Aatmaj

Theatre has a deep connection with poetry. Drama has also been called visual poetry. Vinay Kumars poetic play, Atmaj, can be seen as belonging to the tradition of poetic plays that ignited modern Hindi theatre. The poet has expressed the theme of his play with a unique stylistic style. In this stylistic style, sometimes through words, and sometimes through the abstract visibility hidden between the words, the reality of life takes visual form. Here, life is not imitated, but rather rendered, in whose aura one can see images of inner conflicts that reveal the philosophical truths of our time and society. History is not available in the traditional sense in Atmaj. Its characters, too, are not available in the same way as they have been peeping from the depths of so-called history. These characters, bound by the crises and sorrows of partial or complete fatherlessness, are more modern than historical, and they appear like a piercing cry amidst the erosion of the paternal element in life and the world. It is noteworthy that the threads of this play are woven from the silence of history. Silence on stage is a device, and it becomes most vocal during performance. In this play, the silence of history, combined with the silence of poetry and the silence of theatre, creates a theatrical language that creates sounds and scenes that allow the audience to gain a new theatrical experience and, through the touch of their imagination, create their own emotional perspective. Atmajs theatrical language will attract theatre artists to experiment with presentations and also create new avenues for communicating the subtext embedded within the play. Atmajs presence on Indian stage marks a return to the dignity and power of words in this era of technological play. Hrishikesh Sulabh