A two-day Moliere Drama Festival begins on Thursday at the National Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy at 6:30pm.
Shattik Natya Sampradaya organised the festival to pay a tribute to the playwright who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature. Walton is the sponsor of the event.
The festival features the French playwright’s two masterpieces in Bangla version: Kanjus by Loko Natya Dal (on Thursday) and Pejgi by the host troupe (tomorrow).
The play Kanjus is an adaptation of The Miser, which has been adapted by theatre personality Tariq Anam Khan and directed by Liaquat Ali Lucky, the troupe president and the director general of BSA.
The adapted play Kanjus has an impressive history of being staged more than 600 times by the troupe.
Kanjus has managed to keep the originality of the story and its incorporation of hypocrisy, arrogance, greed, social pretensions, biasness and discrimination in the comedy was flawless and entertaining.
The central character of the play is a Dhakaiyya (a resident of Old Dhaka), a rich and hilarious old man named Haider Ali. His local Dhakaiya accent makes punches into the play. Through Haider Ali’s story, Kanjus attacks the selfish and opportunistic tendencies of the privileged class through a hilarious storyline.
On the other hand, Pejgi is an adaptation of Molière’s Le Medicine Malgre Lui. Adapted by Apu Anam and directed by Kamruzzaman Tupa, the play’s plot revolves around a Hakim (doctor) named Pejgi, who ill-treats his wife.
At a point, the woman decides to teach him a lesson.
It is a satire on the hypocritical and lying tendency of human beings through witty dialogues.
