Mohajoner Nao, an acclaimed musical play by Subachan Natya Sangsad, has been invited to stage three shows in London-based A season of Bangla Drama Festival, the annual Bangla drama festival organised by Tower Hamlets Council, UK. A season of Bangla Drama Festival is the biggest festival of Bangla drama in Europe which offers, ‘a diverse range of plays with Bengali sensibilities from the UK, Bangladesh and West Bengal’, and aims to explore how Bengali culture and heritage can be exported across continents and reinterpreted using a mixture of innovation and tradition to inspire a new generation and develop new audiences’.
The festival will reach its twelfth year this time and will feature 15 productions, seminars and exhibition.
Subachan Natya Sangsad will stage the shows on November 1 and 2 at the Brady Art Centre. Written by Shakoor Majid and directed by Sudip Chakroborthy, Mohajoner Nao is a sort of sketch of baul singer Abdul Karim’s biography and philosophy.
The play brings on stage Abdul Karim’s philosophy, where individual life is seen as a boat (nao) given by the creator (mohajon) as a loan, which must be returned at the end. Through songs mainly, the play visualises this philosophy by portraying the life of Abdul Karim.
Gias Uddin Ahmed, Mohammad Ansar Ali, Amirul Islam, ASM Asadul Islam, Sonia Hassan, Tanvir Ahmed Bhuyan, Shah Salauddin, Md Imran Hossain, Md Sohel Khan, Muhammad Fazlul Huq and Imtiaj Shawon Reza are the actors in the production.
‘A season of Bangla Drama Festival is a great platform for emerging writers, directors and performers. For me and for Subachan, this is an opportunity to come closer to other troupes and members and to explore’, said a happy Sudip Chakroborthy, director of Mohajoner Nao.
To note, Mohajoner Nao is quite a popular musical play at home too with more than 75 shows, including shows in India and South Korea, to its credit.
A thirteen-member team, including the playwright and the director, will fly on October 31 for the festival, which will begin on November 1.
-With New Age input
