Tringsha Shatabdee staged at Shilpakala
Theatre troupe Swapnadal staged a special show of its anti-war production Tringsha Shatabdee at the Studio Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy on Saturday evening.
Zahid Repon, director of the play, has adapted the script from the work of Indian playwright Badal Sarkar.
About staging of the play, Zahid Repon, chief of the troupe, said, “Since its inception in 2001, Swapnadal has been staging its first production Tringsha Shatabdee as a protest against war.”
“As a country of communal harmony, Bangladesh has a long history and we do not want any vandalism in the country anymore in the name of religion. Through Tringsha Shatabdee, we want to remind the theatre-lovers and the peace-loving people about our own philosophy of secularism and peace,” Repon added.
A narrator opens the play raising questions about the war and seeking the trial of the war-criminals.
He interrogates some historical characters such as Einstein (who invented the theory of atom bomb), Major Fereby (the pilot of the aircraft that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima), and Major Claude Itharby (who carried the nuclear bomb to Nagasaki and later became insane on his realisation of the crime).
In addition, he has raised questions about contemporary brutal war waged by the American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. And through a replicated military exercise, he has depicted the nuclear activities by the global superpowers.
In a transformation, the narrator of the play becomes a character, namely Suman who wants the trial of war criminals who acted against the country’s Liberation War during 1971.
From here on, the play turns itself into the context of Bangladesh and throws light on the war criminals.
Suman manages to collect some evident against a few war criminals after his successive endeavours. But, all his efforts are nipped in the bud when these criminals take safe shelter under the shade of politics.
As the story progresses, Suman goes insane when he comes to know about the real picture of the war punishment.
For the play, Zahid Repon played a few roles, including those of the narrator and protagonist of the play.Apart from him, the cast of the play included Mitul Chowdhury, Sonali Rahman Julie, Asif Istiar, Fazle Rabbi, Zebun-nesa Alo, Hasan Rezaul, Shishir Sikder, Rakib Hossain, Amjad Sharif, Samad Bhuinya, Al-Amin and Zia-ul Hasan, among others.
The set, props and costume of the play was designed by Zahid Repon, Jueyana Shabnam and Rownak Labani.