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Staging of a Greek Tragedy in its Own Traditional Way

by Gobinda Bar
THE sun was Just peeping over the horizon It was still down. But many had already flocked to the Mukta mApha of the Jahanglrnagar University suspending their sleep and jogging and walk After all Orestes was going to be staged
Yes. Orestes a < lasslcal Greek tragedy by Euripides, was staged recently at the'amphitheatre of the Jahangi-rnagar University The produc tion was a practical performance test lor the sec ond year students of the Department of Drama and Dramatics
In our country. Greek tragedies are rarely staged and there are always some difficulties associated with the production of a classical tragedy However It was staged with some original features Ujat were followed by the ancient Greeks while staging. the
tragedies. For example, we may refer to the use pf chorus, ft is an extraordinary characteristic of classical tragedies and is not found In the contemporary plays. The staging time is another exception of the production. We are accus tomed to enjoy a play in the evening but it was staged just at sunrise Addition of these feamres to the performance implies devotion to the fundamental ritual of.the Greek play
Orestes" has a narrative style which is very much avail able in the classical tragedies Playwrights like Sophocles Aeshyius and Euripides were very much popular in the an dent Greece Their plays were staged at sunrise after a whole-night festival Amphitheatre, day-light, use of musk and chorus were the salient feature* of those performances. The recent production of
“Orestes" at JU followed all the features of the tragedies faith' fully.
Afsar Ahmed, translator of the play and Chairman of the Dramatics Department said, "Perhaps it is the first production of the tragedy at an amphitheatre observing the fun damehtal rituals of Greek play after a^out 2500 years. There Is no amphitheatre In Asia, continent like ours. As far as I know It is the first translation of the tragedy and I tried my best to remain faithful to the original . "
The tragedy begins with the news of death of Agamenon s wife Klutamlnestra who killed her husband herself Orestes and Electra are the son and daughter respectively of the late couple. Electra, her brother Orestes and his friend Pulades killed Klutamlnestra in
revenge fof Agamenon's 'killing. Soon after the killing, they began to convince the people of the kingdom Argos that the killing wa$ JusC Klutamlnestra was In illicit love and she killed her husband. So. Orestes and Electra tried to persuade the inhabitants of Argos that a miscreant had no right to live. Meanwhile, they, were- sentenced to death by the Court. Finding no other alternative, their wrath fell upon their uncle Menelaus who did not help them during the difficulties. To take a revenge, they planned to kill Menelaus wife Helen and to abduct his daughter Harmeun. Helen disappeared when Orestes tried to kill her The Sun-god Apollo saved Helen as she was Apollo's legitimate child. Orestes and Pulades abducted Harmeun and sought Menelaus' help in exchange for1 his daughter's life. Menelaus turned furious and revengeful as a reaction to this incident In this climactic moment. Sun-god Apollo intervened. He ordered all to hold off and told Orestes to leave Argos for a year He also ordered Menelaus to go back to his kingdom Sparta forgetting all enmity.
In this play Electra comes off as a brave and Intelligent woman who causes the main incidents and controls the hero She also appears as an influential personality
Today, when the question of women s freedom Is gradually gaining ground in our country, the rheme of the tragedy appeals very relevant and topical. - The set. nacKground music and lighting of the play were adopted from the ancient
Greek tradition. Yet. all the performers were apprentice. But all of them did enough Justice to their characters under the able guidance of Rashid Harun, a lecturer of the Department of Drama. The overall performance had the audience somewhat mesmerised.