Competition builds up in theatre venues

A scene from the play Jolbalika by Padatik Natya Sangshod - one of the participating groups in the festival

However, this idyllic picture may change with the recent opening of the two state-of-the-art halls at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy--the National Theatre Stage and the Experimental Theatre Stage.

Theatre troupes stage plays simultaneously at Mahila Samity stage and theatre halls at Shilpakala. But, for special occasions, such as a drama festival or the premiere show of a play, theatre groups prefer the halls at Shilpakala to Mahila Samity.

Arranging a six-day long drama festival at Mahila Samity was a kind of experiment for Udichi Central Drama Branch recently. Analysing the success or failure of the experiment a few factors have to be kept in mind. At the Mahila Samity Stage, regular theatregoers frequently go to watch the current productions. On the other hand, at Shilpakala or other venues, by and large the audience are not regular viewers of theatre. However, in a venue such as Mahila Samity if any organisation arranges a festival including plays which are being regularly staged, it adds no new element for the regular Natok Sarani audience.

If we analyse the festival, we see that Shankranti and Jolbalika, the Aranyak and Padatik productions, are two current productions frequently staged at all the theatre halls. On the other hand, Prachyanat and Udichi's productions, Circus Circus and Chile Kothar Sepai, are two popular productions taking part in the festival over a long period of time. The rest of the plays, Bou Basanti and The Freedom of the City, are current productions of Udichi.

On the opening day, Udichi staged their current production Bou Basanti by Ratan Siddiqui. This is a popular production which attracted a capacity crowd. Aranyak Natya Dal staged their popular play Shankranti in which the number of tickets sold was satisfactory. Udichi staged their current production, The Freedom of the City directed by Ashish Khondokar on the third day where the turn out was low. Prachyanat's production Circus Circus which the troupe has staged after a long gap, Padatik's current theatre endeavour, Jolbalika, is regarded as one of the best new productions in 2004. After many successful shows, Jolbalika failed to play to a full house at Mahila Samity. More interestingly all the tickets of Udichi's one time hit production Chile Kothar Sepai, the last show of the festival, were sold in advance.

Looks like competition is building up in the field of theatre venues. That is good news for audiences, who earlier had few options. Moreover, it makes the theatre groups put their best foot forward.