Artistes of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy staged the premiere show of Wari-Bateshwar at Shibpur upazilla, Narsingdi on Friday evening at the premises of the archeological site called Wari-Bateshwar.
Theatre and Film Department of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy has produced the play, which has been written by Tanvir Ahmed Sydney and directed by Samrat Pramanic. The academy has produced the play to popularise the archeological site in two villages named Wari and Bateshwar at Shibpur in Narsingdi district.
The Wari-Bateshwar region in Narsingdi, Bangladesh is the site of an ancient city dating back to 450 BC. The 2500-year old ruins being unearthed near the Brahmaputra River are a major archaeological discovery in South Asia. The site was discovered in the 1933 by a local school teacher Hanif Pathan. However, formal excavation started in year 2000. The current scientific study is being carried out by a team from the Archaeology Department of Jahangirnagar University led by Professor Sufi Mostafizur Rahman. The discovered artifacts include knobbed wares, stone beads, sandwiched glass beads, silver punch-marked coins, gold-foil glass beads, Indo-Pacific monochrome glass beads, different types of earthenware pots, blooms, hand-axes, spearheads, knives, and many others.
The play Wari-Bateshwar portrays diverse characters including an ancient Buddhist monk, a foreign merchant and a mystic poet to give the audience an idea of lifestyle of that ancient time. Besides, the play also depicts an ancient hunting group, carpenters and even Greek hero Alexander the Great to portray the historical legacy of ancient Bengal. The information on archeological findings provided by Sufi Mostafizur Rahman has been used in the play to bring about a complete picture of that time.
‘To portray a community that is 2,500 years old was really challenging for me as I do not have clear idea about the language and lifestyle of that period. Still I have tried my best to depict that time as closely as possible in the play,’ said Tanvir Ahmed Sydney to New Age about the play.
Liaquat Ali Lucky, director general of BSA; Syed Shamsul Haque, noted poet and playwright; Nasiruddin Yousuff, president of Sammilito Sangskritik Jote; Sirajul Islam Molla and Nurul Majid Mahmud, members of parliaments of Shibpur, and professor Sufi Mostafizur Rahman were present at the premiere show of the play in Wari-Bateshwar.
The troupe will again stage the play at the same place today at 6:30pm.
-With New Age input
