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Interview

A confluence of cultures

"The Well of Bouctou" presented at the Public Library

FAYZA HAQ
ISAACA Sawadogo, the director of the play "The Well of Bouctou" that was recently presented at the Public Library, says, "The story that we see is how a family splits and how the family members have a choice. The inspiration is from a true story, after analysing my oral tradition in Africa. The main characters are a woman, Bouctou, who is a slave, her master, and the play deals with how the city of Tumbuctou was born. It is also about a king, Samuritore, who wanted to bring in a unification of Africa in the form of Bissandougo. The last part is about a princess Gimbi who has the power of healing. The conflict is between the powerful king who lusts to kill and the princess who wishes only to kill. The stories introduce the element of existentialism which questions as to who we are and where we are going."
The play, Isaaca says, was first written in French, translated into English by Margaret Abbe and it was translated by Kajol into Bangla. "The actors are performers from CAT (Centre for Asian Theatre). I shared my experience as an actor with the performers. I saw how they treated the story, working with the actors for a month, beginning at 9pm and working till 9pm with a lunch break in between. We rehearsed at CAT's Mirpur studio. We have music and dancing in the play, some of the music coming from Africa. The music was adapted according to the performance so that it was a mixture of Bangladeshi and African. This was difficult but interesting.
"Coming to Bangladesh to work was not difficult because Burkina Faso (West Africa) where I come from is not so different from this place. The play is a little over an hour. We had problems in communication as I didn't speak or understand Bangla. English remained the language of communication. A lot is lost in translation. It was also not easy to spell out what was required from the performance. Every story line had to be analysed and discussed. We had to find a common idea. Another overwhelming factor
was the limited time factor. The play remains an African one that has been integrated into Bangladeshi culture: it was a blend of the two. I had to explain my culture to the actors before I started out, so that they could interpret it and give it back to me."
Asked why he had come to Bangladesh to work, Isaaca says that he met Kamaluddin Nilu of CAT in an Ibsen festival in Norway in 1996. When he met him again with his play, they decided to combine their skills in an artistic way in an exchange. Last year Isaaca came to Dhaka to do a workshop and decided to come back in less than a month to present the play "The Well of Bouctou". Isaaca did his school like other normal children but did not go to any theatre school but worked with theatre groups gathering experience. Later he gathered more experience in Norway. Beginning in 1987, today he is one of the first professional actors of Burkina Faso, having taken part in about 50 plays in French, Norwegian, African and English. He prefers to do plays with social angles and ones that present existential questions of why human beings are not content."
Margaret Aaby, who is associated with Isaaca Sawadogo, has known him since the Ibsen festivals when he took part in "Peer Gyant". Visiting his country she decided to work in collaboration with him. She has been responsible for the over all production, the translation from
French to English and in building the scenes. She has been working with the Norwegian National Theatre for 33 years, where she worked as director and producer, dealing with the classics like Ibsen, Shakespeare and Chekov and western modern plays.
Margaret says, "I have had a promising and satisfactory artistic collaboration with Isaaca for 12 years in Norway and Burkina Faso. It was not smooth sailing as was expected. Out of conflicts comes a satisfactory performance: we solved our conflicts in an artistic way. This is different from the last show as we have 11 Bangladeshi actors whereas in the last show it was a solo performance by Isaaca where he told a purely African story in his way. I've enjoyed being with the CAT cast as we have been well looked after and we
have managed to reach a good level of communication. The play presented today had different flavours from the average Bangladeshi play."
Sabina Sultana Ratna, who played the part of the princess, has been working with CAT since 1998, says that this part is different from the ones she has done before, and in this play she had spiritual powers of healing. Monir Ahmed Shakil plays the part of the father and later that of the son. He has been with CAT since 1999 and has taken part in most of the plays.
The play may not have been as unusual as Isaaca's solo performance in December, last year, but the packed house appeared to have enjoy it.