Playwright Chandan Sen in his tragedy Shadhucharan takes a satirical look at the follies of the upper class. The protagonist of his play, Shadhucharan, is a thief who lives in a slum. His wife Behula is a call girl.

Through the story of the couple, the playwright seeks to uncover the evil tendencies of the people of the upper class.

At a certain stage in the play, Shadhucharan gets a chance to bargain with the policemen when they seek help from him to find some illegal documents of a bureaucrat. In exchange of those documents, the thief demands a reception from the police in front of public. However, the policemen agree with the deal.

At the reception, Shadhucharan cheats the police by withholding the documents. Chanan Sen has used the dialect of the downtrodden people of Kolkata in Shadhucharan. This dialect does not go with the places mentioned in the play like Dhanmandi, Kamlapur or other parts of Dhaka. That is the major flaw of the play.

Director Ratan Saha has successfully created the atmosphere of the slum people through his realistic approach. However, the reception scene needed more work.

Asit Das has tried to make a realistic slum on the stage. Yet there is room for improvement in the set design.

Shabuj Bhuian's light design is simple. His symbolic colour effect is appreciable in the scene when Shadhucharan narrates his sufferings to his wife Behula.

Mojibur as Thakur Da performed well. Other performers need to improve their histrionic ability.

'The play Hat Hadai has an epic quality'--Selim Al Deen
One of the leading playwrights of the country, Selim Al Deen is the dramatist of the play Hat Hadai, which is to be staged today at the Experimental Theatre Stage.

Selim said, 'The popular play Hat Hadai is the pen picture of the inhabitants of the alluvial land situated in the southern part of the country. The protagonist of the play Anar Bhandari is widely travelled. In fact, I have tried to portray Anar Bhandari as an ocean while all the other characters of the play are the waves related to his life. The play has an epic quality.'

'I think it represents the strength of Bangla theatre. The original script of the play is written to be staged for a five to six hour play. As the audience of Bangladesh is habituated to enjoy plays less than three hours, we have edited the play to suit the audience. Nasiruddin Yousuff , the director of the play, has successfully done the editing with my help,' Selim added

Selim further said, 'In Bangladesh, I think only Dhaka Theatre has the potential to stage a play having so many characters to represent a community.'

Ershad Kamol

Schedules (June 25-July 02)
June 25
Play: Hat Hadai
Playwright: Selim Al Deen
Director: Nasiruddin Yousuff
Group: Dhaka Theatre

June 26
Play: Ami Gadha Bolchhi
Playwright: Krishan Chandar
Director: Mujibur Rahman Dilu
Group: Dhaka Drama Natyadal

June27
Play: Karnakatha
Playwright: Tanvir Ahmed
Director: Mohammed Jasimuddin
Group: Abayab Natyadal

June 28
Play: Tahader Kotha
Playwright: Rezanur Rahman
Director: Farhad Zaman Palash
Group: Dhaka Sarak

Venue: Experimental Theatre Stage at Shilpakala Academy; Time: 7 pm
Tickets are available at Sagar Publishers, Baily Road and at the venue before shows.
Prices: Tk. 30, Tk. 50 and Tk. 100.
Schedules, provided by BGTF, are subject to change without any prior notice.