‘Jessore Road’ musical staged at Chhayanaut

Badhonhara Theatre School from Narsingdi staged its musical production “Jessore Road” at the Chhayanaut auditorium in Dhaka on Friday, revisiting the suffering of Bengali refugees during the 1971 Liberation War.

Directed by Kamruzzaman Tapu, the production draws from American poet and activist Allen Ginsberg’s “September on Jessore Road”, which he wrote after visiting refugee camps along the road that connected Bangladesh with India during the war.

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Ginsberg’s poem portrays the devastating conditions faced by millions of displaced Bengalis, depicting hunger, disease, exhaustion and the vulnerability of children and elderly people forced to flee their homes. It also reflected on the international community’s response to the humanitarian crisis. Ginsberg later adapted the poem into a musical work, which became one of the prominent international artistic responses to the Bangladesh Liberation War.

According to Badhonhara Theatre School, around 60 performers, aged between four and 70, took part in Friday’s presentation. The production was inspired in part by Moushumi Bhowmik’s song “Shoto Shoto Chokh”, an adaptation of Ginsberg’s poem.

The performance also incorporated a shadow presentation of the poem and excerpts from the 1971 documentaries “Stop Genocide”, “Birth of a Nation” and “Muktir Gaan”.

Based in Narsingdi, Badhonhara Theatre School first staged “Jessore Road” on March 26, 2012. Friday’s performance marked the production’s 71st staging at Chhayanaut.

Organised by 27 Dhanmondi Gai Banglar Gaan Porsod, the event also featured recitations of Ginsberg’s poem in English and Bangla, patriotic songs and discussions on the Liberation War and its cultural legacy.

Fazlul Kabir Tuhin of 27 Dhanmondi Gai Banglar Gaan Porsod said that while the US government opposed Bangladesh’s independence during the 1971 war, many Americans supported Bangladesh. He cited Ginsberg’s poem as an example of that solidarity.