Padatik Natya Sangsad Bangladesh premiered its latest production “Shey” at the National Theatre Hall, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, on May 3. An adaptation of a Rabindranath Tagore story for children, with the same title, the play has been directed by Debashish Ghosh.

Eminent author-playwright Syed Shamsul Haq and Director General of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy Liaquat Ali Lucky attended the premiere show. Both praised the troupe for bringing a Tagore play on stage that was especially written for children.

“Shey” is a compilation of short stories that Tagore wrote at the age of 76, for his adopted daughter Pupu. The original text comprises of 15 stories, from which the director picked six for his play. To amuse his daughter, Tagore also sketched several imaginary creatures, some of which were also incorporated in the play.

The director used some of the reprints of those sketches on stage to reflect the imaginary world of children. The play starts with a grandfather telling stories to his granddaughter. In the play, Pupu comes as a character, as the granddaughter.

The director designed the play in a way, where Pupu and her grandfather share their impressions at one corner of the stage, while those

impressions, the short stories within the main story, are portrayed through performances by other actors.

The story is full of humour -- good enough to make an impact on an adolescent's imagination.

'Shey' (literary means s/he] is the protagonist of these stories who sometimes deals with a fox to turn it into a literate creature so that it can dominate its own community. Sometimes 'Shey' meets two friends who are looking after an imaginary 'Gechho Baba' who has the power to fulfil any wish and turn everything into gold. Sometimes 'Shey' becomes the guinea pig of a doctor who has replaced his brain with a monkey's.

SP Aranya donned the role of 'Shey'. Child artiste Mariam Hossain played Pupu and Amio Mizan enacted the role of the grandfather. The cast also included Kamal Hossain, Mamun Abdullah, Faisal Kamal and Dolly Akhtar.

Apart from direction, Debashish Ghosh also adapted the play. Nuruddin Faruk did the set designing — borrowing ideas from Selim Shamsul Huda Chowdhury. Sifat-e-Rabbi planned the music, which featured a collection of popular instrumental tracks. Nasirul Haque Khokon designed the light.

Before the premiere show here, the play saw its international premiere at a festival in Agartala, India last December.

The play is the 30th production by Padatik.