National Street Theatre Festival continues with their week long fiesta with more and more audience gathering to watch the array of street plays. It is very likely to draw in more audience, as each play address the pressing social issues that needs to be acknowledged. Organised by Bangladesh Group Theatre Federation (BFTF), the festival will have five staging today named Mrittika Kathon, Dabee, Baddhyabhumite Shes Drishya, Adom Test and Trank Rahasya, at the Shaheed Minar premises.
On February 2, the second day of the festival, four plays were staged that portrayed contemporary socio-political issues like the trial of war criminals, religious bigotry, violence on civilian and despoiled political norms.
The show began with a play named Chourasta, staged by troupe Brahmanbaria Shahitya Academy. Written by Malay Bhoumik and directed by Mizanur Rahman Shisir, the story of the play portrayed how a civilian’s political opinion is being robbed by a counterfeit religious leader, a power politician, a profit making politician and even by a disguised member of civil society.
The event was followed by Shaper Khela, a play written and directed by Mohammad Shahnewaz and Mahakal Natya Sampraday brought the play to the stage. The symbolic use of snakes in the play was to depict the war criminals and the snake charmers as the group who protected these reptiles who later posed as a threat to the countrymen who believe in liberalism and the independence of Bangladesh.
Theatre troupe Aranyak Nattyadal staged eminent playwright Mamunur Rashid’s work, Aaguner Daal Paala. The play is directed by Shah Alam Dulal. It enabled the audience a look into the current judicial procedure of the trial of war criminals. It shows how the war criminals are trying to escape from the gallows using fake evidence and statement.
Bachar Lorai is a play written and directed by A K Kabir and was staged by Kheyali Nattyagosthee. The story of the play represents how few people become powerful using religion and politics after the war of independence. These individuals worked as local collaborators during the war. Meanwhile, believers in liberalism and independence of Bangladesh failed to survive in a struggle against them, but later the believers took vengeance in different ways from their afterlife.
Bangladesh Group Theatre Federation has organised the National Street-theatre Festival 2014, to mark the International Mother Language Day and Martyrs’ Day. The programme began on February 1 and will continue until February 7. The slogan of the festival is “Culture against violence.” Around 35 theatre troupes from all over the country including Udichi, Dhaka Sanskritic Dol, Mahakal Natya Sampraday, Opera, Muktangan Natyalay, Brahmanbaria Shahitya Academy, Drishtipat, Bonolota and others are taking part at the seven-day long festival.