Audience-admired play ‘Jamuna’ by Theatre Folks, an Oxford-based troupe of non-resident Bangladeshis, has been invited to the 23rd International India Theatre Olympiad in Cuttack, Odisha of India. The play will be staged as the opening show of the festival on July 1 at 7pm at Kala Bikash Kendra in Cuttack, Odisha. The play is written by Selina Shelley and directed by Mohammad Ali Haider. Popular actor-TV drama-maker Toukir Ahmed will play four characters simultaneously in the play. Other casts of the play include Selina Shelley, Manaj Hussain Shamim, Nupur, Adita and Soma, among others. The story of ‘Jamuna’ evolves around the life of the central character of the play with the same title. Jamuna is a woman who lived through the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971. As a youth she had ventured to go to war as a freedom fighter.  Not long after, she was captured and taken to an enemy camp, dealing with several months of imprisonment and sexual abuse there. Being raped and the mother of a war-child, Jamuna had become withdrawn. Later she married a fellow freedom fighter who lost all his family members in the war, and had another child. Only Jamuna’s husband knows her secret.
While living her life in hiding like a snail in a shell she embraced a form of sculpting to express her feelings. She creates her pieces with dried logs, branches, boughs and other found objects, likening them to herself and restoring their worth through her care. Her devotion towards her works makes her unable to draw a fine line between her life and her creations. Eventually her art gets her some appreciation and brings her to the attention of others. She regains her self-confidence after 35 long years and wants to speak out to free herself from her dark secret which sits heavily between herself and her daughters. Although she wants to speak out after years of silence, Jamuna is unsure of herself and of how her story will be accepted by her daughters. What way will it affect her again? An exhibition of Jamuna’s work has been organised, and she prepares herself for an exclusive interview.
By this time her daughter brings a proposal of marriage from the boy she likes. The parents of the boy want to announce the wedding when they come to see the exhibition, as they will soon leave the country to visit and perform a prestigious religious ritual, the Hajj.
This situation puts Jamuna in a great dilemma and she changes her mind. First she tries to postpone the exhibition and then her interview. But it is too late to deal it with her sponsor and organisers. Jamuna will have to face the journalist with the commitment of an exclusive interview. What she will do, how she will manage the situation? To note, the 23rd India Theatre Olympiad in Cuttack, Odisha ( Orissa ) state, organised with the aita/iata National Centre, India. It is the only International Theatre Festival- Drama, Dance & Music – of its kind in India.
The organisers invite theatre groups to perform and to represent the cultural heritage of their country in this global festival. Productions of all genres are invited including Theatre – drama, comedy, mime, pantomime, puppet, fingers theatre, visual;  Dance – modern, folk, classical; Music – opera, classical, musical, contemporary, jazz, folk; and other forms of performing arts.l