Indian stage actor Debshankar Haldar mesmerised the audience with his awe-inspiring performance as the protagonist of a play staged on Friday at the National Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.
Ipsha, staged by the Indian troupe Ha-Ja-Ba-Ra-La, was the opening play of the 10-day Ganga-Jamuna Theatre and Cultural Festival that kicked off on Friday.
Based on the American playwright Eugene O’Neill’s Desire Under the Elms, it has been adapted and directed by Chandan Sen, and uses elements such as incest and prolicide as its materials.
Debshankar Haldar played the role of Kanu, son of the ruthless Radhukoyal. Ipsha, like the Desire Under the Elms, features the story from the perspective of its protagonist, who thinks his father has murdered his mother.
A bitter, resentful Kanu walks in the house like a caged animal, full of vitality but hatred for his father, who appears obsessed with his desire to beget more children and torture his wives.
The play begins with a conversation between Kanu and his half-brothers Dhanu and Jona. The latter two are planning to flee their father’s house and settle in Kolkata, but Kanu is determined to stay back to avenge his mother’s death.
The play enters its main plot when Radhukoyal brings home a woman of Kanu’s age as his wife, Sushila, played by Bindiya Ghosh.
Sushila is attracted to Kanu who, after initial reservations, responds to her incestuous advances considering that a ‘just revenge’ on his father.
The story bears some similarity to that of King Oedipus and has a runtime of nearly two hours, but Debshankar Haldar, with his powerful acting, carried it along almost singlehandedly.
The conversations of the two half-brothers and eccentricities of a wine-seller provided some comic relief in the otherwise emotion-charged production.
Earlier, cultural affairs minister Asaduzzaman Noor inaugurated the festival with International Theatre Institute honorary president Ramendu Majumder and festival convener Golam Kuddus in attendance.
The festival, organised by Ganga-Jamuna Natyautsab Parshad, will feature a total of 30 plays by 30 troupes from Bangladesh and India, as well as open-air cultural performances by 53 organisations.