‘Sonai Madhab’ flies to China

Theatre troupe Loko Natyadal will stage their much-acclaimed production Sonai Madhab at Road and Belt Henan Art Festival 2018 in Henan, China. The festival began on May 14 and will continue till May 20. The troupe will stage two shows of the production on May 17 and 18 respectively.

Sonai Madhab is one of the 10 ballads of Mymensingh Geetika. It is a woman-centric play, and is presented through songs. The play is a romantic tragedy.

The production sheds light mostly on the woes of Sonai, a rural orphan girl brought up by her maternal uncle. How society strangles Sonai's love for Madhab is presented in the traditional pala form. In its presentation, Loko Natyadal combined traditional panchali and jatra. The audience can visualise the story in pala form through traditional music and dance performances.

The play, directed by Liaquat Ali Lucky, is a dramatic depiction that weaves the anguish, agonies and dilemmas of women in a traditional narrative way. The play showcases an ancient theatre aspect of Bangladesh on stage as male artistes don female characters in it.

Led by Liaquat Ali Lucky, a 15-member troupe left Dhaka on May 13 and will return to Dhaka on May 21. The popular play was premiered in 1993 under the direction of Liaquat Ali Lucky, who brought the production anew on stage in 2015.