Geography: Asia > Southern Asia > India
Year: 1944
Produced by: Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA), Bengal
Creative Team: Written by Bijon Bhattacharya; jointly directed by Bijon Bhattacharya and Sombhu Mitra
Synopsis: Created during the Bengal famine, Nabanna follows rural families whose lives collapse when hunger makes remaining in their village impossible. The production considers characters who leave the countryside and travel towards Calcutta in the hope of finding food as famine becomes a drama of mass internal displacement. Arrival in the city does not resolve their crisis. They encounter poverty, exploitation and the loss of the social structures that had previously sustained them. IPTA toured the production through its Voice of Bengal campaign and used performances to raise money for famine relief. Migration operates both within the drama and around its original production, which carried stories of displaced rural Bengal into urban performance spaces elsewhere in India.
Source: Get Bengal, history of Bijon Bhattacharya and the original production: https://www.getbengal.com/details/bijon-bhattacharya-the-dreamer-who-believed-in-the-power-of-performing-arts-get bengal-story Indian Cine.ma, IPTA and Nabanna production history: https://indiancine.ma/EIC/info The Telegraph, background on Nabanna and its theatrical history: https://www.telegraphindia.com/life/cholo-nabanna-as-in-the-play-a-comeback-of-the-left-reflected-in-calcuttas-streets- today/cid/2048068