�Chitrangada� to be staged at Boi Mela tomorrow
DL REPORTER
Swapnadal, one of the most vibrant theatre troupes in the country, is going to stage a public show of its much-acclaimed production titled Chitrangada at Amar Ekushey Boi Mela tomorrow. Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, with the support of Bangladesh Group Theatre Federation, has arranged the show at the open yard of Suhrawardy Udyan.
Chitrangada is the 11th production of Swapnadal, written by Nobel Laureate Poet Rabindranath Tagore and directed by Zahid Repon.
The script of the play is an adaptation of a tale in the great eastern epic `Mahabharata, but with new and modern interpretations. The story of Chitrangada is centred around the mythological hero Arjuna and the princess of Manipur, Chitrangada, who was brought up as a son by her father and trained up as a warrior. But being acquainted with Arjuna, Chitrangada falls in love with him. Watching her so-called external glamourless appearance, Arjuna refuses her love. Humiliated and brokenhearted, Chitrangada appeals to the God of Love Madana and God of Youth Bashanta for beautifying herself for only one day! But impressed with her prayer, they bless her with a new formation, granting her with a beautiful appearance for a year. After that, Chitrangada appears before Arjuna in full glamour of new-found dazzling beauty and Arjuna simply falls in love. But after achieving Arjunas admiration and love, Chitrangada enters into a new inner-conflict that which is important to a man or woman- the temporary external glamour or the truth of the soul? And after many incidents, at last both of them realize that the second one is the greatest sublime and also the most permanent for mankind.
Rabindranath wrote the play in two different forms or versions. In 1892, when he was only 31 years old, he wrote Chitrangada in Poetic Drama (Kabyanatya) form. But 44 years later, in 1936, he wrote it in Dance Drama (Nrityanatya) form based on the same story. Swapnadal has prepared the production Chitrangada with the Poetic Drama version. It may be mentioned that Dance Drama form of Chitrangada is well known, because it has been performed by a good number of organisations. On the other side, the Poetic Drama version of Chitrangada has not been staged regularly in modern stage before Swapnadal.
To pay homage to the greatest playwright and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore on his 150th Birth Anniversary (2011), Swapnadal produced the theatre-production Tagores Poetic Drama Chitrangada. It is a matter of honour that Swapnadal achieved the Cultural Grant for making this production from the Ministry of Cultural Affairs of Peoples Republic of Bangladesh.
Where: Suhrawardy Udyan, Shahbag
When: 6pm, tomorrow
