Theatre festival “Ganga-Jamuna Natyautsab,” at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy saw huge crowds over the weekend.
The six-day festival features 16 plays from Bangladesh and two from India which are being staged at three halls of BSA simultaneously from September 11 and will continue till September 16.
A total of six plays were staged on Friday and Saturday. However, there were many people who tried to watch every production, but because of the staging of three productions simultaneously in different venues, it was difficult for the theatre lovers to enjoy them all.
On Sunday, Ritwik, a theatre troupe from India will stage “Diba Ratrir Kabya” at 7pm at the National Theatre Hall of BSA, while theatre troupe Mahakal Natya Sampraday’s experimental production, “Shikhandi Kotha,” will be staged at the Experimental Theatre Hall of BSA. The play is written by Anan Zaman and directed by Rashid Harun.
On Sunday, Studio Theatre Hall of BSA will host “Lal Jamin,” a theatrical expression of the struggle of a woman during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971. The play, written by Mannan Heera and directed by Sudip Chakroborty. The play is a monodrama that represents the suppression of the female freedom fighters and is a production of theatre troupe Shunyan.
Eminent playwright Syed Shamsul Haque inaugurated the festival as chief guest. Dr Ranajit Kumar Biswas, secretary of Cultural Ministry, was present as special guest. Theatre personality Mamunur Rashid, Bangladesh Group Theatre Federation Chairman Liaquat Ali Lucky and director general of BSA spoke as special guests. The opening speech was delivered by Akhtaruzzaman, member of the secretariat, Ganga-Jamuna Natyautsab Parishad (Bangladesh Committee). Golam Kuddus, convener of the festival committee presided over the inaugural ceremony. The opening session was a rendezvous of theatre activists from all across the country.