Dhaka Padatik Theatre Festival begins

Actors of Dhaka Padatik in the play Jalodash

To celebrate its 28th anniversary, Dhaka Padatik has arranged a 10-day long theatre festival. The festival began yesterday at the National Theatre Stage, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA) in which five local and two Indian troupes will stage nine plays. Eminent playwright Syed Shamsul Haq inaugurated the festival.
Plays included at the festival are: Jalodash, Nimojjon, Kanjush, Chhayanat and Shonkranti. Indian troupes -- Anik and Loko Kristhi -- will stage four plays at the festival. Anik will stage Samayer Aborte and Tritiyo Bashonto. And Loko Kristhi will stage Ihai Shotya and Hing Ting.
On the opening day of the festival Dhaka Padatik staged Jalodash.
Written by Harun-ur-Rashid and directed by Nader Chowdhury, the play features the plight of the fisherman community and brings to light the various ways hoarders manipulate and exploit these people. Jalodash also touches the issue of exploitation of the poor by several NGOs in the name of "community development".
Fundamentalism and complexity of village politics appear as an undercurrent in Jalodash. Many of these unfortunate ones leave their ancestral profession, many lean towards crime while many are forced to relocate and several die as consequences.
Jalodash is a remarkable tragedy in Bangla that analyses and portrays the mode of oppression and the predicaments of the proletariat class.