New Age | “The Begum’s Blunder” satirizes the upper class

Jatrik Productions satirized rich and upper-class elites in its new play titled “The Begum’s Blunder”, an adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s comedy “Lady Windermere’s Fan”, presented at the Nilima Ibrahim Auditorium in Bangladesh on Monday Mahila Samity in Dhaka.

Jatrik’s fourth theater production was adapted, designed and directed by Naila Azad.

“The play not only satirizes the notions and opinions of the upper class of the past, but also the wealthy elites and influential people of contemporary society,” said Naila Azad, who tried to tell a story to force the audience to see the world as it is (or was), thus allowing them to make their own judgment on “The Begum’s Blunder”.

The play is set in 1920s Bengal. India was a colony of the United Kingdom and the British Empire deeply influenced the culture and lifestyle of the upper class.

The audience gets a glimpse of the upper class as well as their expensive lifestyle and complete disregard for social and other norms.

The play revolves around Begum Mumtaz Nizamuddin who believes that her husband Nawab Nizamuddin has had a mistress when a mysterious woman attends a party. The two-hour play is staged in English.

“English is gradually gaining a foothold in our daily lives. Our ancestors lived under British rule and pursued their higher education in English. Before and after the Liberation War, a large number of people went abroad for further education and returned. The number of students in English-medium schools is gradually increasing and people in our country are listening to English content on the Internet,” said Naila Azad, who added, “We want to reach young people with this play and I hope that many theater groups will follow in our footsteps.

“Oscar Wilde is one of my favorite authors. I love “Lady Windermere’s Fan,” but I never feel comfortable putting on foreign plays with white makeup. So I depicted the time when the people of Bengal spoke in English. In colonial Bengal, the nawabs and zemindars were influenced by British culture and way of life. I hope the audience enjoys the play,” she added.

Baizid Haque Joarder, Samreen Islam, Warda Ashraf, Auyon Islam Ace, Dahlia Ahmed, Ibtesam Doha Sami, Akhlaq Siddiqi, Diti Roy, Sadman Sayid, Kingbadantee Sabir, SB Meraz, Dhrubani Mahbub, Danny Amin, Nafiz Ahsan Arpon, Naushad Ali Hussein, Naymisha Chowdhury, Shamonti Adrita and Pujan Roy played different characters in the play.

“The Begum’s Blunder” will be performed at the same venue until June 27 and July 1, 2 and 6.