Feature

A Night of Competition, Installation & Performance

Munasir Kamal

SATURDAY 26th July 2008 was a busy day for the English Department Drama Society (EDDS) and for the English Department of Dhaka University as a whole. On this day, the results of the Annual Creative Writing Competition organized by EDDS were announced. Besides, the previous executive committee of EDDS handed over power to the new committee. However, the highlight of the afternoon was a stage production of the famous Trial Scene in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, in which students of 4th and 1st year took part. The programme was held at the RC Majumder Auditorium at Dhaka University. The audience consisted of students and faculty of the English Department of the university.

The programme opened with the performance of three songs by students of the English Department. The first was a Rabindra Sangeet, Na chahiley jarey pawa jay, sung by a known face on TV Kuntala Shabnam Parama. She was followed by the shy but sweet Sharmin Sultana Shormee singing Fuler kaney bhromor eshey. Then Amir Mohammad Khan was cheered by the crowd for performing the popular song Bhalo lagey jotsna ratey. All the three singers were accompanied by Ramananda Sarker on the khol.

A recap of details relating to the Creative Writing Competition followed. This year the competition had been held in three categories poetry, short story and drama with the largest number of entries in poetry and the smallest in drama. The creative endeavours of the students were evaluated by teachers of the English Department of Dhaka University including Prof. Niaz Zaman, Prof. Kaiser Haq, Prof. Fakrul Alam, Prof. Syed Manzoorul Islam, Prof. Khandokar Ashraf Hossain and others. Prof. Fakrul Alam, who spoke on the occasion, vigorously emphasized the necessity for aspiring authors to read ample good literature before attempting to write. Prof. Kaiser Haq agreed with his colleague. He added that though the contestants have a long way to go before they can be considered established writers, they had made a definite start. He thanked EDDS for creating the starting point for them.

Then to kindle suspense in the audience, the results of the competition were withheld. Instead the audience was entertained with a short production of the last scenes of The Merchant of Venice. This production was intended for 1st year students who have to study the play.

The Trial Scene opened at RC Majumder hall with the Duke of Venice (Khan Shariar Awal) requesting Shylock (Rajib Bhowmick) to show compassion, but the latter blatantly refused. Soon Portia, played by stage debutant Bushra Mehjabeen, confidently strode onto the stage dressed as a lawyer. She pronounced Shakepeare's famous lines on mercy which “droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven,” but to no avail. Portia then pretended that she had no option but to let Shylock have his pound of flesh. However, just as Shylock was about to pierce Antonio (Tawhidul Islam Khan) with a dagger, Portia dramatically stopped him. She pointed out that the bond did not permit Shylock to spill a single drop of blood. Antonio was thus saved.

The play was directed by Prof. Tahmina Ahmed teacher-in-charge of EDDS. Assisting her was Rubaid Iftekhar Mahbub an M.A. student. An interesting aspect of the direction was that Portia sometimes stood in such a position that her expression was visible only to the audience, but not to the other characters on stage. She was thus able to create a rapport with the audience who were aware of her secret identity. Another specialty was the portrayal of Shylock as comical rather than purely evil. The director ensured that despite his cruel intention, the audience was still able to sympathise with Shylock's religious plight.

After the play, the new committee to look after the interests of EDDS from July 200809 was installed. Finally, after having stalled the results of the Creative Writing Competition for long enough, the winners were announced. The first prize for drama went to Ruhul Amin and Abuzar Gifary for their joint play Jealousy. The first prize for short story was awarded to Jakiya Sultana Lime for An Incomplete Dream. Three prizes were allocated for poetry. In the third position was Asif Iqbal, second was Kuntala Shabnam Parama, but the winner was Sabreena Ahmed for her poem Papers. The programme closed with Prof. Ashraf Hossain Chairman of the English Department, Dhaka University announcing that the selection from The Merchant of Venice was EDDS' best production yet.