Swapnadal’s ‘Chitrangada’ to be staged tomorrow

Swapnadal, one of the most prominent theatre troupes in the country, is going to stage its much-acclaimed production ‘Chitrangada’ once again after a long break due to coronavirus pandemic.

The troupe will stage the 81st show of the play tomorrow at 7 pm at the Studio Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA) in Segun Bagicha of the capital.

‘Chitrangada’ is the 11th production of Swapnadal, written by Nobel Laureate Poet Rabindranath Tagore and directed by Zahid Repon.

Director Zahid Repon and founder and chief secretary of Swapnadal confirmed the news to The Business Post about resuming the staging of their notable play after a long break with tomorrow’s show.

“We are coming back to the stage once again after a long break which was mandatory for tackling the spread of coronavirus. I cordially invite everyone to the 81st show of audience-admired production ‘Chitrangada’ tomorrow at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy,” Zahid Repon told The Business Post.

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 is mentionable that the dance-drama form of ‘Chitrangada’ is well known because many organisations have been performing the production on different occasions. On the other side, the poetic drama version of ‘Chitrangada’ has not been performed regularly on the modern stage before the Swapnadal’s edition.