Shomoy to stage Shesh Shanglap today

A scene from the play. Photo: STAR

Theatre troupe Shomoy will stage its latest play "Shesh Shanglap" this evening at the Experimental Theatre Hall, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.
An adaptation of Egyptian playwright Tawfiq al-Hakim's "El Sultan El-Ha'er" (The Sultan Perplexed), the play has been jointly translated into Bangla by Professor Syed Jamil Ahmed and M. Saiful Islam Chowdhury. Akteruzzaman has directed the play.
"Shesh Shanglap" is a story set in 13th century Egypt. The play beautifully depicts the medieval period of the Arab state. Trading of slaves, exploitation of women, unlawful acts by powerful individuals, as well as the nobility of king come as the core aspects of the play.
The story revolves around a Sultan and a noble courtesan. The ruling Sultan, son of a slave, has been crowned by his master. Mistakenly his master forgot to declare him a free man. This inadvertent mistake becomes a big issue, as the people demand a solution to this imbroglio. A noble woman emerges, buys him and wants to release him so that he can rule the state again. In return, she wants to spend a night with him.
This one night together and the conversation between them explain the title of the play "Shesh Shanglap" (literarily, last conversation).
Pavel Islam, Ruma, Mansura Rashid, Arifuzzaman, Riaz Mahmud and Fakhrul Islam will perform as the lead actors in the play.
Faiz Zahir and Alamgir Hossain are the set and light designers of the play respectively. It is the 29th production by the troupe.