![]() The other playhouse which contributed to the consolidation of Bengali theatre and is still there was Minerva. Minerva Theatre was built with money provided by a grandson of Prasanna Kumar Tagore, founding fellow of University of Calcutta. Once again Girish Ghosh was approached and, he agreed to lend his services. The new theatre opened on 28th January, 1893 with Macbeth, translated by Girish Ghosh himself. The choice of the play, the praise showered on the production and the lack of popular support throw some light on the problems the pioneers of commercial theatre faced. Girish Ghosh regarded Shakespeare with adoration. In this he conformed to the general attitude of the educated Bengali of his times. A well-known Bengali poet of the nineteenth century went so far as to say in one of his poems that Kalidasa belonged to India but Shakespeare to the world. Girish Ghosh had wanted the average theatregoer to be acquainted with the Bard's plays and nursed the hope of producing a number of his tragedies. But after the decisive rejection of Macbeth, by the public, he had to drop his plans for producing Hamlet, Othello and King Lear. He was sorely disappointed. The educated elite of the city who knew their Shakespeare were extravagant in their praise. So were the newspapers. Even the Englishman congratulated the group. ![]() As mentioned earlier, Star was ousted from the playhouse at Beadon Street where it was first started in 1883. The wealthy Gopal Seal who purchased the playhouse and threw Star out in 1887 was, however, denied the right to use the prestigious name. He gathered most of the actors of the old National and opened The Emerald in October, 1887 with a play on the exile of the Pandavas. He was able to secure the services of Ardhendu Mustafi among others and sank a lot of money in doing up the playhouse. There was no electricity for domestic consumption then and plays were acted in gaslight. Gopal Seal installed a dynamo generator and the spectators were thrilled, particularly by the costumes shining in the electric light. He managed, by a mixture of threat and blackmail, to get the services of Girish Ghosh but lost at the same time those of Ardhendu Mustafi. The Emerald prospered for some time. But after a while and several shuffles of the pack Gopal Seal leased out the playhouse to others; whereupon Girish Ghosh promptly left to rejoin the Star. After several vicissitudes of fortune Emerald was wound up in April, 1897. ![]() Of the other playhouses Bengal Theatre or Royal Bengal Theatre as it called itself later, had a comparatively long lease of life and carried on till 1901. Its dubious distinction was that it refused to change with the times. The refusal however was not altogether without merit. It earned the owners a reputation for certain principles of conduct. They avoided the unseemly squabbles, intrigues, instigated break-ups and actor-snatching that had become endemic. Except for brief periods it could boast of no leading actor on its pay-roll but managed to retain the loyalty of sections of the public. But it could not possibly continue to serve stale fare and yet survive. After its closure in 1901, the playhouse was taken on lease by one Guruprasad Maitra. His Aurora Theatre lasted for a year and a half and was succeeded by Unique Theatre which lasted even less. The next lessee could not even think of a new name and called it National Theatre. It was unable to compete with the popularity of Kohinoor and Minerva and tried at first to lure customers by offering free gifts and then reduced the prices. Neither helped! It lingered on for six years and closed down in January, 1911. To bring the story of this particular playhouse to a close, Amarendra Dutta took it on lease, persuaded the proprietor Anath Deb to spend a lot of money in renovating the building, formed a new group, called it "The Great National" and appointed himself the manager. He was doing rather well when, in less than six months' time, he broke up the group and rejoined Star on being offered part proprietary rights. ![]() One other playhouse may be briefly mentioned. This was built away from the Beadon Street locality by Rajkrishna Ray-the only instance of an actor-playwright building a playhouse on his own. At considerable personal sacrifice he started his Bina Ranga-bhumi at 38, Mechuabazar Street in 1887. By then, the practice of engaging women to play female roles had become general. Rajkrishna Ray, who was something of a puritan, made male actors to render female parts. People praised his principles and his plays but few went to see them. He was financially ruined and gave up within a few months. He came back later, a sadder and wiser man, to take charge of the theatre he had built. He employed women actresses this time and made the rates of admission ridiculously and disastrously low. Eventually this simple and good man, who loved drama and theatre deeply, had to give up ownership of Bina in 1891. Thereafter in the course of several changes in ownership- the playhouse had a string of new names, The Indian, The Gaiety, The Victoria Opera, etc -it was later taken over to show "moving pictures", the new medium that made its tentative appearance in Kolkata at about that time |