Review

The play Inggit satirises the faulty education system

This production dates back to 1984, a period of military rule. Being disheartened by the authoritarian leadership, the playwright was inspired to write the play.

Inggit is not like other traditional plays. In the five-act work Inggit, Solaiman is influenced by the French comic playwright Corneile and others. Solaiman unfolds his wit through a narrator. After each of the acts, the narrator appears and does a satire on a new facet of the system.

In the first act, the play criticises our faulty education system and at the same time depicts the cultural revolution unleashed by the electronic media which has a negative fall out on the children.

In the second act, Solaiman satires our political history. The chorus along with the narrator explains that from 1947 to 1984 the political condition of our country remains the same. Solaiman thinks only the rulers have changed their approach to the citizens who, however, remain the same.

In the fourth act, the playwright is highly critical of the bureaucracy. He thinks that state continues to suffer because of bureaucratic lengthy processes.

His fourth act is a bold satire on our film industry. He points out that our film industry and its publicity are both vulgar.

In the final act, he satires the contemporary military rule. Solaiman thinks that in those days the military regime decided who would be in the power.

Director SM Solaiman has followed the rural art form in the case of the presentation of Inggit. The director presents his play through songs and dances of the chorus.

Jamil Ahmed has shown his supremacy as the set designer in the play. He has used Thrust Stage (a ramp used in front of the stage) for the narrator. And the wooden stairs at the backstage were helpful for the director in characterisation.

Aminur Rahman Azam's light design is simple but not very effective.

The performance of Masud Ahmed as the narrator of the play was enjoyable.

The performance of the rest of the players could have been better.

'I think the festival will be a success' --Keramat Meola
Keramat Meola, the convenor of the Dhaka Drama Festival-2004, said, 'We arranged a grand festival to decentralise drama from the Mahila Samity Stage. Firstly, we wanted to arrange it simultaneously at different parts of Dhaka like Lalkuthi at Banglabazar, Mirpur, Uttara, the Public Library Auditorium and the Nazrul Academy. But these stages are not convenient at its present state for theatre. So we decided to arrange the festival at the Experimental Stage.

'At first we faced problems as some of the points of the regulations for using the Experimental Theatre Stage were unacceptable. However, after a long discussion with the academy, the authority has honoured our proposals,' Keramat added.

Regarding participation of the groups Keramat said, 'We have invited all the Dhaka-based members of Bangladesh Group Theatre Federation to take part in the festival and they have enthusiastically responded. I think this will be a successful festival. After the festival, the audience will get a new venue which will be a major achievement of the festival.'

Schedules (June 19-27)
June 20
Play: Birsa Munda
Playwright: Arup Dev
Director: Alak Anwar
Group: Dhaka Theatre Mancha

June 21
Play: Aranya Jonaranya
Playwright: Indu Saha
Director: Sanjib Chakraborty
Group: Nattyafouj

June 22
Play: Shoroshi
Playwright: Sarat Chandra Chattapadhyay
Director: Mostofa Heera
Group: Shanglap Group Theatre

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

June 27
Play:
Playwright:
Director:
Group:

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.