Monday, May 06, 2024
The theatrical production titled He-Rose: From the Bhagavad Gita to the Iliad, The Embrace of Arjuna and Achilles, by Adishakti Laboratory for Theatre Art Research and École nationale supérieure des arts et techniques du théâtre (ENSATT), will be staged today at 7 pm at the Experimental Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Segun Bagicha in the capital.
“Heroes”. Is it merely a word? Or could we investigate the hidden meaning “Heroes” implies and what would it allow us to unearth? An artistic response could be to break the word Heroes as “He-Rose”.
“He” who is an ordinary man “rose” in what we call an extraordinary action, which makes him a HERO. Such a reading will compel to stretch the space between “He” and “Rose”. We see Heroes as confident, chest thumping warriors who are fearless. But there is an inevitable question of vulnerability, uncertainty, doubt, indecision, and hesitation that are not addressed. When death is your constant other, a shadow that you cannot escape from, how can we see them as fearless?
Written by Nimmy Raphel and directed by Vinay Kumar of Adishakti and assisted by Amaud Guennad of ENSATT, He-Rose depicts the tragic saga of two mythological heroes, Arjuna from Bhagavad Gita and Achilles from Homer’s Iliad. The play is about two personalities from two different cultures and in a liminal realm between glory and tragedy. At the heart of He-Rose lies a profound inquiry into the nature of heroism. Drawing parallels between iconic figures such as Arjuna from the Mahabharata and Achilles from the Iliad, the production challenges conventional notions of heroism, inviting audiences to contemplate the interplay between vulnerability and courage. In both Arjuna and Achilles’s lives, the role of fate plays a major part, and is also largely connected to the kind of choices they have to make: the choice of leading an epic life or the choice of a more common life, with room for intimacy to happen. These choices come at the most crucial point of their Epic adventures.
