A theatrical reading of Sultana's Dream

The play was directed and designed by Naila Azad Nupur. Photo: Jamil Mahmud

As part of the Hay Festival Dhaka, a group of young and amateur performers staged a theatrical adaptation of Begum Roquia Sakhawat Hussain's literary work “Sultana's Dream”. The short play was staged at the corridor of Burdwan House, Bangla Academy on November 16.
Directed and designed by Naila Azad Nupur, the play featured more of reading out than dramatic performance. Part of the corridor was covered by transparent veils, to depict the purdah tradition of that period. The aim was to symbolically portray women encaged in social customs.
This classic, written in 1905, was considered groundbreaking it its time and is one of the first examples of feminist science fiction in Bangla.
It depicts a feminist utopia where women run everything and men are secluded. The women challenge the men to invent new technologies. They are aided by technology that enables labourless farming and fuels flying cars. The female scientists have discovered how to use solar power and can control the weather.
Violence is eliminated, since men were responsible for all of it. The workday is only two hours long, since men used to waste six hours each day. Men are placed in women's position so that they experience the repression.
The cast included Ulfat Quddus, Rumana Habib, Imtiaz Kibria and Amer Habib.