Comitted to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW
Vol. 4 Num 153 Mon. October 27, 2003  
   
Culture


Drama review
Nityapuran's 50th show


Desh Natak, a leading theatrical group, displayed the 50th show of its current production Nityapuran on October 21 at the Mahila Samity Auditorium. Writer Syed Shamsul Haq and General Secretary of Bangladesh Group Theatre Federation Liakat Ali Lucky were present on the occasion. In his preview, Syed Shamsul Haq said that the history of human civilisation has been presented in the play with a different approach. One knows that human beings are divided by religion and caste.

The group, as usual, started the play with a classical tune on the sitar. Masum Reza is the playwright as well as the director and he has adapted Nityapuran from Mahabharata. In Mahabharata, Akalobyo is a minor character but here he is the protagonist because of his latent truth and heroism. The playwright thinks that Akalobyo's story has greater effect on us than that of the whole Mahabharata.

In the play some gods and legends of the epic are depicted as villains. Many human beings like Akalobyo and Droupadi are the victims of jealousy, vindictiveness and tricky politics of gods and upper caste people. This eternal social problem is the theme of the play. The playwright has successfully expressed some implicit facts and questions of the myth through logic.

Some dialogues of the play are very emotional and philosophical. As a director, Masum Reza is also successful at handling the narrative technique. The composition, particularly in case of archery, is spectacular. However to apply Bangla Acting Form his players have done some unnecessary and repeated physical movements during the delivery of dialogues.

Kamaluddin Kabir's set design is simple but symbolically effective to support the theme. Light designer Nasirul Haq Khokon has once again proved his usual mastery. The best part of his designing is visibility, texture and use of symbolic colours.

In the 50th show Dilip Chatterjee, as Akalobyo, fumbles quite a bit and is not as spontaneous as he was in his earlier shows for which he won the best actor award. Rana Chaudhury Aranya as Arjun fails to play his role. Chorus is the best part of the show.

Picture
A colourful presentation of Nityapuran on its 50th show