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THEATRE FESTIVAL

Pragoitihashik: Love, rage and other instincts

Jamil Mahmud
One of the leading lights of modern Bengali fiction Manik Bandopadhyay carefully sketches the primitive instincts of human being in his short story “Pragoitihashik". Such core instincts are articulated through a group of people belonging to marginalised communities.
Nagarik Natyangan produced a play based on the short story with the same title years earlier; and so far held 65 shows. The troupe once again staged the play on September 7 at the National Theatre Hall, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, as part of Lucky Enam's 60th birthday celebration festival.
The play is directed by Lucky Enam and written by Mahmudul Islam Selim who also plays the protagonist Bhikhu.
Sketching rural Bangla with utter care and love is the core aspect of Bandopadhyay's writings. This particular short story also has such a rural ambience and furthermore deals with people who are far away from [the so called! modern society. The Bangla word 'pragoitihashik' literary stands for something prehistoric and if someone wants to co-relate the story with the title then they will find a link in each major character.
The story goes as follows: Bhikhu is a notorious ban-
dit. During an encounter, he loses mobility of his right hand and takes refuge at his friend Pehlad’s (Sajjad Reza) home. As he starts to recover his animal instincts begin to take over. In the absence of his friend, Bhikhu tries to satisfy his lust with Pehlad’s wife but fails.
Bhikhu becomes a drifter and one day comes across Pachi (Hridi Haque). He takes a liking to Pachi but Bashir (Arbatuzzaman Proloy), another beggar, stands in his way. One night Bhikhu kills Bashir, and taking Pachi with him, sets out on a new beginning.
This apparendy simple narrative came alive on the stage with some brilliant acting, a couple of striking sequences and beautiful stage designing. Use of several Lalon and other folk songs was also an apt choice.
Selim as Bhikhu was a class ahead of the others. His diction of lust and rage as well as of a longing lover was simply engaging. Hridi Haque's articulation as a woman from a marginalised class was another bright feature of the play. She successfully portrayed a woman who longs to be loved yet shows her apparently cautious attitude constantly.
Random use of colloquial language somehow went with the story, considering the characters' social class.
Shazu Khadem's set used of a lot of green objects that created a replica of rural greenery. Anisul Haq Borun did the choreography and art direction. The light design was done by Mohammad Jasimuddin.