Dhaka Drama Festival 2004
Narrating the story of the warlords
The young, yet talented, stage playwright and actress Samina Lutfa Nitra has created ripples in the theatre world. In her playTeerthankar(pilgrims), she has come up with the theme of oppression in society. This is a story of the legendary Sohrab-Rustom set against the restless modern civilisation as it speeds towards globalisation.
On July 7, Shubachan Natya Goshthi's current production Teerthankar held the audience of the Experimental Theatre Stage spellbound by its bold message and presentation.
Adapted from the Persian epic Shahanama, Nitra's play Teerthankar is not a mere drama to represent the epic to the modern audience. The ego, greed, and savagery represented by the characters of the play have been dramatically resurrected in the contemporary history of the world-- the evil history of war and occupation by the warlords.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Teerthankar deals with some real aspects of the war. Rustam, Sohrab and Tahmina's tragic story symbolically represents humanity's fall to war and greediness.
If Nitra handled the script with more subtlety, her play could have been a wonderful piece of contemporary drama.
Faiz Zahir, the director unfolds the play through the storyteller, who acts as the pilgrim. He has bridged the east and west concept in his direction. He could have successfully changed the scenes through narration. He could have represented the loneliness of the characters only through narration, no choreography was required to represent it. Moreover, his presentation of the war scenes lacked momentum.
As set designer Faiz Zahir showed his mastery. The dry trees having no leaves and using ash set colour symbolically represent the lack of humanity among the characters who play the role of the warlords. His light design was simple but effective.
Nasim's music composition, based on typical Middle Eastern trend, needs high praise. By using acoustics he could present the emotions of the characters quite successfully.
The play was a team effort not a one character show. And all the performers successfully handled the show.
Nasirul Haque Khokon: Light designer of talent
Regular member of Nagorik Natyasampradaya, Nasirul Haque Khokon is undoubtedly the best contemporary light designer. In the Dhaka Drama Festival 2004 he has designed three light settings for three plays of different theatrical groups. Khokon said, 'In the festival I have designed light in Kalshondhyay a Nagorik Natyasampradaya producton, Theatre's production Madhobi and Nittopuran a production of Desh Natok.'
To comment on his work process Khokon said, 'I always try to catch the mood of the play through my light effect. Basically I prefer the colour effect to shadow-dark effect. I enjoy capturing the expressions of the performers on the cyclorama (a curtain used at the backstage) by using symbolic colour effect.'
Ershad Kamol