A montage of genocides

Actors of Dhaka Theatre in a scene from Nimojjon, a play with a strong anti-war message. Photo: Ishtiaque Bin Quashem

As part of the two-day long 'International Conference on Genocide, Truth and Justice' organised by Liberation War Museum, Dhaka Theatre staged their production Nimojjon at the Experimental Theatre Hall, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy on March 2. The conference ended on the same day at the BRAC Centre Inn.
Liberation War Museum arranged the convention on the first day of March, the month that marks our Independence, to encourage research, documentation and study on the genocide in Bangladesh during the Liberation War and link those with similar incidents across the world to strengthen a global protest on crimes against humanity.
“The initiative taken by Liberation War Museum is an important and timely one because the world still experiences genocides in different countries. The late playwright Selim Al Deen's play Nimojjon has a strong anti-war message -- a call to raise voices against all kinds of war crimes including genocide and to realise the dream of a peaceful world,” said the director of the play Nasiruddin Yousuff.
Nimojjon is Dhaka Theatre's 32nd production. The play is a montage of numerous incidents, tracing genocides throughout history. Without any particular storyline, the play opens with a stranger coming to an imaginary place to meet his dying friend.
Right before the eyes of the stranger, the place becomes identical to all the places that bear the brutal mark of genocide. Throughout the play, he sees hanging corpses at the station, experiences holocaust on the steamer, talks to the dead girl who refuses to rest in her grave, finds murdered children and sees glimpses of genocides held in different places throughout different civilisations before he reaches his friend.
When at last he reaches his ailing friend, he finds another story of victimisation. The friend is a Professor of Political Science whose political idealism earns him torture by the 'Black Death Squad of Caravan' (an allusion to the infamous army squad of Chile).
The entire town seems to be on fire, destroyed by nuclear weapons -- thus drowning into the darkest core of the humanity.
The play ends with a collective prayer to the sun, conveying the craving for a peaceful world.
Asaduzzaman Aman played the role of the stranger while Sirajul Islam played the Professor. The cast of the play also included Mostafa Ratan, Tarikul Islam, Roni Hossain, Farzana Afreen Rupa, Samiun Jahan Dola and others.
Music and costumes by eminent theatre personality Shimul Yousuff were impressive. Dhali Al Mamun's art direction was innovative and Nasirul Haque Khokon's light design was effective.