The pupils of the 26th batch of Prachyanat School of Acting and Designing staged “Tati” at the Experimental Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy on July 14 in the capital.
The play widely known as “The Weavers,” is translated to Bangla by Ismail Mohammad and directed by Saiful Islam Jarnal. It is a naturalistic drama in five acts by the German Nobel laureate Gerhart Hauptmann, published in 1892 and performed for the first time in 1893. Based on the revolt of the Silesian weavers of 1844, the play is a realistic portrayal of the sacrifices and sufferings of the mass during the Industrial Revolution.
The troupe did not attempt to adapt the play in the context of Bangladesh, rather, the play contains the original story and milieu. It is likely that the director and incharge of the troupe did not want to take the risk of changing anything as the performers are novice actors of the theatre school.
The plot reveals how the weavers are driven to revolt against the process of industrialisation due to the introduction of power looms which forced them to a state of destitution. They march to the home of Dreissiger, their arrogant, exploitative employer, ransack his house and achieve a temporary victory over a company of armed soldiers.
The characters playing the rebels entered the hall through the main gateway and marched through the audience, creating quite a dramatic impact among Dhaka’s theatre audience. With this act, the director demonstrated his intention of using the whole theatre hall as the performing ground. At different stages of the play, few choreographed performances with songs created tension and mood for the revolution set to take place in the story.
A total of 26 characters are portrayed and even though the actors got only six months of training, they gave a praiseworthy performance. Prachyanat is famed among theatre lovers for their background music and this time was no exception. Immaculate European tone highlighted the tension and mood of the drama.
The director Saiful Islam Jarnal expressed his rationale behind the staging: “Our current economic and political situation matches to that of the play, even though it was staged in Germany a long time ago. The exploitation of the people in the grip of poverty showcased in the play is similar to the situation of present day workers and labourers of Bangladesh.”
Earlier, Selina Hossain, famed author and novelist, Siddharth Chakraborty, the director of Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre, Dhaka and Gazi Rakayet gave speech on the occasion and distributed certificates among the students of the 26th batch of the Prachyanat School of Acting and Designing.
