As part of the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy’s environmental theatre project, an experimental production on the backdrop of Wari-Bateshwar in Shibpur of Narsingdi will be premiered on June 6. The play titled “Wari-Bateshwar” will be staged by the Theatre and Film Affairs Department of BSA on the premises of the archeological site.
Wari-Bateshwar is the site of an ancient fort city dating back to 450 BCE. The 2500-year old ruins being unearthed near the old course of the Brahmaputra River are a major archaeological discovery in South Asia and challenges the earlier notions of early-urban civilisation in Bengal.
The plot of the play will portray two different milieu in time, which differs nearly 2500 years. As the story unfolds, diverse characters including an ancient foreign merchant, a Buddhist monk and a mystic poet come to stage. An ancient hunting group, carpenters and even Greek hero “Alexander the Great” will be shown in the play as it is required to portray the then milieu of Bengal and its historical legacy. The storyline of the play is comprised of several short stories knit together to give a clear scenario of the different time-frames. Historical facts and infornmation provided by Sufi Mostafizur Rahman, the head of the excavation team, helped to rebuild the ancient history more accurately.
The play is written by Tanvir Ahmed Sydney and directed by Somrat Pramanik while Komol Khalid directs the music and Enam Ara Saki is inchrage of the wardobe.
The playwright said: “We tried to create diverse situations to satisfy the curiosity of the audience about the archeological site.”
The play will be staged twice everyday till June 7.
