The Magic of the Environmental Theatre

Tagore’s “Rother Roshi”

Environmental theatre involves a number of people working together in a place. It began in the start of the nineties in South Asia. The performance is in a natural space. It includes interaction between the writer, director, actors, designer and the audience. All work together creating a magical world within a limited space. This is what Ashish Khondoker-a curious figure - with his frail frame, hair in a bun and light cat eyes flashing-says, as he talks passionately about environmental theatre. Writers who deal with theatre have known him for thirty years. Ashish is trying to explore his inner self and establish himself. He began his work when he returned from the National School of Drama in New Delhi, where he had gone to study with an ICCR Ministry of Culture scholarship, in the 1991 batch.
'Mohammed Amin' a play performed at the dry pond of the Dhaka University Faculty of fine Arts campus was one of his most remarkable and memorable attempts. As the story line was a classical one, the dramatist had chosen a classical 'stage', instead of an amphitheatre. The story was about everyday life in rural society. The social background gave the play a fillip which nothing else could at that time.This was the dramatist's third production. The play is about a man who earns his living by measuring lands and ultimately he finds  that life is equal to “0” — this being a philosophical interpretation of life.

Ashish Khondoker

When he came back in the nineties, he found two types of theatre prevalent in Bangladesh. One was the street theatre and the other was the conventional proscenium -- both of which , says the dramatist ,are colonial concepts.  He had done 'Karkhana' , which he presented in the upper level of the Dhaka University's Teachers Students Centre or TSC. There is a European tomb there. Ashish merged the educational background history and this was related to the contemporary life of Dhaka in the nineties. In his opinion, the system of Bangladeshi education was then  abysmal and linked up with one political party or another rather than a quest of a true search for knowledge. There is big semi-circle, which is architecturally part of the auditorium of TSC. The audience was either standing or sitting on the adjacent field.  
In the middle of the nineties he created a school for the urban children, who had little natural space to play in and enjoy life. This is called Friday Theatre School. In his repertoire, the dramatist has also done Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' although  this was geared to the local audience. This was performed at Mahila Samiti and adapted in Bangla. The interpretation was different from the original play. It was the production of 'Nattodhara'. He has done many stage plays like 'Look Back in Anger' by John Osborne at the gallery of the  Alliance Francaise. The one act plays were, however, too long to be absorbed by the average Dhaka audience and viewers became restive. He did all this with 'Space and Active Research Centre', which was founded in 1991. His plays were popularised as the 'Poribesh Theatre'(Environemental Theatre).
   Ashish has made about 86 plays, beginning his career in 1978. Till now he has now done thirty stage plays. In doing his creative work, the dramatist is not satisfied. Like all ambitious creative people, at 50, he hopes to do more and better work than before. He has also gone into films. He has done 'A Tale of Buffalo Life' which is a story built around a woman with various problems, in a rural area. It is a film about the liberation of women. He has also done a film on the 1971 Liberation War, 'Ekti Shironamhin Natok' was its play. A man with a broken  wireless set, and an army man and one local aid during the war. After the end of the war, a Pakistani enters the scene and creates havoc. This film 'Tar Kono Nam Nei' was very popular and meaningful, according to the dramatist. It dealt with conspiracy. The same chaos is seen today, when anarchists mix up with society and take different appearances, says Ashish.
He has also delved into Tagore's work, an interpretation of 'Rother Roshi' a small play, on which experimentation has been adequately done. The play was popular in schools and colleges. In English one would term the play as 'The Kings of the Chariot'. It dealt with fundamentalism. It shows how the pundits (North Indian 'Thakurs') torture  the common people, and 'Kaler Jata' is a similar criticism  of the misinterpretation of religion.