Theatre Sust stages “Bedhua”
Most of 'Theatre Sust' plays have been staged in different area of the country by local troupes, either in pure translation or in contextual adaptation. Many of these productions are still regularly staged and some of the plays are, now and then, produced in new styles by the theatre troupes.
But it is perhaps for the 2nd time in Shahjalal University of Science and Technology central auditorium at Sylhet city on Wednesday night that the audience enjoyed an adaptation by Theatre Sust members.
"Bedhua" written by Niharendu Kor has been re-directed by Md. Jahangir Alam. According to Theatre Sust & Bedhua, tea cultivation in the region began when tea labourers were imported from different areas of the subcontinent, such as Orissa, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh and toiled under inhuman conditions in the tea gardens.
Tea workers are mostly landless people brought in from various Indian states (when it was under Assam state) after the British rulers set up the first tea gardens in the 1850s. They are among the most marginalised and disadvantaged groups, living in cramped, unhygienic mud-roofed houses where they are allowed to stay as long as a family member is working. The workers live on hand-made bread and tea which they make by drying the leaf of tea laced with salt. Most of the families can eat rice only for dinner.
Mizanur Rahman, president of Theatre Sust said, "People around the country enjoy a cup of tea every day. But most people even don't know about the abysmally poor quality of life of the workers in some of the tea estate in Sylhet region. We, the consumers who drink tea every day have the power to improve the conditions for these poor tea estate workers."
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