists involved, we had to face some delay,” said Brar, while addressing the audience on Sunday evening.

Around 40 theatre artists from Amritsar have acted in the two-hour long play, while a technical team of 15-members was behind the play that has been produced at a cost of Rs 10 lakh.

“While the purpose of its staging is to pay tribute to the martyrs, we need to look at the play as documentation of events related to Jallianwala Bagh tragedy with information that is disseminated intimately by making the audience a part of the story. When the play first staged in June 2019, during that time every effort was made to take the play to the school children apart from the common people,” he informed.

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