MRICHCHAKATIKAM Play-"'Mitti ki Gadi/The Toy Cart"
MRICHCHAKATIKAM,
a Sanskrit Play of king Sudraka, is an outstanding play on any count. It not
only portrays on a wide canvas the lives and customs or a highly organised
society about two thousand years ago in minute detail, but also excels in
characterisation bordering on the real and comparable to any of the outstanding
dramas of either the East or the West, including Shakespeare’s to which it
dates back by atleast a thousand years. It is dated Circa 3rd to 8th century
AD, whereas Kalidasa’s period is said to be 5th century AD. White the common
people speak the Prakrit, the elite characters speak Sanskrit. Sudraka is said
to have adapted the earlier play “Churudattam” of Bhasa into a dexterously
woven play, which has drawn the attention and appreciation of noted critics
like Prof. Kieth, Dr. Bradley and others. The characters in the play are
considered by them as “Citizens of the World”. One will find such live men in
any country, in any time and in any clime. The characters can be easily
identified even with present day living men amongst us. And there lies the
greatness of the play.
Play adaptions:
The play was translated into English, notably by Arthur W. Ryder in 1905 as The Little Clay Cart. (It had previously been translated as The Toy Cart by Horace Hayman Wilson in 1826.) Ryder's version was enacted at the Hearst Greek Theatre in Berkeley in 1907, and in New York in 1924 at the Neighborhood Playhouse, which was then an off-Broadway theatre, at the Theater de Lys in 1953, and at the Potboiler Art Theater in Los Angeles in 1926, when it featured actors such as James A. Marcus, Symona Boniface and Gale Gordon. The play has been adapted in several indian languages and performed by various theatre groups and directors, like Habib Tanvir.
Film adaptations: The first silent film of Kannada film industry, 'Mricchakatika'(Vasantsena) (1931), starring Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay and Utsav, a 1984 Hindi Bollywood film by Girish Karnad was based on an adaptation of this play.
The Indian play depicted in the 2001 film Moulin Rouge!, "Spectacular Spectacular", may have been based on The Little Clay Cart.
Play adaptions:
The play was translated into English, notably by Arthur W. Ryder in 1905 as The Little Clay Cart. (It had previously been translated as The Toy Cart by Horace Hayman Wilson in 1826.) Ryder's version was enacted at the Hearst Greek Theatre in Berkeley in 1907, and in New York in 1924 at the Neighborhood Playhouse, which was then an off-Broadway theatre, at the Theater de Lys in 1953, and at the Potboiler Art Theater in Los Angeles in 1926, when it featured actors such as James A. Marcus, Symona Boniface and Gale Gordon. The play has been adapted in several indian languages and performed by various theatre groups and directors, like Habib Tanvir.
Film adaptations: The first silent film of Kannada film industry, 'Mricchakatika'(Vasantsena) (1931), starring Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay and Utsav, a 1984 Hindi Bollywood film by Girish Karnad was based on an adaptation of this play.
The Indian play depicted in the 2001 film Moulin Rouge!, "Spectacular Spectacular", may have been based on The Little Clay Cart.
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