The 8th Annual Theatre Festival of the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies inaugurated on February 11 at the TSC auditorium of the University of Dhaka. The four day festival will continue until February 14. WB Yates’ Kathleen Nee Hulian and Henry Geon’s Farce of The Devil’s will be staged today at 6:30pm at the TSC auditorium,
The inaugural ceremony opened with releasing of sky lanterns by the Vice-chancellor of University of Dhaka, Professor AAMS Arefin Siddique and students of DU.
To mark the month of the language movement, the festival began through staging of Munier Chowdhury’s play Manush. The production was a tribute to Munier Chowdhury, the martyred intellectual who was a teacher of Dhaka University.
The story centers on the Hindu-Muslim riot in 1947. A distressed Muslim family searches for their lost son in the backdrop of religious violence in the Indian subcontinent. In the meantime, their youngest son falls sick and loses consciousness. Parents and siblings together try to save the boy, but they see no hope. All of a sudden, a young Hindu doctor appears and calls himself a Manush (human being). He upholds his humanity and treats the infant, who recovers rapidly. The riot becomes more aggressive on its protest mission to wipe out all the Hindus. The Muslim indebted to the Hindu doctor saves his life.
Every year, Department of Theatre and Performance Studies brings fresh ideas to expand their productions in the
festival. There is always a wide range of costume designs, sound and lighting which brings spark to the festival.
