COURTESY
“Every actor needs a role that will define them as an artist. This is mine,” says Samuna KC of her latest avatar Beli Basnet, a mentally disturbed woman in Swapnamahal. Those who have watched the play, an adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire and the second production of Freelancers Nepal, a theatre group Samuna helped establish with friend and director Eelum Dixit in 2011, will agree. KC gives us an enthralling peek into the world of an emotionally vulnerable Beli, who is unable to recognise the fine line between fantasy and reality, and at the risk of offending other actors, Swapnamahal is her show.
Asked if similarities between Beli, an aspiring actor, and herself helped her understand the character, Samuna confides that she actually had a tough time relating to Beli’s need to settle down with a man and start a new life because that is something the real Samuna has never experienced. But after a month of being Beli every evening at the Mandala Theatre
in Anamnagar, the character seems to have grown on her. “There is a certain beauty of living in another person’s world, even if just for a day,” she says. “I will miss Beli once the show is over.” It is this attachment to characters and their lives that makes KC’s performance stand out.
After completing high school in 2005, Samuna joined Gurukul Theatre for a two year stint with veteran actor Sunil Pokhrel and his team and then moved to India to study drama at MS University in Gujarat. “In India the whole community is involved with theatre and comes for shows. Here very few people turn up, mostly students. It’s still difficult to make a living from theatre,” she explains.
BIKRAM RAI
Surprisingly though, the theatre lover almost gave up the stage as the monotony got to her. To keep things interesting, she branched out into translating, directing, producing plays, and even dabbled in movies. In fact, the Nepali Swapnamahal is Samuna’s take on Williams’ classic, another reason why she seems so at ease with the story. “It was challenging, but also very satisfying to be able to mould a classic according to my vision,” she says. “The original script is extremely strong in terms of character development and dialogue, which in turn helped make our adaptation powerful.”
After a successful one month run, Freelancers Nepal is organising a charity show of Swapnamahal for the benefit of flood victims of western Nepal this weekend.
Swapnamahal
Rato Bangala School, Patan Dhoka
23-24 August, 6.30pm
Rs 500, tickets available at Dhokaima Café (01 5522113) and at the gate