KAMALUDDIN NILU
For a theatre of thought and action 
 

Formerly associate professor of theatre at Chittagong University, Kamaluddin Nilu is the founding secretary general and artistic director of Centre for Asian Theatre. An experienced actor, Nilu has been increasingly occupied with directing these days. His directorial work covers a wide range of plays, from classical Sanskrit plays to contemporary western ones. He is widely known as an unconventional interpreter of Ibsen’s plays. His directorial work has over the years become increasingly experimental, blending modern and traditional forms, techniques and devices, and combining an extensive use of colour symbolism, dialogue, music, and choreographed movement. Recently Anisur Rahman of New Age accompanied by Ahsan Reza Khan, a theatre artiste, spoke to Kamaluddin Nilu about the condition of the theatre and drama in Bangladesh 
 

New Age: In an interview with NTV recently you commented that we had no playwrights. Why did you say this? 
  Kamaluddin Nilu: I was actually focusing on the state of theatre. Of course we have bright playwrights like Selim Al Din, Syed Shamsul Haq and Monzur-i-Mowla. I was also mainly talking about stage performances and not television drama. 
  Selim Al Din has been writing a newer kind of plays. This is something we are not always familiar with. I would never undermine a playwright like Selim Al Din nor neglect him. In fact, I believe that we haven’t yet discussed or studied his work adequately. I would also like to mention our playwrights like Abdullah Al Mamun, Mamunur Rashid and Masum Reza. 
  They prepare scripts for their respective theatre groups. People outside their groups do not get to know their work. We should also remember that a play is not just a piece of writing with literary values. In addition to its literary qualities, it must work have theatrical qualities. Most of our playwrights lack craftsmanship, so their plays fail on stage – which is the final test of drama. Many famous people have written plays. We know Winston Churchill and Pablo Picasso wrote a number of plays. But they failed to earn the reputation of successful playwrights. A play for the theatre is meant to be staged in a physical space. But many ‘good’ plays lack this quality.
  Moreover, a play needs a philosophical background. Many of our playwrights do not have any philosophy in their texts. There is no strong basis for their plots. We do not yet have any exceptional play on our liberation war, one that can be staged centuries from now. 
  Shakespeare is still relevant today, almost four hundred years after his death. Ibsen’s plays are still relevant, even in our society. The works of our playwrights like Abdullah Al Mamun are excellent. But they tend to be topical. His play on the floods, Ekhonoi Duhshomoy, for example, drew crowds. But his play is limited in scope. As soon as the floods recede, his work more likely than not will lose its appeal. What I mean to emphasize here is that a play ought to have universal appeal for it to continue to be relevant hundreds of years after it was written. 
  Look at Mamunur Rashid’s Rarang, based on the Santal revolt. It is a good work, no doubt. But his production does not help us to understand the root causes behind this historic movement. 
  NA: What do you think about the influence of Aroj Ali Matubbar on our playwrights?  

   
KN: I would like compare Aroj Ali Matubbar’s ideas with those of 
Nietzsche. Matubbar believes in existentialism. Like Nietzsche, he questioned the existence of God. But we don’t find his philosophy really influencing our playwrights. Natayakendra has produced a play on Matubbar. But it has failed to convey the philosophy and values of Matubbar. It has rather become a production on the life of Matubbar.
  A play must create the scope for thought. This is the success of a text. Look at playwrights like Shakespeare, Marlowe, Goethe, Brecht and artists like Da Vinci, Salvador Dali and Picasso. Their works have philosophical messages. After seeing the plays of Shakespeare, Marlowe, Goethe, and Brecht, audiences return home struggling with many questions. Do our plays give rise to questions? 
  Now look at Brand, a play by Henrik Ibsen. It was written in 1865. It is based on the theological debate between Christianity and anti-Christianity. But this text is also very relevant for us.
  Heiner Muller, who was born in East Germany in 1929, is widely regarded as one of the most influential and controversial writers in European theatre. His dramatic works have shattered conventional notions of theatre, continuing where Brecht left off. The dark suggestive power of his works radiates a disturbing and provocative energy which attracts and repels, confirms and irritates, shocks and seduces. Rejecting the safety of theatre-grammar, he constantly reinvents structure, inciting fresh, stimulating, vital confrontation between theatre and literature. 
  In fine, theatre is science. It must be presentable, it must have dialogues, it must be possible to stage it in an open space. Our playwrights have not been able to incorporate all this in their plays. They have had to compromise many times.
  If one wants to write a play on Ila Mitra, one must be aware of the historical compulsions of her time. I would like to mention a play written by Syed Shamsul Haq, Payer Awaj Paoa Jai. It is a good play on our liberation war. 
  Mamunur Rashid has had to invest more of his time in writing for television than for the stage. We have not yet created professionalism in theatre. We remain busy with other, more mundane professions all day. Fatigued, we engage ourselves in theatre in the evening. This should not be encouraged. We need to be absolutely professional. 
  NA: Please tell us something about your future plans for Centre for Asian Theatre (CAT). 
  I plan to open Asian Theatre Institute, an academic unit on theatre in CAT. I hope it will start soon. We expect to have cooperation from Denmark, Germany, Norway and India.. Scholars and experts on theatre from home and abroad will be part of this enterprise. 
  Students will first receive theoretical and practical knowledge on theatre at this institute. Then they will have scope to do internship, producing plays for CAT. 
  I would also like to add a few words on the role of donors. Donors need to reconsider and rethink their ideas of social development. Social progress cannot be ensured by ignoring the culture of a community. NGOs invest little money on the cultural aspects in their social development plans. But cultural aspects are important and cannot be ignored in any programme meant to alleviate and reduce poverty. 
  One last word. A playwright has to know and understand facts relating to both history and philosophy.
 

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