Badungduppa has its own golden history of theatrical journey. We have come through last two decades of experimentation that has been new and multi-dimensional for the art of theatre. Badungduppa is situated and developed in the village of Rampur, Assam, Goalpara. Rampur, the hamlet is far away from the urbanized hustle bustle and infertile imitative ways if living. The place is about six kilometer
away from Agia, a Small Township. A major population in Rampur is of the Rabha community. Of course, there are lot many of other communities too. Main objective of Badungduppa has been to conceive the native forms and structures and transform them on the stage for the very common audience. The stage performance is not about purity of native expressions but equally shaped by the traditional values as well as modern temperaments of life. What Badungduppa could accomplish artistically was that of a kind of ethno-oratorio (’Village Opera’) of modern native theater while evolving language of theatre. It is more about bringing ‘village-forms’ together and voice ‘villagers’ own voice through music and drama. Through this, what Badungduppa has been achieving is presenting the time sense of the common folks. In the long process of building an audience, Badungduppa is giving its sincere attention to empower audience in being alert and time conscious. In its journey, Badugduppa has been focused on constructing a healthy and hygienic periphery of conscious audience. Obviously it is a tough project. But, we are encouraged as the spontaneous reflection of the ceaseless process has been seen slowly appreciated by society in and around our village Rampur. Badungduppa is much careful about the relationship between performances and un-exposed viewer through a performance’s its multi layered impulsive responses. In this, we make a conscious attempt that an actor would never swallow text but he/she will be absorb the text/language into her/his body instead of speaking out the lines through lip movement. This, in turn, becomes a voice for its immediate audience context.
