Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW
Vol. 5 Num 447 Sun. August 28, 2005  
   
Culture


Molière Festival
Pejgi's rough and tumble


Pejgi is an adaptation of Molière's Le medicine malgre lui by Shatwik Theatre. The play was presented on August 25 at the Alliance Francaise.

The plot revolves around a carpenter, Pejgi, who ill-treats his wife. Once, after a beating by the drunken Pejgi, his wife decides to teach him a lesson. In the meantime, a girl called Lipi who is in love with Akash, fakes illness by speaking in an incoherent manner to get her own way. Asgar Ali, the manager of a well to do person Salam and his brother-in-law sets out to find a hakim to cure the girl. The wife Nuri hands over her husband to Asgar and party saying that he is a renowned hakim. Later, he is caught lying and faking. At the end the girl Lipi is allowed to marry the man of her choice as he turns out to be a man with a fortune.

Motiur Rahman, 23, who acts as Pejgi, has been with Shatwik Theatre from the outset. He has acted in plays such as Gonotontrer panch pa, Dalal, Otoproharir Mandal, Moider Badsah and Megho navi. Moti has been acting in school plays and after SSC, was involved with this group. He says he acts for two hours six days a week, and for this play he has been rehearsing with the group for about six months. He used to do the part of the manager too in earlier performances. He says that he gets his family support to the extent that they had the rehearsals in his family garage.

Zahidul Islam, who plays the role of the manager, is a businessman by profession. He has been acting and strumming the guitar for quite some while. He saw the ad for the play six years ago and has been involved in acting since then. "There is no conflict between my other work and my passion as I've set apart the time for my hobby," he says. He has taken part in a magazine programme on TV Shupto Shikha.

The heroine of Pejgi, Shamima Nargis Shuborna has been with the group for seven years, Earlier, she worked in radio plays and in Shikkharthi der Ashor and Kolo Kakoli. She has taken part in three plays on TV: Teen Konnya Lottery, Kander Abur Ma and Moidhor Badsha. She says that at first there were some familial objections to her acting but later they consented, with the support of her mother, who acted herself. She says she likes Indian art films and apart from the ones that are totally "commercial" she likes to watch them all. As for the standard of Bangladeshi acting, she hums and haws and says that we should give the actors more time to gain maturity.

Shima Mansur is the first in her family to act. This is her first exposure to a theatre group and she feels that she is learning a great deal after joining Shatwik. According to her, whether she earns anything or not from plays at this stage is secondary.

The play is directed by Kamru-zzaman Tupa. The lighting has been done by Shiraj while the costume is designed by Chiti Habib.

There is a lot of rough and tumble and down to earth slapstick in the play. The language, in the translation, did not quite appeal to the sophisticated.

Picture
Actors in the play Pejgi