& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Theatre

Sonata: Loneliness in the big city

Mita Chowdhury
Sonata, a one-act play, originally written in Marathi by the eminent Indian playwright Mahesh Elkunchwar, was adapted by Leesa Gazi into a bilingual version Bangla and English. The setting of the play was changed from Mumbai to London and three Indian women transformed into three Bangladeshi women Living the lives of Londoners.
Sonata was directed by British Bangladeshi director, Mukul Ahmed and produced by Tara Studio for a week in October 2008. Mukul closely follows the artistic vision of Tara Arts’ Artistic Director, launder Verma and works with new writing and the classics.
In Spring 2007 Mukul directed an adaptation of the Adventures of Baron Munchausen and collected a much coveted 4 star from the Times theatre critic, Jeremy Kingston. He will be assistant director National Theatre production of the Black Album in July 09.
Tara Studio was founded in 1977 by Jatinder Verma as a response to racially motivated violence in the UK Since 1981 the theatre has been based in South London Its aim is to represent cross-cultural theatre and stage classical and modern plays. Tara etlftraces the represedTBTjon^or different cultures in performance and visual arts. In British multicultural society this is an integral part of the process of encouraging people from different cultural backgrounds to feel that they belong in British society.
Sonata was part of Tara Studio's
Displacement Season. All the plays included in this block explored the worlds of people forced to uproot and start a new life thousands of miles away, their loneliness and the sacrifices they have had to make.
women and gives an insight into their lives, their history and future. TWo of the women have a dark history, they are together despite a particular incident that shaped and changed their lives. The third woman who enters their life seeks refuge from an abusive boy friend but decides to
return to him by the end of the play. The play explores loneliness in a big city, the women's need to return to their hometown and the way they cling to each other for companionship.
‘■•'“Nfita Cho^^KiirrltTife writferV Leesa Gazi and Zafreen Rahman played Bipasha, Dolon and Ria respectively three college friends who have settled in London. Mita Chowdhury, whose television and stage career initially spanned a period of 10 years, has played a variety of roles in plays written by emi-
nent Bengali playwrights. She left Bangladesh in 1978 to live in Guernsey in the Channel Islands but returned to Dhaka in 2006 to resume her TV and stage career. Mita travelled especially to London last year in ordcr'tb pcrfqrntforTaraStudio ' ••
Leesa, who was closely involved with the Group Theatre movement in Bangladesh and was a member of Nagorik Theatre Group for many years, now lives in London. She is currently leading the London-based cultural group Drishtipat Creative. Leesa is also a novelist and a writer of short stories. She performs regularly in London-based Bengali theatre and has recently directed a highly-acclaimed cultural programme at the South Bank Centre in London.
Zafreen Rahman started off her career as a dancer and toured England for two years with a musical theatre company, Phizzical Productions. Zafreen's first screen performance was as Hasina in the award winning film, Brick Lane. She. has recently completed starring in another feature film, Symmetry of Love, that is due to be released next year. Zafreen is also involved with the British Asian radio station, Club Asia, where she is involved with choreographing and dancing for its future theatre productions.
The lighting for Sonata was designed by Ishrat Nishat. Ishrat started her career as a lighting designer from 1988 in Dhaka and has worked in various theatres across the world. Ishrat is a founder member of Theatre Designers Institute in Bangladesh.
The set was designed by Kevin Jenkins.
This was the very first time that a theatre performance contained purely Bangladeshi actors for the mainstream theatre in London. Mukul Ahmed's skillful and sensitive direction enabled all three members of the cast to produce creditable performances. The bi-lingual play was extremely well-received and can arguably be described as a milestone for Bangladeshi performers.
The writer is a noted theatre artiste and activist.