Bangla Theatre stages its new play Che'r Cycle
Novera Deepita
There are people who want to find out if Che--Che Guyevera still inspires people. Che, the Chilean revolutionist who fought for people in order to bring better days, who had inspired people to fight for their rights? These are people who dream to change the present hostile situation in the world with the true spirit of revolution that Che taught them. The play Che'r Cycle presents some of these people. Bangla Theatre staged their new play at the Experimental Theatre Hall of Shilpakala Academy on Thursday last. Inspired by a docudrama titled Maybe Che by the Asian People's Theatre of Hong Kong, celebrated theatre activist Mamunur Rashid has written the script. Directed by Fayez Zahir, the play tells the story of three people--Ranjan, Soheli and Shubhro--unknown to each other, who want peace, but their methods of achieving it are different. The three play eleven different roles that include famous characters from the world literature and history. Mamunur Rashid plays Che Guevara and Ranjan of Raktokarobi by Rabindranath Tagore. Rubali Chowdhury plays three characters including Aleida Guevara, the wife of Che, and a Bangalee revolutionist named Soheli. This was Rubali's debut performance in Dhaka. Basically she performs in a theatre group Amader Theatre of Dinajpur. Chanchal Chowdhury plays six roles including those of Fidel Castro and a peace-loving young boy, Shubhro. Chanchal's expertise in enacting six roles promises a good actor in him. He performed the different characters of contrasting natures in a short span of time with ease. At the press conference, Mamunur Rashid said, "I was moved by the idea of searching Che among ordinary people. I also wanted to find Che in our country and wanted to see how important Che is to us. I had been thinking of writing a script on Che for the last two years. I have adapted Asian People's Theatre's play in Bangladeshi context. The new generation does not realise the true spirit of Che." Members of Asian People's Theatre along with the director of Maybe Che, Mok Chiu Yu and actress Apple Chan were present at the show. The 30-minute prelude, which has been staged here, is a summary of the theatrical search for Che in different cities of Latin America. While describing her experience in Bangladesh Apple Chan said, "Yesterday I went to the museum and there I saw many 'Che's because all your freedom fighters are 'Che' who fought for better days."
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