Theatre troupe Swapnadal will stage 101st and 102nd shows of its much-acclaimed production ‘Chitrangada’, today at the Studio Theatre of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy at Segun Bagicha in the capital. The first show will start at 5:30pm while the second on will begin at 7:30 pm.
‘Chitrangada’ is the 11th production of Swapnadal, written by 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. 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.
The staging of the play has contribution of Sonali, Juena, Shishir, Shyamal, Arko, Rana, Jebu, Happy, Samad, Usha, Hasan, Ali, Bipul, Nisarg, Sumaiya, Masud, Sukumar, Titu, Bimal, Anindya and others.
To pay homage to the Greatest Playwright and Philosopher Rabindranath Tagore on his 150th Birth Anniversary (2011), Swapnadal produced the theatre-production Tagore's 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.
Swapnadal already completed 100 successful performances of the production 'Chitrangada' in Bangladesh and India. Swapnadal's 'Chitrangada' was selected to perform in India's great international theatre festival '22nd Bharat Rang Mahotsav', organized by National School of Drama (NSD, New Delhi, India).
