"Working": An entertaining musical by Dhaka Stage
Cultural Correspondent
As the title suggests, "Working" charts the daily grind of a wide spectrum of workers. The musical is being performed by an amateur theatre group, Dhaka Stage, which draws talent from the diverse pool comprising the international community in Dhaka. The debut performance was staged last night at the American International School Dhaka auditorium. There will be two more shows on Friday June 1. Dhaka Stage has been around for nearly thirty years and is currently headed by President, Susan McGee. "Working" will be their third show in just eighteen months, and after deduction of costs, all profits will go to charity. "Working" first appeared on Broadway in New York in 1979. The choice seems pretty straightforward for Dhaka Stage music director, Dawne Warkentin and director, Ben Snowdon, who were immediately attracted to the music. They were excited about the opening night, which was a sell-out performance. Their biggest challenge has been the time factor, as the 25-strong cast all have other jobs. Auditions in February and hectic rehearsals over the last two months have resulted in a musical satire following the "life in a day" of a variety of workers, including, construction workers, a car park attendant, a teacher, supermarket check-out tellers, a paper boy, a courier, a housewife, a prostitute, a socialite, assembly-line workers, masons, truck drivers, telephone operators, a waitress, fire-fighters and cleaning ladies. Musical support to a medley of styles (jazz, pop, rock, blues and folk) is admirably provided by a trio on piano, guitar and drums. The play opens with the entire cast singing about their mundane, monotonous existence. Workers from different backgrounds recount their poignant life stories. "You become your job; you are what you do," exclaims the prostitute in the musical. Some songs bring out the workers' frustrations; some ("What I could've been") reflect the workers' aspiration to become something better. The waitress character sings about the dignity of labour, when she declares, "I'm a one-woman show." The construction worker talks about the mistakes he has made when he sings, "If you can't improve yourself, you can improve your posterity". In his case, as with the cleaning lady, the workers yearn for a better future for their children. There is a sense of loss, of under-achievement. In the last song "See that building", the workers unite to sing, "Everyone should have something to point to," attempting to bring in a feeling of pride in what they do. With twelve solo performances, the show had a professional look and was thoroughly entertaining.
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Actors of Dhaka Stage in a scene from Working |
