Teerondaz Natyadal’s latest production Kanthanalite Surjo satirises brutal realities of the contemporary society through an absurd story portraying the sun being stuck into the throat of a man.
The troupe premiered its third production on Friday at the Experimental Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.
The late Indian poet-playwright Mohit Chattopadhhay’s theatre of absurd features four major characters. The protagonist appears on stage with an irrational affliction that the sun has got stuck into his throat, which symbolically portrays the suffocation that every individual is going through in the materialistic society.
The playwright has not given any name of the protagonist, perhaps to imply that everybody in the society is going through the same bad experience.
As Chattopadhyay’s theatre of absurd continues, the audience also gets stuck with the erratic, irrational stream of words uttered by the protagonist, which is a major characteristic of a theatre of absurd.
At one stage, the protagonist goes through a psychotic phobia that he has become a dog and the people will never let him to be free. Deepak Sumon’s soulful presentation of the sequence in the role of the protagonist character created humour in the audience.
‘Mohit Chattopadhhay’s plays are never simple. This play apparently seems to contain an absurd story, it ramifies to different philosophies, mainly to existentialism’, said Rajib Dey talking about his debut directorial project.
Like any other theatre of absurd, Mohit Chattopadhhay’s play does not end with a conclusion; rather it ends absurdly on a note of frenzied phobia of the protagonist.
Shafikul Islam, Sharif Ovi, Toufikul Islam Emon and Mitali also performed well in their respective roles.
The set for the play is simple as all the incidents of the play take place in two rooms. Amlan Biswas’ light design is also very simple. Rifat Ahmed Nobel’s background music is interesting.
‘It is a difficult play to stage as it has many turbulent speeches and ramifications to different philosophies. And Teerondaz has done a good a job,’ said thespian Aly Zaker who was present at the show as the chief guest.
‘All the actors seemed very well-rehearsed. They have done well’, said thespian Mamunur Rashid, who was present as special guest.
-With New Age input
