Prachyanat School to celebrate ‘Raktakarabi’s’ centenary with new production

Prachyanat School of Acting and Design, a prominent theatre school in the country, is all set to commemorate the centennial anniversary of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore's "Raktakarabi". The play is still regarded as one of the finest in the Bengali literary and theatre scene. 

Under the direction of Shawkat Hossain Sajib, the school will stage the play on Monday, January 29, at 7:00pm at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy's National Theatre Hall. Prachyanat, which is renowned for its socially and politically aware grand theatrical presentations, is going to stage the epic play as part of its biannual school productions. 

More than 30 students from the 45th batch of Prachyanat participated in the initiative. They received training from eminent cultural and theatre personalities such as Azad Abul Kalam, Ratan Siddique, Ashikur Rahman Leeon, Shahidul Mamun, Kazi Toufiqul Islam, renowned set and light designer Md Shaiful Islam, music artiste Rahul Ananda and designer Sabyasachi Hazra, amongst others. 

Playwright and theatre director Shawkat Hossain Sajib, renowned for directing plays like William Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" and Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot", is credited as director of the play with Arif Reza Khan as an assistant director. Musician AB Siddique designed the music of the play with Proddut Kumar Ghosh as the choreographer. The costumes for the play have been designed by Parvin Paru. The set has been created by Tanji Kun while the light design is done by Mokhlesur Rahman, and Swati Bhadra took charge of preparing the props.

Shedding light on choosing "Raktakarabi" as the school's biannual production, when even the most skilful artistes, become apprehensive about staging the play, director Shawkat told The Daily Star, "Actually, I have been preparing for a few years with a vision to stage the play. To get such a large team with young thespians and a production team has become my biggest strength as a director."

"Rabindranath was so ahead of his time, and he always advocated for new thoughts and perspectives. So, keeping that belief in mind, we have tried to integrate contemporary elements aligning with the core message of the play. We have tried our best to showcase the intrinsic significance and message of the play, and the rest is up to the audience to decide. I strongly believe the audiences will love it," he further added.

Thespian Azad Abul Kalam, who is one of the founders of Prachynat, remarked, "'Raktakarabi' is such a complex and expressionist play that it has never been staged in Rabindranath's lifetime, as it was deemed to be 'unperformable' by many famous directors. The directorial panel of Prachyanat School has undertaken a Herculean task by integrating post-modernist elements in such a complex play, which I believe will make the show grander and timely. I hope the audience will resonate with the play and enjoy the massive undertaking."

"By staging this play in all its novelty and power, Prachyanat School of Acting and Design pays its highest tribute to 'Raktakarabi', one of the most iconic plays of Bengali theatre on its centennial anniversary," added the renowned artiste.

Shahidul Mamun, Director of Academics of Prachyanat School, stated, "While watching the rehearsals of Prachyanat's 'Raktakarabi', I was fascinated by the performers' sheer energy and bravado, which is something you can only expect from a team of super-energised actors and equally supportive technicians."

Rabindranath Tagore's play "Raktakarabi" (Red Oleanders, 1924), is set in an imaginary town called "Yakshapuri" ruled by a capitalist king, where minorities are dehumanised and exploited into becoming gold-digging machines. The brutal king's ever-growing obsession with wealth turns him into a despicable, greedy autocrat until he begins his journey toward salvation in the hands of a woman named "Nandini". "Nandini" takes centre stage in the play, embodying innocence, righteousness, and goodwill, while the king assumes the role of the antagonist.

The plot progresses through a fierce confrontation of power in the forms of the King, who symbolises the oppressor of both humans and nature by fear and power, and Nandini, who symbolises nature that restores its equilibrium by shaking everything into its righteous place through beauty, love, and strength of character.

Labonno, Jubair, Meem, Hashi, Bappy, Orisha, Shahrukh, Rafa, Ratul, Nahid, Biplob, Sourav, Nayon, Rahul, Ibrahim, Hemal, Faiyaz, Jessica, Opu, Suprio, Rocky, Progga, Bishaka, Doyel, Ziku, and Rafi, amongst other students under the Prachyanat School Of Acting and Design are going to be performing in the play.