Colonialism

Colonialism - Orientalism by E. W. Said
Orientalism - How this is expressed and what is the western Blueprint for spreading this idea.
The Tempest
Fourth Industrial Revolution
Italian Neo Realism = Bicycle Thief, Pother Panchali
Shakuntala, Miranda, Desdemona by Bankimchandra
Saptapadi Clip of Othello where Uttam Kumar and Suchitra performs in respective roles.
We also read through Act 5 Scene II
Second Coming

Why Handwritten Draft of Play | Why Read a Lot | Read What

Here is the some trustworthy advice from British Writer Martin Amis:

"Write in long-hand: when you scratch out a word, it still exists there on the page. On the computer, when you delete a word it disappears for ever. This is important because usually your first instinct is the right one."

"At Manchester (University, where he teaches Creative Writing), my rule is I don't look at their work. We read great books, and we talk about them … we look at Conrad, Dostoevsky."

"Use the anxiety you have about your writing - or your life - as fuel: "Ambition and anxiety: that's the WRITER's life."

"You have to have a huge appetite for SOLUTUDE."

The smoky cigarette in his hand only serves a theatrical purpose. Except for stage purpose, our Playwriting class shall be completely smoke-free zone during class time.

উচ্চৈঃশ্রবার স্বপ্ন

We have worked on a few storylines on our notebooks today. Most of the time, we tried to describe the physical details as we looked through some of the Black-and-White photographs. Now, the idea was to keep all these disjointed stories into a single play-like structure. To achieve this, we have decided to make the two characters as a travelling commentator on the situations we wrote today. There are more and more photographs and we can use these to further expand our ideas. Here is the idea for writing the play. [The photo is taken from Photographer MUNEM WASIF's Webpage. The photo is being used with no intention to infringe on the Copyright. The photo is being used for the purpose of Classroom Study and academic purpose only.] আগামী রবিবার আপনারা ক্লাসে এই নাটকটির প্রাথমিক কিছু অংশ লিখে আনবেন। পান্ডুলিপি অবশ্যই পরিষ্কারভাবে হাতে লিখা হতে হবে। লিখার জন্য একটি A4 সাইজ খাতা ব্যাবহার করুন। যে দু'জন ক্লাসে অনুপস্থিত ছিলেন, তাদের বিষয়টি ব্যাখা করে বলুন।

1.  Our central characters will be a horse and a man who has been made a failed businessman who has a small machine-shop in the Old part of Dacca.
2.  We can call the hose simply by the name Taj and give our man the name Badshah.
3.  The ideas is, as Apurbo has explained in the class, that we make an EPISODIC play in which the horse and the helpless businessman make a pact to see the world. 
4.  As they pass from one country to another, one place to another, they come across many people and their shattered dreams. They compare their own dream with their OWN Dream and see which dream is more worthy.
5.  To bring in the element of a dream-play, we can make the horse a talking animal, and Badshah a Prince who regains his memory whenever he rides the Horse. 
6.  We can make both Taj and Badshah make a running commentary on human life and society.
7.  Although I have tentatively named it উচ্চৈঃশ্রবার স্বপ্ন, you are free to choose any title that comes to your mind. Just make sure that it is lined with the play's dominant theme. 
8.  Wikiapedia entry is Quite Detailed on this.। ভারতীয় পুরাণে - উচ্চৈঃশ্রবা (উইকিপিডিয়া).  
9.  Please also consider the Myth in this link: উচ্চৈঃশ্রবা মিথ - নজ্রুল ও অন্যান্য ধর্মগ্রন্থে
10. Let us see how far we can go.  

ছবি থেকে গল্প

আমরা কিছু ছবি থেকে গল্প লিখব। নিচে কিছু লিঙ্ক দেয়া হলো। লিখার জন্য কেবলমাত্র সরবরাহ করা নোটবই ব্যাবহার করুন। 

Old Dhaka in Black and White

Photography Studio in Old Dhaka

লিখুন এবং লিখুন - নিজেকে বিশ্বাস করতে শিখুন।

Here is a great WEBSITE on Writing

কিছু গল্প - কিছু লেখালেখি

লেখার জন্য একটা গল্প খুব জরুরি। আমরা গত ক্লাসে দেখেছি যে, একজন লেখককে "লজ্জাহীন পাঠক হবার পরামর্শ দিচ্ছেন মেক্সিকান লেখক - আল্ভারো এনরিগ। এখানে তার সাক্ষাতকারের লিঙ্ক দেয়া হল। ঠিক তার পরেই দেয়া হল আরেকটি লেখা যেখানে আমরা দেখতে পাচ্ছি "উপন্যাসের" মৃত্যু ঘোষনা দেয়া হয়েছে। থিয়েটার-এর জন্যও কি এরকম কোনো ভবিষ্যত কল্পনা করা যাবে? চলুন দেখা যাক তৃতীয় লিঙ্কে বিখ্যাত পশ্চিমা দার্শনিক ওয়াল্টার বেঞ্জামিন কি বলছেন। এটার একটা হ্যান্ডআউট-ও আপনাদের দেয়া হয়েছে। ছবিটা উইকিপিডিয়ার Death of Novel থেকে নেয়া হয়েছে।

The Writer’s Performance

"উপন্যাসের" মৃত্যু

যান্ত্রিক পুনরুৎপাদনের যুগে শিল্পকলা

A Film on the Life in THEATRE

Here is a film on the life of a Playwright, Director, Actor. A lot of issues will ring in similar tune with many of us who love to work for Theatre. Please watch the first 12 minutes and the final 8 minutes for a Quick look. But the full film is a MUST see. It is the story of two friends, both of whom once worked together in Theatre. They are meeting after many years. The film was made in 1981 with a budget of only 475,000 US$, but earned more than Half a Million dollars in Box Office. It also shows that good films can also earn a lot. Remember, here are only TWO male characters talking all the time. Enjoy Yourself. 

Awareness of spoken WORDS

Playwrights must be aware of the words. They should "taste" the words as they are "spoken." For a soft discussion of this issue let us look at three resources. First is an interview of a singer, then a film song that she refers to and finally to the OPENING of the famous play "চন্দ্রগুপ্ত" by D. L. Roy. It is interesting to note that how the singer acknowledges that Indian language is enriched by Sanskrit and Urdu. It may be noted that Bengali language is equally enriched by Persian, Turkish, Sanskrit - in addition to its own strength in "Prakrita" language. 

1.  Interview (Start at 2.00)
2. Film Song referred to by Sreya Ghoshal 
3. চন্দ্রগুপ্ত 
4.  মাতাল সময়ের ঋত্বিক - যা আর কখনো ফিরে আসবে না

Our Class Today - Lot of things: Feminism, Kindertransport, Phychoanalysis, and Shampoo Surgeon Dean Mahomed

We have done a number of things in class today. I was late in spite of all my effort to be early. Fortunately, many had not arrived even when I arrived late. We discussed how to work a dramatic story and how to use historical fact as a starting point of your playwriting. This kind of researched writing can give you a wonderful sense of being very relevant to your time.

1. We started with a discussion of a Bengali Book titled শীতে উপেক্ষিতা by Ranjan. One of our students read out the first paragraph, which was full of a style known as "Euphuism". It is a style that is self-consciously ornamental and sophisticated. This book was suggested as a very good resource for learning about complex sentence structure. 
2. We then moved to the trailer of a play titled "Kindertransport", based on the transfer of 10,000 Jewish children during the WWII to Britain and their problems of adjusting to the new society, new culture, new environment. Many of these children's parents were brutally murdered in Germany by the Nazis. The purpose of this play in NOT to expose the historical facts but rather to show how someone adjusts to new environment when someone is forcefully removed from one's environment.
3. We next moved to a very detailed discussion of the time and life of Sake Dean Mahomed, the first Indian to travel to England and to publish books in English. We discussed about the writing a FULL play about Sake Dean's travel and his adjustment with a new environment. We discussed about the importance of research before choosing a topic for writing a play. 
4. Next, we moved to a short review of reading three topics from Theory Before Theory - handout by Peter Barry. Most of the students have barely read the topics and it is going to be a big trouble in our future classes, because reading is still NOT believed by students as to be the most important activity for any meaningful engagement.  
5.  During the class we also made a very brief reference to T. S. Eliot's famous Essay "Tradition and Individual Talent." We intend to make further reference to this essay in coming weeks.
6.  While making reference to Feminism, we had a small discussion of the play A Man for All Seasons and the novel The Scarlet Letter. In the play we come to know how Anglican church was separated from Protestant Church. The Scarlet Letter shows how the author dreams of a more humanist society where the Christ figure is imagined as a woman. 
7.  There are some consistent absences in the class which I believe will create a HUGE problem when I give them assignments later. 
8.  I have also declared in the class that the Mid-term exam will consist of following things: (a) A 10 Min Play and the skeleton will be provided in the QP; (b) a number of short notes that have been discussed in the class; (c) a Full-length play of about 40 min where the students have to submit a play based on Sake Sean Mahomed's life. 
9.  Today students also read selected sentences that defines Psychoanalysis and Feminism. 
10. I also read out the first page from the first page of the chapter Feminism from the book "Readers' Guide to Literary Theory." We tried to discuss the following two sentences in the context of feminist thinking - "In Aeschylus’s trilogy, The Oresteia, victory is granted by Athena to the male argument, put by Apollo, that the mother is no parent to her child. The victory of the male principle of intellect brings to an end the reign of the sensual female Furies and asserts patriarchy over matriarchy."
11. Here is the LINK to the book Readers' Guide to Literary Theory =  This book is one of the most reliable book on literary theories. 
12. Today Finally, we decided to read and PSYCHOANALYSE John Keats' poem La Belle Dame Sans Merci. This kind of reading will show how to analyse a text according to psychoanalytical theories. Such practice is intended to improve the students' concept of characterization during Playwriting.