Bangladesh International Tutorial celebrated the 30th anniversary of the school through staging two shows of Shakespearean classic
The Merchant of Venice in English.
The BIT students staged the play in presence of a huge crowd on Friday and Saturday at the Senior School Auditorium in Uttara.
As part of the celebrations, the students will stage two shows of Tagore’s dance drama Tasher Desh at the same venue on the 26th and 27th April.
Chairperson and founder-principal Lubna Choudhury inaugurated the founding anniversary celebrations programme on Friday.
The inauguration ceremony was followed by staging of the high school edition of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, directed by Shaiful Islam, the drama and arts teacher, of the school.
The secondary students like Mehdi Hasan, Isharaq Rahman, ChalsiaSaha, Silvia Saha, AbidurRahman and others enacted different characters such as Antonio, Shylock, Bassanio and Portia.
As the students staged the school edition, the controversial parts of the Shakespearean tragicomedy, which according to many critiques instigate communal tension, had been avoided.
The staged play, rather, emphasised on Portia’s speech highlighting the ‘the quality of mercy’.
The play featured Antonio, the merchant of Venice, who lends three thousand ducats for his friend Bassanio from a money-lender Shylock, as Antonio’s own money is deposited in business ventures that depend on the safe return of his ships from sea.
So, he borrows money from Shylock, whom he has previously insulted for his high rates of interest. The latter lends money against a bond whereby failure to repay the loan on the agreed date will entitle Shylock to a pound of Antonio’s flesh.
In the end, Antonio was saved by safe return of his ships. In between the story was developed when audiences were amused with dialogues and dimensions of the story.
Director of the drama Shaiful Islam, said, ‘The students also have helped in music composition, and light and set design.’
Abdul Halim, a guardian, said, ‘It was a brilliant performance by the little students. I’m speechless.’
newagebd
-With New Age input
