Nrityanchal's “Rai Krishna Padabali” at Theatre Olympics

The 8th edition of the Theatre Olympics, one of the biggest international theatre festivals in the world, is currently underway in India, and Bangladeshi dance troupe Nrityanchal is presenting their dance-drama "Rai Krishna Padabali" at the festival.

The festival commenced on February 17 and will run until April 8 in major cities of the country, hosted by India's National School of Drama.

"Rai Krishna Padabali" will be staged at three different venues -- including Rangashala, Patna on March 14, Kamani Auditorium in New Delhi on March 16 and National Theatre Auditorium at Haryana, Punjab on March 17. A team consisting of 27 artistes of Nrityanchal will leave Dhaka on March 11 for India and return to Bangladesh on March 20.

Inspired by Rabindranath Tagore's "Bhanusingher Padabali", noted Bangladeshi poet Sheikh Hafizur Rahman wrote the dance-drama.The story of the dance-drama zooms in on the endless love between Rai (played by Shamim Ara Nipa) and Krishna (donned by Shibli Mohammad). Renowned Indian dancer-choreographer Sukalyan Bhattacharya has directed the dance-drama. Ratna Chowdhury from India has directed music for the production Renowned Bangladeshi and Indian singers Haimanti Shukla, Rezwana Chowdhury Bonya, Manomoy Bhattacharya, Antara Chowdhury, Jayati Chakrobarty and Agniv Bandyopadhyay lent their voices to the musical, while noted Indian elocutionists Soumitra Chatterjee, Prodip Ghosh, Bratati Bandyopadhyay, Debashish Basu and Amit Roy have narrated the story.

Other plays representing Bangladesh at the festival are: "Baramkhana" (Theatre), "Irsha" (Prangonemor), "Maatbring" (Bibartan Jessore), "Mohajoner Nao" (Subachan Natya Sangsad), "Morshokam" (Theatre Art Unit) and "Pathology of Political Genealogy" (Department of Theatre and Performance Studies, University of Dhaka).