Night of January 16th

At 5:30 pm the Jubilee Hall was rife with expectations as the curtain raised and the audience witnessed the dramatis personae holding their stance. The stage light, the silence that was looming large was something that sent chills down the spine. And it was “Night of January 16th”. “Wherever you run into it, prejudice obscures the truth”and here we are taking pains to reach out to the truth. “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players” – This is one of those most significant lines written by Shakespeare. And the students of Bhawanipur Education Society College have taken the stage plays to its zenith. Around 250 students were the onlookers to decide if it was a murder or a suicide. Based on a theatrical play by Russian-American author Ayn Rand, inspired by the death of the “Match King”, Ivar Kreuger set in a courtroom during a murder trial, students of team Enact of BESC presented a court room drama “Night of January 16th” on 20th September, 2019 at 5 pm in the Jubilee hall.

 

 

Present in the first row was Prof Dilip Shah, the Dean of Student Affairs. It was 90 minutes drama about a hearing of a court case between a former secretary and the wife of a dead businessman accused of the murder. Rather than reeling on the murder, the drama revolved around the testimonies to find the guilty. It was so well presented that the audience started brooding over who the guilty was quite unknowingly. A well constructed drama always keeps the audience intrigued till the end and Night of January 16thproves to be one. Theatre has always been considered as a brain child of the connoisseur of art but the BESC has proved it otherwise with this third consecutive show.

Reported by: Pragya Shaw

Photography: SayanSaha& Sagar Pal