A captivating theatre performance based on the popular medieval tragedy of Behula and Lakhindar was staged on Tuesday at the Studio Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.
Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy Repertory premiered the experimental theatre production adapting it from the medieval bard
Bijay Gupta’s Monasha Mangol.The troupe, however, did not present the complete tragedy as found in the medieval Mongolkavya. Shahidul Haque Khan has adapted and edited the Basar [wedding night] episode from Gupta’s classic, which has nine episodes.
The play, however, does not only focus the tragic wedding night in which a snake, sent by the goddess Monosha, bites the groom Lakhindar.
But, the prelude and epilogue of the experimental production have been composed in such an intelligent way that the audience gets the complete narration of the medieval literature, which narrates the story of the goddess of snake Monosha: her birth, conflict with rich trader Chand Sowdagor and her securing the status of a deity.
Director Mohammad Jasim Uddin has used three narrators to present the play following the traditional pala.
These narrators also enacted the characters of the play. They were supported by dohars and bayens [supporting singers and instrumentalists].
Enamtara Saki, Pratima Biswas and Srabonti Pal performed well in roles of the narrators.
‘I did not change much of the original Gupta’s classic. I just modified the composition to communicate with the contemporary audience’, said Shahidul Haque Khan.
‘This is my first work in the pala form. I hope the audience will like it’, said Jasim Uddin, the director of the production.
Appreciating Jasim Uddin and Shahidul Haque Khan’s joint venture, Liaquat Ali Lucky, director general of BSA said, ‘They have done a good job. We will encourage more of such productions’.
Among the audience was Dr Rashid Haroon, a professor of the department of drama and dramatics of Jahangirnagar University, who evaluated the production as an ‘energetic and vibrant one’. ‘It is well fitted to the tyraditional pala form,’ Haroon remarked.
-With New Age input
