We find ourselves in the imaginary surrounds of Umbugland, inside a palace. Bichitrabirya (Kamal Devkota) is a hypocrite of a king, with five ministers under him to do his bidding. When he dies after six decades in power, there is pandemonium in the kingdom. Who should take the throne next? The ministers don’t trust each other enough to pick one, and finally decide to hand everything over to the king’s daughter, Vijaya (Sirjana Subba), although she is too young. But this works in the ministers’ favour—she is a mere figure-head, the power is in their grasp.

As time passes, however, Vijaya slowly grows in power, under the mentorship of Prannarayan (Pramod Agrahari), her caretaker. She eventually makes some bold decisions, wins the people’s favour and becomes a ruler in earnest.

The play, a joint production between the Actor’s Studio and Mandala Theatre is full of humourous, witty dialogue, and reflective of contemporary Nepali politics. The cast—including Anoj Pandey, Suraj Malla Thakuri, Manish Niraula, Suresh Sapkota, Sambhav Shrestha, Suraj Yadav, Sarmila Shah and Sada Adhikari—deserves credit for a job well done, especially Subba who captures well the princess’ evolution, and Agrahari, who wonderfully portrays Vijaya’s adviser. The fact that Prannarayan is a third-gender person also adds a welcome complexity to the character. 

Umbuglandko Muthbhed is going to be staged every day at Mandala at 5:15pm until June 14 (except Mondays)