In a systematic execution of Bengali pro-liberations, a huge number of people were killed including academics, journalists, physicians, lawyers, literatures, artists and engineers during the Bangladesh liberation war of 1971 by the Pakistan Army and their local collaborators, most notably the extreme right wing militia groups. After 42 years of the independence, the martyrs become figuratively alive in an environmental play to share their inner thought and emotion with the contemporary denizens of the country who sometimes practice the costly freedom in a featherbrained way and did not get chance to experience the horrifying execution scenery of the liberation war.
Poribesh Theatre brought in stage a pioneering environmental play Juddhopuran in cooperation with Theatre and Film Affairs Department of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy for the first time in the country on March 19 at the historic Mirpur Jalladkhana where the incidents of mass execution occurred during the Liberation War.
The interactive play opened with eleven characters portraying the martyrs of the liberation war welcoming the bare foot audience garbed in black hooded-gowns. In a horrific environment, they offered the audiences a drink and then started telling their appalling stories. Sometimes holding the audiences’ hands and with direct gestures expressed how they were executed by the Pakistani Army and local collaborators. One martyr’s story doesn’t match the other’s, but all the stories ended the same way, all the martyrs were executed at the notorious Mirpur Jallad Khana. Liberation War Museum provided the stories with fact to the producing theatre troupe and they in turn portrayed each tale with accuracy.
Mirpur Jallada Khana is a commemorative place cared by Liberation War Museum. It has an oval space in its center where the troupe staged a unified story of mass execution. After the shorter duration of play, which lasts for about twenty minutes, the characters urges the audience to rethink about their contribution to the country and practice freedom by bringing a better future for the country.
Environmental theatre is a new branch of theatre which aims to intensify audience awareness of theatre by eliminating the distinction between the audience and the actors’ space and Environment Theatre brings the new theatre in stage. Anisul Haque Barun, the idea generator and director of the play Said: “At one of my visits to Mirpur Jollad Khana, I was wondering how it will be if the martyrs suddenly came alive and started to talk with us and share their feelings and emotions. Subsequently, I generated the idea of the play and consulted with BSA director general Liakat Ali Lucky. He fully supported the idea and advised us to start the rehearsal for the play. In a conventional theatre, the audience can feel only two senses while in the environmental play we designed, they are able to feel all five senses and it is an occasion to break the boundary between the audience and the characters.”
