Dhaka Drama Festival 2004

A scene from the play Aranya Janaranya

Written by Indu Saha it is a social play focusing on numerous contemporary issues from the mosquito menace to the globalisation. Indu Saha has included many messages without adding any relief scene. This makes the play akin to a patha natok (street drama).

Saha's work is heavily influenced by the popular message-based drama trend in Kolkata during the 1970s. Like those plays, Aranya Janaranya also explicitly cries for a successful revolution on the lines of Lenin or Mao Tse Tung. However, Saha, in the play, does a satire on the so-called leftists who engage in double standards for their personal interest.

The protagonist of the play Satyamay, an aged clerk, is fed up with his life, his family and even with the whole world. For his refusal to compromise with his principles, he faces a tragic end.

A peculiarity of the play is that in the course of the satire, Saha cannot maintain the chronology of time. From the subject of the contemporary Afghanistan war, all of a sudden he moves back to the British colonial period without using any flashback technique. Some of the scenes in Aranya Janaranya are totally illogical.

As the director of the play, Sanjib Chakrabarti is realistic in his approach. He has followed the German director Bertolt Brecht in the directorial work.

In the set, Sanjib has used wooden structures to suggest a yard and a wall of the house where the major events of the play takes place. The light design of the play needed to be improved.

Najmul Haque Jewel as Kaisar and child actress Reshma Aktar as Rumki were relief for the audience amidst the poor performance of the rest of the performers.

'Only theatrical groups should be allowed to perform at the new stage'
Liakat Ali Lucky
'After much negotiation with the Shilpakala Academy authority, we have got the opportunity to stage plays here. I think after the festival, we can use the stage in full swing, as the name of the theatre hall is 'Experimental Theatre Stage' not like music stage or dance stage or anything else. We do not see any theatrical performance at the Mahanagar Natya Mancha at Gulistan. That venue has often been used by several political parties for political programmes. I do not expect that the Experimental Theatre Stage to go the same way,'says Liakat Ali Lucky the current General Secretary of BGTF.

Lucky adds, 'We have not yet been able to come out of our dependence on Mahila Samity Stage. I think that after the festival the audience will accept the Experimental Theatre Stage as a very good venue for theatre. Moreover, I expect that the theatrical groups will also show their interest in staging plays in the modern theatrical hall.'

Lucky also expresses the view that the government should increase its patronage of theatre as the foreigners are also attracted towards our country's theatre.

Ershad Kamol

Schedules (June 23-28)
June 23
Play: Shadhucharan
Playwright: Chandan Sen
Director: Ratan Saha
Group: Pratidwandi Nattyagoshthi

June 24
Play: Bhabaghurey
Playwright: Shantanu Biswas
Director: Tarun Kumar Basu
Group: Theatre (Topkhana)

June 25
Play: Hat Hadai
Playwright: Selim Al Deen
Director: Nasiruddin Yousuff
Group: Dhaka Theatre

June 26
Play: Ami Gadha Bolchhi
Playwright: Krishan Chandar
Director: Mujibur Rahman Dilu
Group: Dhaka Drama Natyadal

June27
Play: Karnakatha
Playwright: Tanvir Ahmed
Director: Mohammed Jasimuddin
Group: Abayab Natyadal

June 28
Play: Good Bye Dhaka
Playwright & Director: Nazrul Islam Khan
Group: Bahubachan

Venue: Experimental Theatre Stage at Shilpakala Academy; Time: 7 pm
Tickets are available at Sagar Publishers, Baily Road and at the venue

before shows.
Prices: Tk. 30, Tk. 50 and Tk. 100.