Babarnama: The cream of South Asian theatre gets together

Dr Jamil Ahmed (2R) demonstrates after the show of Jhora Phul directed by Azad Abul Kalam (M)

The participants in the project are directors ranging from 28 to 36 years who are all at the cutting edge of theatrical exploration in their own countries. As the directors of the project Azad Abul Kalam from Bangladesh, Abilash Pillai from India, Anup Barai from Nepal, Ibrahim Quraishi from Pakistan and Ruwanthie de Chickera from Sri Lanka have been selected by Tadashi Uchino, an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Arts and Science of University of Tokyo, a JFAC representative.

On the selection process, Azad Abul Kalam, the representative director of Bangladesh said, 'The organisaton first communicated with International Theatre Institute (ITI) Bangladesh and Dhaka University. Dr Jamil Ahmed, Professor, Department of Theatre and Music, told Tadashi Uchino about me Uchino showed interest and invited me for an interview. After a few days, I received a mail from JFAC informing me that they would like to meet me again in Delhi. There I showed them some video footages on my directorial work. After that I was selected as a young director from Bangladesh.'

'As the second phase of the venture, I along with two of my theatre group members named Shahnaz and Rahul staged Jhora Phul. I directed the plays at the Japan Foundation Forum Auditorium in Tokyo on February 28. Later Dr Jamil Ahmed read papers on my work. Japanese theatre experts appreciated my directorial work.'

'Last June they asked me to join in a seven-day-long workshop in Delhi, India to decide the details of the programme. There I along with my colleagues, Japanese delegates and technical crews decided to stage Babarnama, an autobiography of the Mughal Emperor Babar translated by Whatler M Thackst. Moreover, we also wanted to use Salman Rushdie's introduction to Babarnama. Three artistes from each of the participating countries will perform in the play. We will only give the performing space design and the Japanese technical team will develop it,' Azad added.

Talking about the staging of Babarnama, Azad said,'We will stage three shows of Babarnama in Tokyo on November 27, 28 and December 1. And then it will be staged in Kyoto on December 3. Later NSD (National School for Drama) will stage Babarnama on January 7, 2005. As the host nation will have to bear a part of the production cost, Babarnama will not be staged in Bangladesh.'