The national political turmoil has been presented in four street theatre productions staged on the fourth day of the weeklong national street theatre festival. The political satires had been staged by three Dhaka based troupes and a Barisal based troupe at the Central Shaheed Minar on Tuesday.
Desh Natok, Shabda Natyacharcha Kendra and Manas Natyangan respectively staged Adam Test, Rifle and Mrittika Kathan when the Barisal based popular troupe Shabdabali staged Badhyabhumite Shesh Drishya.
Written and directed by Kazi Delwar Hemanta, Manas Natyangan’s production Mrittika Kathan metaphorically addresses the political history of the country from 1947 to 1971.
Through a number of traditional games, the play showed the partition of Bengal, and the struggle for independence. A large number of audience enjoyed the symbolic presentation of the country’s history.
Artistes of Shabda Natyacharcha Kendra staged their production titled Rifle. Directed by Kharshedul Alam, the play is an adaptation of a play by German playwright Bertolt Brecht. The adapted play deals with the liberation war of Bangladesh through a mother’s involvement in the war after losing her sons.
The liberation war was also the focus of Desh Natok’s production Adam Test. Written and directed respectively by Masum Raza and Ayan Chowdhury, the play depicted the cruelty and the persistent dark intentions of the communal forces in the war of liberation. Similar theme was addressed in Shabdabali’s production Badhyabhumite Shesh Drishya. Written and directed respectively by Kazi Mahmudur Rahman and Anwar Shamim, the play too showed a particular religion-based political party’s participation in killing the best sons of the soil during the war of 1971.
The audience, which mostly consisted of theatre activists, expressed that theatre is a weapon to fight against violence. ‘I am happy to see that theatre troupes show serious concern about the country’s political issues,’ said Shahdat Nipun, a cultural activist among the audience.
-With New Age input
