Aranyak's latest production Raaraang to be staged today

Behind the scenes: Tamalika and co-artistes

Playwright as well as the director of Raaraang Mamunur Rashid said, 'In 2002, I attended a protest meeting on the murder of Alfred Shoren, a Santal young man, by the Bangali community, in Naogaon. There an elderly tribal leader gave me an arrow and requested me to write a play on the oppression of the ethnic communities of the country by the dominating Bangalees. I promised to do so and I have depicted the story of oppression of the Santel tribe in Raaraang.'

'Raaraang is not a fragmented story of the oppression, rather it is a tale of their struggle since the partition of the Indian subcontinent. Moreover, through the story of Alfred I have narrated the story of their revolutionary approach against the discrimination. I have also mentioned the Nachal Rebellion by the Santal community under the leadership of Ila Mitra. All the deprived ethnic people are my subjects in the play', says Mamun.

Mamun added, 'I have used standard Bangla as the dialect for all the communities in the play. The logic behind doing so is that I should have otherwise used the original dialect, which is not possible for us to comprehend. But, to represent the culture of the ethnic tribe I have used some traditional Santal songs.'

On his directorial approach to the play Mamun says, 'It is the output of my post modernist thinking. I have tried to give all the characters a realistic touch. But, only the evil characters have got a sarcastic animal instinct.'

Faiz Zahir is the set, light and costume designer of Raaraang. Faiz says, 'The set is very simple. I will use empty arena box set at the middle of the theatre hall.

'In case of costume, colourful clothing has been designed for the ethnic people. The tribal men and women will use general costume. But, the Bangali community will use typical attire.'

'I will divide the stage into a few zones and no general light will be used. Moreover, I will express the mood and tempo of the play by using symbolic colour effects,' Zahir added

Music composer Parimal Majumdar has followed traditional Santal music trend for the play. Tomalika Karmokar is the choreographer of the directorial compositions.

Aranyak Natya Dal will stage two technical shows for Raaraang on August 19, August 22 at the Mahila Samity Stage and the Experimental Theatre stage respectively. Finally the premier show will be staged on August 23, at the Experimental Theatre Stage.