Brand: CAT's latest venture

A glimpse of a rehearsal of the play

Explaining the genesis of Brand, Secretary General as well as the Artistic Director of CAT, Kamaluddin Nilu says, 'Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's play Brand is based on the existentialist philosophy of Danish Kierkegaard and German Hegel and Nietschze. Henrik Ibsen's religious drama Brand caused a huge stir when it was first published in Scandinavia in 1866. Although it was well received in Denmark, it gave birth to debates in Ibsen's homeland Norway.

'Brand is a cathartic writing experience for Ibsen. The titular character Brand is a pastor who holds himself and all of his followers, including his wife, to the rigid command of 'Naught or All'! This essentially means that people must be willing to risk their lives and all earthly attachments if they wish to find eternal salvation. Brand is tested on this faith and, even though he falters a few times, he nevertheless goes the distance, sacrificing his mother, son and wife in an attempt to adhere to his beliefs. The ambiguous ending has been interpreted in many contradictory ways, including that Brand's life is either meaningful or worthless. That is why Brand can be interpreted in different ways. My interpretation is that Henrik Ibsen's Brand focuses on three major points--Christian and anti-Christian war, theological debate on divinity between the Old and New Testaments, and the story of an individual fighting an existential battle to identify his belief. I think, Brand is an intellectual fundamentalist and his role in the play is a kind of vindication of romanticism.'

As Brand is a six -hour play, Nilu had to edit it to make it a two and half-hour play which is standard in Bangladesh. In the process of editing, Nilu has focused on his own interpretation of the play. Nilu says, 'I have tried to reveal the conflict between religion, aestheticism and ethics. I have avoided the Scandinavian mythological references used in the play, which are not easily communicable to our audience. However, I have not modified the original script. The only difference is that at the end of the play I plan to use one of Michelangelo's painting--Christ the Virgin and Saints--from his The Last Judgement series. The logic behind doing that is the Norwegian word 'Brand' means fire, which has a devastating power. Michalengelo's painting portrays Jesus as a young beardless man having huge power and energy.'

Nilu is using Manzur-I-Moula's translation of Brand. He says, 'Brand is written in the style of a poem--a more literary but less common type of modern drama. Moula has wonderfully translated the play.'

Majid, an expert on Kazakh ballet, is helping director Nilu use traditional Scandinavian folk dance for the choreography of Brand. For music, Nilu will use medieval church music compositions. And traditional 19th century attire of the Scandinavians have been used for costumes of the play.

Using two congested perpendicular-stagecraft as the set of Brand is an innovation in our country. Designer Nilu says, 'The slope of the set is quite convenient for the performers to acquire the required motion of the play. I am using white colour for the set on which colour effects will be created to portray different seasons of nature.'

CAT will stage the premier show of Brand on December 18 at the Experimental Theatre Stage.