The much acclaimed production of Samay Natyadal, Shesh Sanglap, is going to have its 75th show on January 24. The popular play will be staged at Experimental Theater Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy that day at 7:00pm. The play was first staged on December 28, 2009 on Ganga-Jamuna Theatre and Cultural Festival.
Shesh Sanglap, a history-based stage-play adapted from noted Egyptian playwright Tewfiq al-Hakim's The Sultan's Dilemma, has been translated into Bangla by Syed Jamil Ahmed and M Saiful Alam.
The play, directed by Aktaruzzaman, is a parable about the preference of the law over the sword, or military power. Set in the medieval past, the play tries to portray a picture of the modern world in the garbs of the medieval era. The play was written not long after the invasion of Egypt by Britain, France and Israel.
The play revolves around a 'mamluk sultan', mamluk means owned slave, at the height of his power, who suddenly has to face the fact that he, a slave of the late former Sultan has never been manumitted, and, thus he is ineligible to hold the power and rule over his people.
As the sultan is a 'mamluk', it becomes necessary, according to the kazi (judge), to declare him as a possession of the state, and sell him at an auction with the hope of getting manumitted. A concubine buys the sultan, and denies freeing him, as was expected.
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