Prokrity O Puran Desh Natok Festival

A still from the play Hat Hodai

Preview
Selim Al Deen's play Hat Hodai depicts the lifestyle of the people who live in remote areas of greater Noakhali district. In this sense it belongs to the Ethnic Theatre criteria. Through the character of an aged sailor the playwright has portrayed the culture of that particular social structure. Nasirudin Yousuff is the director of the play. Afzal Hossain is in set designing while Rafiq Mahmud is in light design.

Birsa Kabya-- a historical play

REVIEW
Desh Natok staged their production Birsa Kabya by Masum Reza as part of the drama festival arranged by the group on February 23, at the Public Library Auditorium.

The ethnic play Birsa Kabya, is based on the historical revolution of the Munda tribe against the British colonial lords, which took place in the late 19th century India.

Masum Reza in the play is very much influenced by Selim Al Deen's Bonopangshul, which also belongs to the same genre.

Birsa, a tribal leader, organises his community against the British rulers and as a result he has to sacrifice his life. The playwright also shows how the missionaries try to convert the Indians to Christianity and the tragic end of the movement as a result of the betrayal by the traitors.

However, in the play, Masum has used several dialects to represent different communities but he has not been much of a success at handling it accurately. The artificially created dialect which has been used to represent the Munda is not their own.

As the original dialect of the tribal people is not possible for the spectators to understand, the playwright could have used standard Bangla for all the tribes. Moreover, in portraying the sufferings of the tribal people, at times he has been quite exaggerative.

As a director Shamsul Alam Bakul has successfully handled the play. His compositions in displaying the action scenes and the rituals of the Munda people were entertaining. He has handled 29 artistes to portray 69 characters quite efficiently as most of his performers have acted in more than two roles.

Nasirul Haque Khokon's light design is simple but effective. Kazi Mizan Koyel's set can symbolically represent the theme of the play.

Although there was nothing exceptional about the performance the teamwork was well coordinated.