Theatre troupe Mohakal Nattya Shamproday premiered its theatre production titled ‘Surendra Kumari’ at the Experimental Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy on Friday.
Surendra Kumari, the 44th production of Mohakal Nattya Shamproday, has been written by Jahangirnagar University associate professor Anan Zaman and directed by Shamim Shagor.
The play, based on the folk tale of Surendra Kumari from Rajshahi region, begins with a conversation between Surendra Kumari and a writer, who wants to prevent her from committing suicide.
Surendra Kumari loses her father before her birth and her mother queen Hemanto Kumari raises her as a warrior. The queen does not want Surendra Kumari to behave like a woman. However, Surendra Kumari falls for a priest named Anandanath.
The queen comes to know about Surendra Kumari’s feelings for the priest and forced her to leave him. Surendra Kumari concentrates on expanding the kingdom. After Surendra Kumari hears rumours about her father dying at the hands of her mother, she returns to Anandanath.
In Surendra Kumari’s svayamvara, a type of marriage mentioned in Hindu mythology where a woman chose a man as her husband from a group of suitors, Anandanath wins but the queen does not approve of Anandanath as the husband of Surendra Kumari.
Surendra Kumari runs away with Anandanath. However, a ghost tells her about the real identity of Hemanto Kumari, who was not the actual queen. After knowing the truth, Surendra Kumari becomes upset and develops hatred towards politics, power and war.
Hemanto Kumari imprisons the head priest. Anandanath asks Surendra Kumari to help him to make free the head priest but Surendra Kumari refuses to help him and the play moves forward.
‘Literary works were written on Mohua, Molua, Chandravati, Kamala, Radha and many others. However, the myth of Surendra Kumari is quite unknown to us. Surendra Kumari is not a history-based play. The play is based on oral tradition,’ said Anan Zaman.
‘Theatre is one of the mediums of entertainment and I hope that the audience will enjoy the production very much,’ said Shamim Shagor.
Abu Azad, Shuvra Manik, Iqbal Chowdhury, Poli Biswas, Shibli Sarker, Kaniz Fatema Lisa, Konal Ali, Rajib Deb, Kazi Tarif, Swapnil, Rakib Hasan, William Nixon, Abdul Kaiyum, Sangkar Kumar and Mir Zahid Hasan played different characters in the play.
Besides, Warda Rihab did choreography in the play while Enam Tara Saki designed costume, Nirjher Chowdhury designed music and Hendry Sen designed props and stage lighting, among others.