Final Submissions of Playwriting Course 402

On June 30th, 2022 we formally concluded our works on Playwriting Course 402 for the students of 7th Semester of Batch 2021. All students were required to submit 1 final play as part of their Coursework. Here is the list of plays submitted, along with the post-reading Comments. কালো অক্ষরে লেখা মন্তব্য ১ম পাঠ এর পরে করা হয়েছে। লাল অক্ষরে লেখা মন্তব্য চুড়ান্ত পর্যবেক্ষন/মতামত হিসাবে দেয়া হলো। 

	পাঠ-মন্তব্য
Dipam Saha “ওরা চার জন”	The strongest appeal of this play would be its dialect-based dialogue. But as with dialects in any play in any language, standardization is an important question that needs to be solved. The play kept me on the toe, looking for fresh excitement at every start of the dialogue. However, I am not very convinced that the dialect experiment is the best. The play also has no sense of an ending. It is circular but the characters do not know the world of absurdity. It seems that on the floor a lot of changes will have to made to make the dialogues. Good thought. || Good storyline and symbolism. | Characterisation follows a typical pattern. | Language SIMILAR for all characters. | There is no destination of the story because is almost no plot. | Yet, on an absurdist plane the play looks rather attractive.
Fariha Hossain Neelima  “এপিলগ”	The best thing about the play is its structure. Although presented as a monodrama, as only one character has a speaking role, the play makes it possible to use a number of other characters as aide to the principal actor. Instead of a storyline that uses a plot, we have a story where a hypothetical question of loneliness surrounded by destruction is discussed. Visually the play has so many strong moments that on the stage it could really look brilliant! Loved the play. The play’s defect is that it touches on too many things and identifies specific events that happened recently (Rana Plaza, Palestine Conflict). This makes the play less than universal. || Strong use of landscape and universal time. | Structurally, the play is a MONODRAMA, and all demands of monodrama has been satisfied. | Use of physical space is integrated into text and the storyline is the STRONG element of the play.
Rafayatullah Sohan  bxj iOgnj	This play is based on real+myth+historical. Greater expanded version would have been wonderful. Understanding of history from contemporary life was suggested but not fully explored. Characters of Gauhar Jaan and Binodini in the same theatrical frame was an excellent idea. || Good storyline. | Moderately strong characterisation. | Use of classical music to evoke mood and atmosphere is commendable. | Themes of Art and Corruption are briefly touched, These could have been expanded to a fuller extent. | Wide range of character assemblage.
Sujana Zahedi  নীল রঙমহল	The character of Ninama is well presented. But the play is too sudden. It opens in a rush of events and ends abruptly with the death of a murderer, who killed her husband as a moral choice. But the plot is strong enough to develop the attitude of Legal System towards Crime, Judgment, and Punishment. || The play has strong opening and a very convincing journey till the near-end. | It seems that the author deliberately condensed the play for a very short performance. | The author did NOT make careful analysis of psychological breakdown of the main character. More exposition would be needed. | The play attempts to make moral judgments characters, which may seem simply a patch-work of conventional morality. Not something developed through the dialogues.
Shahbaz Istiaq Puran  নামহীন নাটক  (“পার্সেল”)	The play is a simple presentation of a newspaper report about a parcel-bomb used by a disgruntled man against his professional rival. There is no twist and the storyline is fully realistic.  || Simplistic linear storyline. | Reads more like a detective story. | Some of the events are taking place too fast and too quickly for a dramatic impact. | Awareness of a stage-play is absent. | Positive note – the play has a focused level of action.
Pronab Ranjon Bala  “অপরিচিত”	This play too is a take on political realism and a kind of fact-finding mixed with idealist version of how our society should look like. The play has a good number of strong points, including a diverse arrangement of individual characters and groups. The playwright should immediately start writing another play. || Simplistic outline of story. | Complex issues of religious extremist ideology has not been exposed in all its complexity. | Too much ink has been spent on providing comic relief through the character of the Constable. | Good control over pace of the story. | Inclusion of songs could be made more effective.
Sawyor Neogi  “ঈর্ষা” এবং ফাইনাল সাবমিশন “ব্রিফ-কেস” - দু’টি নাটকের মন্তব্য।	The play is more like a skeleton of the bigger story. It is meant to be thriller but may be it lacks Story Development along with Tension Development. It is possible to expand the story of Sajib into a full-fledged Phycho-drama where he can be shown from the perspective of his own Consciousness. Sajib’s freedom is bought by a video. But there is little indication that this video will clear Sajib from jail. The best way to check the missing action is to arrange a play-reading session. || Òveªd-‡KmÓ bvU‡Ki gšÍe¨ =  Storyline is quite erratic. | Weak characterisation. | Female characters are portrayed from masculine point of view. | Language is inadequate to express complex thoughts. | Positive point – the author is able to show that a particular action is launched from motivation. | The author was able to provide motivation for action of characters.
Obaidur Rahman Sohan  “হিস্যা”	“wnm¨v” is a faithful dramatization of Manto’s short-story. The play mixes fantasy with comic action and so will need some guideline in the form of stage direction. Additional comments on the character bible can also assist the actors in properly pinpoint the line of acting. || Strong storyline in spite of the fact that it is partly adapted from Manto. | Characterisation is another strong point. | The tension build-up is consistent. | Ending is made to synchronize well with earlier actions. | Technique of Magic-realism is effectively applied/used.
Tonushree Karkun  “কবিতা যুদ্ধ”	This could have been an excellent way of exploring the themes of War, Love, Hospital Recovery. I found a lot of theatre, except that I wanted better connection with the Time+Place+Action. It is possible to develop the play into a full-time text. || Thematically, the play is quite interesting. | Characterisation of Robert and Victor are strong as they represent opposite spectrum of life. | Good control over daily language. | Everyday language is contrasted with poetic language that is born under extreme physical stress.
Abtahi Shadman Fahim  নামহীন নাটক	The play is a good take on what happens when we are disillusioned with our idealist life-philosophy. Heera and Khorshed may seem lively, but some of their dialogues are incongruous with their self-declared belief and there is also some anachronism in the play. The play is fully dialogue based and lacks theatrical conflict resolution. || Good characterization. | The dramatic actions is not well defined. | Consistency in language is strong. | To some extent, the author has successfully blended historical past, contemporary time and the IRONY born of these two different times.
Tanvir Ahamed “ওয়াজেদ আলির অদ্ভুত চিড়িয়াখানা কিংবা আবদুল ওয়াহাবের ট্রেন দর্শন”	A very strong script with detailed character arrangement. Lot of research had been in place in developing the time and atmosphere of the period. The play is divided into Acts and Scenes which gives the writing a strong sense of structure. Time shift is a major aspect of the script, however, time-shifts could be a little more Smother. This could have been done by making the storyline a little linear instead of spreading into too many different Kahini’s. Long descriptive narratives need to be woven into the play. I loved the title of the play though.  || Although the author tried to bring together diverse characters and historical perspectives, it proved too complex a job for a fresh writer. | The storyline may appear inconsistent at times. | There is too much of descriptive narration which might prove too problematic for the director. | The author makes good experiment with language. | Good experiment with past and present.
Nikita Azam  “চূর্ণলিপির আত্মসমর্পন”	This play centres on tension that builds up between mother, son, and his beloved. Each character suffers from a suffocating sense of being inside a prison. I liked the tension but I would strongly suggest that the setting should be in the context of subcontinent. The story is good enough to make it a fierce place of opposing characters. || Using Kafka’s short story for the inspiration for the play was a good decision. However, if the author had made the characters speak from the sub-continental time-space scene, the play would have made greater impact on reader-audience. And more convincing too. | Use of pages and letters strewn over the stage makes a surrealistic image. However, this was an isolated technique. | At times the dialogues give the impression that these are directly re-translated from English. | The psychological turmoil of each characters is somehow communicated. But it would have been much better if the writer had used her own command of Bengali.
Hossain Zibon “আগন্তুক”	Although the play has a huge rural canvass, the playwright concentrates only on a single aspect of presenting a case when a member of a village medicine-men is affected by a viral disease. Better expansion of the storyline could make it a great play about the importance of humanity over petty identity politics. || Opening is realistic. | Advice on Corona protection makes the play something of a promotional piece. | Narrative has good elements. Such as humanism in the face of great crisis, religious bigotry etc. | The language is consistent. | However some demeaning language towards women are used without good reasons for such uses.
Nasrin Sultana  “অপরাজিতা”	The play spent a lot of effort and ink on character development. Each character has its reason for behaving in a particular way. This gives the play a strong, well-knit ability to be performed with confidence. May be not all the “inner monologues” are well developed and may be a lack of Action towards a Goal is absent, but the characters’ statements and their own realization of their problem make this play a good text. I have some reservation about using Bengali and English names without much explanatory comment. || Structurally, a well-crafted play. | It has a strong opening and convincing ending. | Language is another strong point. Author has used good amount of metaphors, imagery, and alliterations to make the text appealing. | Weakness = bringing diverse cultural points of view in an unplanned way. | Use of western names pose difficulty in placing the play within a specific social context. | The main character leaves a number of ambiguities in her speech, which are not clarified at the end.
Farzad Iftekhar “ফুড কনফারেন্স”-এর নাট্যরুপ	The play is a direct adaptation of Abul Monsur Ahmed’s famous satire “Food Conference”. The original writing is full of hilarious satire and scathing criticism of contemporary politics and corruption prevalent among government officials and public representatives. The format is kept within the combined perspective of Political Satire + Fable form. I wish there were more action to make the whole play full of energy. || As an adaptation from a well-known political satire, the play is able to correctly dramatize the plot. | However, the playwright did not change the timeline of the events, and therefore, the play may appear too distant, and the political issues too foreign for the audience.