Enterttainment Desk :
To mark the 400th death anniversary of great English bard Shakespeare and a initiate for the memorial campaign a press conference was held on November 12 at the British Council at Fuller Road, University of Dhaka in the city.
. The campaign titled “Shakespeare Lives” will start in Bangladesh with the performance of a “A Different Romeo and Juliet” on March 26, 2016. The press conference was conducted by Eeshita Azad, chief of the arts department at British Council. Welcome speech of the event was delivered by Barbara Wickham, director of British Council in Bangladesh. Special guests of the event were renowned film director Salahuddin Yousuf Bachchu; Jenny Sealey, Artistic Director of Graeae Theatre Company, London. Vote of thanks was given by Mack of British Council.
Barbara Wickham in her speech laid out the initial planning of the global campaign “Shakespeare Lives” due for 2016. The campaign will look to propagate Shakespeare’s ideals that sought to break all conventions to foster human spirit in general. It will be conducted in a global scale across more than hundred countries where British Council currently operates in throughout most of 2016. The production ” A Different Romeo and Juliet” has been created while bearing in mind Shakespeare’s belief on individual sovereignty and British Council’s vision of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). The production has been supported by CRP-Bangladesh, BRAC, BRIDGE, Dhaka Theatre, Graeae Theatre and Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy. It will be staged at Shilpakala Academy on March 26, 2016.
Nasiruddin Yousuff Bachchu in his speech discussed how he came into touch with the project concerning “Shakespeare Lives.” He worked with Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London in 2012 under a venture of Dhaka Theatre, the theatre he has worked for almost 43 years. During then he came into the attention of British Council. Thus the council proposed him to be a part of the programme that can pay respect to Shakespeare in a befitting manner in Bangladesh on the 400th year of his demise. Bachchu accepted the proposal but offered to use disabled persons of the country in stage performances. He said that twelve percent of Bangladeshi population are inflicted with some sort of disabilities but they are hidden in plain sight among the mainstream mass. These people are always looked down upon and have fewer chances to show their worth. This is the reason why Bachchu considers it his duty to help them bring out their potentials. He also mentioned that the production includes people with three types of disabilities namely- visual, auditory and physical. Four member of the musical department of the production are all visually impaired. He also mentioned that ” A Different Romeo and Juliet” is only the first part of the “Shakespeare Lives” project and that for this reason it has been renamed. The original title of this remake of Shakespeare’s timeless love tragedy was “A Different Shakespeare.” Bachcu and the team had to conduct at least five workshops to find and groom the perfect members for the team.
Jenny Sealey, the co-artistic director of the opening ceremony of London Para-Olympics 2012 was out of her breath while expressing how she felt when she was offered the project “A Different Romeo and Juliet.” She holds this as her biggest achievement after her success at the London Para-Olympics. She hinted at the opening of the play which would include a cricket match. About her reflections on her work with Bangladeshi disabled people she claimed their despair at their deformities to strike her most. However she added that she managed to pacify their concern as she did not want them to hide their deformities but rather be proud of them.
