Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy’s National Theatre Reparatory premiered its second production Rudro Rabi O Jalliwanwala Bagh on Sunday, a day before observation of Tagore’s 71st death anniversary, at the National Theatre Hall of the academy. Earlier, the troupe staged a press show at the same venue on Saturday. Noted playwright Manzur-e Moula’s innovative play, Rudro Rabi O Jalliwanwala Bagh, deals with a less discussed issue in Tagore’s life by exploring his bold stance against the brutality of the British army following the historic Jallianwala Bagh massacre in April 13, 1919.
The play features Tagore’s mental agony at the massacre, in which hundreds of people were killed and thousands other were seriously wounded at the indiscriminate firing of the British Army led by Brigadier-General Reginald EH Dyer at the gathering of Pahela Baishakh celebration at the Jallianwala Bagh public garden in the northern Indian city of Amritsar in Punjab.
Rudro Rabi O Jalliwanwala Bagh also gives an imaginary feature of Tagore’s becoming revolt against the incident, which led him to renounce his knighthood title granted by the British Crown in 1915, two years after his winning of the Nobel Prize in literature as the first non-European.
The skillful playwright Moula has portrayed Tagore’s mental journey using references from Tagore classics such as Raktokarobi and Bisarjan to give a glimpse of his philosophy and urge for peace. In implicit way, the play also gives light on Tagore’s reaction to the several other historical incidents those took place during the period such as Gandhi’s call for protest against the Rowlatt act and several other protests against the British Raj across the globe.
Director of the play Ataur Rahman, who is credited with directing several Tagore classics and a Tagore’s biographical sketch based production, appears a bit different from his previous works. Depicting the mental journey of Tagore in the play, the seasoned director in his experimental production has used several multimedia projections and many other techniques.
To give a realistic flavour of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, clips from three English movies such as Gandhi, Bhagat Singh and The Legend of Bhagat Singh had been projected on the back curtain known as cyclorama at the beginning of the play.
Sometimes, the director has empahised on narration, sometimes he has focused on Stanislavskian realistic acting method and sometimes he has used his own directorial compositions of his previous works for Tagore classics.
Transformations and blending of so many techniques do not appear smooth, for which it sometimes appears as a series of fragmented stories. Ataur Rahman’s skill of depiction of the characteristics of the roles, however, deserve plaudit. His ability of creating humour to give relief to the audience in the historic play is noteworthy.
Light designer Nasirul Haque Khokon has also successfully created illusions required for the play.
Actors from different troupes of the country performed in the National Theatre Reparatory production. Fakhruzzaman Chowdhury in the role of a British general and Aminur Rahman Mukul as George Hunter performed well in the premiere show.
Shamim Sagor as the protagonist Rabindranath Tagore, however, appeared a bit puzzled and lack of confidence.
In his short presence, Ataur Rahman as the Makar Raj of Tagore’s Raktokarobi, performed with full of confidence and vigour.
Earlier, national professor Mustafa Nurul Islam inaugurated the premier show of the National Theatre Reparatory Production as chief guest. Playwright Manzur-e Moula, poet-dramatist Syed Shamsul Haque, director Ataur Rahman and director general of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy Liaquat Ali Lucky delivered speeches.
Ataur Rahman at a press conference earlier on Saturday shared his thought process of presenting a historical incident in Tagore’s life. The session was presided over by Liaquat Ali Lucky at the seminar room of the academy.
‘People know Rabindranath as a poet, author, humanist and lover of nature; however, the production will depict Tagore as a fighter who fought for mass people,’ Ataur said. He also expressed his hope to stage the production in Jalliwanwala Bagh where the real incident took place about 100 years ago’, Ataur said.
He also informed that he had chosen the best theatre activists to perform in the play. Ataur Rahman further informed that he had changed the play’s original title ‘Jalliwanwala Bagh’ to ‘Rudro Rabi Jalliwanwala Bagh’.
-With New Age input
