Theatre troupe Swapnadal will stage Rabindranath Tagore’s “Chitrangada” at the Studio Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.
It is the 11th production of the troupe, which will be staged as part of an ongoing eight-day theatre festival organised by Northern Theatre, the theatre wing of Bangladesh Northern University.
The play revolves around “Chitrangada” who was the princess of Monipur, the only child of the King of Monipur. One day, she meets legendary hero Arjuna while he was visiting Manipur. Seeing him in action, Chitrangada falls in love with him. But Arjun refuses her.
Being refused, Chitrangada, who has also been termed as Kurupa in the story, approaches to the god of love Madan and begs for beauty. Pleased with her prayer, the god of love blesses her with a new formation, granting a beautiful appearance as Shurupa for a year so that she could impress Arjun.
Chitrangada upholds the fact that the beauty of soul and spiritual strength are eternal human qualities rather than external beauty through symbolic portrayal of some legends of the epic Mahabharata.
Swapnadal’s production, directed by Zahid Repon, is full of dialogues in verses with infusing of Tagore songs from the dance drama version of “Chitrangada.”
