Iconic playwright Selim Al Deen’s 64th birth anniversary was remembered by different cultural organizations. Various organizations staged his plays and arranged seminars on the works of the thespian. Al Deen fans and followers placed flower wreaths on the grave of the playwright on the Sunday morning at Jahangirnagar University.
The Drama and Dramatics Department of Jahangirnagar University – which was founded by the late Al Deen – organised a seminar where Professor Lutfor Rahman, a professor at the department, analysed the ‘unique theatre concept developed by Al Deen in his plays.
Professor Rashid Harun and Dr AKM Yousuff Hasan discussed a paper titled Doitadoitobadi Shilpatotta: Ekti Onneshan at the seminar which was presided over by Professor Afsar Ahmed.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy transformed into a vibrant venue as similar commemorative programmes was chalked out by two different organisations at the two venues of academy.
The iconic playwright-cum-theoretician’s large photos were placed at different entrances of BSA with garlands of flowers and candle lights.
Selim Al Deen Foundation and Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, in collaboration with Dhaka Theatre and Gram Theatre, started their two-day programme with a seminar at the conference room of BSA.
Masood Imran Mannu, a teacher of Archeology Department at Jahangirnagar University, presented the keynote paper titled Nimmajjan: Ekti Theatre-installation Art. In the paper, Mannu evaluated Nimajjan as an avant-garde experimentation of Dhaka Theatre set against the backdrop of the contemporary theatre trends.
He eulogised director of the play Nasir Uddin Yusuff and set designer Dhali Al Mamun for their experimentation. He opined that the production was a marvelous combination of theatre and installation art.
The seminar was presided by the researcher-cum-art critic Mafidul Haque, and among others present at the seminar were Nasiruddin Yusuff, Zahid Repon, Begumjadi Meherunnesa Selim and others. All of whom thanked Masood Imran Mannu for the excellent paper.
The seminar was organised as part of the two-day Selim Al Deen commemorative programme arranged by Selim Al Deen Foundation and Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy on Saturday at the seminar room of the academy.
Followed by the seminar was a staging of Al Deen’s one of the most popular plays named Chaka, produced by Dhaka University’s Theatre Department, at the National Theatre Hall of the academy.
Directed by Sudip Chakroborthy, the play Chaka has a very pathetic story. It begins with a dead body being carried on a cart by a puller who has been assigned by government official to deliver it to its relatives. But the address given to the cart puller is a vague one, and being so, the puller fails to deliver the dead body. Finally he, along with two others, buries the body.
The play was staged on a circular stage with dry leaves spread out. Traditional local instruments like Dhol, Banshi, Mondira, Kasha were used as background music.
‘These students did well. It looks like they were well-rehearsed’, theatre activists Faiz Zahir told New Age.
The seventh Selim Al Deen Birth Anniversary celebration programme ended on Sunday with staging of Al Deen’s play Dhaboman, produced by Dhaka Theatre.
Another theatre troupe Swapnadol also arranged a two-day programme. Swapnadol’s programme on Saturday included a musical that extolled Selim AL Deen.
The choreography was followed by a discussion where Nasir Uddin Yusuff, Saiful Islam, Khayeruzzaman Mitu, Begumjadi Meherunnesa Selim spoke on Selim Al Deen’s life and works.
In the evening, Swapnadol staged a play adaptation of Deen’s memoir of 1971. The play, titled Festoon-e Lekha Smriti, was adapted by Jaharabi Repon and directed by Samad Bhuyian and Rawnak Laboni.
Festoon-e Lekha Smriti depicted the atrocities of the Pakistani Military and the courageous resistance of Bangladeshi people in 1971.
Swapnodal also staged Selim Al Deen’s Hargoj on Sunday at the Experimental Theatre Hall.
-With New Age input
