Shilpee Theatre in Battisputali is currently hosting the staging of the play Charaharu ko Sammelan. Directed by debutante director actress Deeya Maskey, the play is adapted into Nepali from The Conference of Birds, an epic poem written by Farid ud-Din Attar Abu Hamid bin Abu Bakr Ibrahim, a famous Persian poet of the twelfth century. 

The Nepali rendition of the play, translated by Pushpa Raj Acharya and presented by Actors’ Studio, is based on a dramatic adaptation of the poem, by authors Jean-Claude Carriere and Peter Brook. 

Speaking about the play, director Maskey said, “I once attended a physical theatre workshop where we were led through the enactment of the epic poem. Even though I was not sure about the essence of play then, it slowly began to make sense to me, and now I have attempted to direct it myself.” 

The play follows the journey of a different species of birds—namely, Bhangera, Sunga, Dhukur, Majur, among others—through the seven different valleys of the quest: love, understanding, independence and detachment, unity, astonishment, and, finally, poverty and nothingness.

The journey is largely enacted in pantomimes, and occasionally they also enunciate life lessons. 

The play features actors Suraj Malla, Aayush Pyakurel, Arjun Neupane, Gaurav Bista, Manish Niraula, and Suman Shrestha, among others. 

Charaharu ko Sammelan is currently being staged at Shilpee Theatre in Battisputali every day at 5:15, and will continue till October 18.