Post-Independence Modern Theatre in Bangladesh

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Syed Jamil Ahmed (University of Dhaka)

Ed. by Niaz Zaman, Independent University Bangladesh
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 10.3.2: Pakistani and Bangladeshi Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Claire Gallien (Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3), Pavan Kumar Malreddy (J W Goethe University of Frankfurt), Delphine Munos (Université de Liège), Muneeza Shamsie (Independent Scholar - Asia), Niaz Zaman (Independent University Bangladesh)

Domains

Movement, Theory, Style (theatre)

Dates

Date of occurrence c.1971-

Places

Bangladesh (Location; Involved)

Modern theatre in Bangladesh was inaugurated by the British colonizers in Dhaka on 18 July 1857, when the town was virtually turned into a military camp fortified by a hundred sailors of the colonial Indian navy. As the Indian Rebellion of 1857 raged all over British India, the sailors in the town of Dhaka performed two farces in a proscenium-arch theatre, Chaos is Come Again and the Original, as the colonizer-spectators “relaxed for an hour or two from the cares and anxieties of [their] daily life” (Mamun 85-86). Over a century and a half later, modern theatre has been entirely refashioned by the people of Bangladesh as a reflexive tool that serves as a “drawing board” to sketch out “more …

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5038 words

Citation: Ahmed, Syed Jamil. "Post-Independence Modern Theatre in Bangladesh". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 August 2020 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=19582, accessed 21 November 2024.]

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Post-Independence Modern Theatre in Bangladesh

Domains

Dates

Places

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