Dogdha

About the Play

Incendies tells the story of a twin brother and sister, Janine and Simon on the quest to uncover the mystery of their mother Nawal’s past and the silence of her last years. Each receives a letter with a shocking assignment after their mother dies. To carry out their assessments, to solve the mystery of their origin this journey takes them to their mother’s war-torn country and to the heart of their mother’s own story. In retracing the bitter history of their mother, other characters come into the story-witness or key players able to assist in the investigation. Carried aloft by poetic language, the enquiry pursued by Janine and Simon unfolds in a dreamlike atmosphere that cultivates the mystery surrounding a knife thrust into the heart of childhood.

Incendies, a contemporary re-telling of the Oedipus myth, the play examines what kind of culture, collective and individual memories inform the journeys of its characters, who are exilic children. The play serves Mouawad as a platform to stage the testimony of his childhood trauma: the trauma of war, the trauma of exilic adaptation, and the challenges of return.

 

Director’s Note

‘Incendies’ is an in-depth investigation of a family secret – a legacy – a search for identity – a journey of sufferings revealed by the trials of civil war, violence, torture and rape as well as the positive elements of survival. Like other plays of Wajdi – trauma, exile, sufferings, war, migration… these are the main motifs and key points of the play. I like Wajdi’s style of writing, his poetic rendering of the words and thematic depth.  And as a director I dared to take the challenge to solve the puzzle of the structural complexity of his writings, like the postcolonial narratives which includes the splitting of time and space. Moving forward and going back.. a constant use of recalling while telling the story. So, I have tried to use the techniques of zoom-in… zoom-out, inter-cut.. dissolve.. and other tools and crafts to choreograph the production by using symbolic settings. My performers were in a process of constant search for translating a fictional world into a real world. They went through the history of the period, and have poured their energy, strength and intelligence to capture the inner world of the characters and events described by the playwright and intent of the director’s interpretation. I am also offering my gratitude to the Alliance Française de Chittagong and France Embassy for their unconditional support of staging French plays in different genres since 2001.

Life is not like black and white. It always travels into a gray field, which sometimes harsh. But, beneath a gloomy surface there might be a light of hope.  It is also hopeful and honest, art reflecting life, revealing ways and colors we don’t notice day by day. Hope, we shall hear her silence.

 

About the Playwright

A Lebanese-Canadian writer, actor, and director Wajdi Mouawad (born 1968) was born in Lebanon. Mouawad’s family left the country when he was eight due to the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War. He moved to Montreal in 1983 after living in France for five years. He obtained his diploma in interprétation (acting) from the National Theatre School of Canada in 1991.

He is known in Canadian and French theatre for politically engaged works such as the acclaimed play Incendies (2003). His works often revolve around family trauma, war, the betrayal of youth. Since April 2016, Mouawad has been the director of the Théâtre National de la Colline in Paris.

Tous des oiseaux; English translation: Birds of a kind, L’œil, Ciels; English translation: Heavens, Incendies; English translation: Scorched are some of his most acclaimed plays.

On Stage

Jishu Das as Notary Alfons Lebel

Mubidur Rahman Sujat as Simon

Kamal Barua as Doctor, Guard, Chamseddin

Aruna Dutta as Jenin, Elhem

Sabiha Binta Jashim as Nawal Marwan

Dipta Chakraborty as Wahab, Nihad

Puja Biswas as Nazira, Antoan

Amita Barua as Zihan, Sawda

Nawajesh Ashraf Easad as Abdessamad, Malak

Jyotirmoy Barua as Ralph, Militia-1

Mohammed Rasel as Ralph, Militia-2

Sagirul Alam as Guide, Photographer

 

Off Stage

Playwright : Wajdi Mouawad

Set, Light, Music Design & Direction : Ashim Das

Adaptation : Ashim Das, Anwesha Das

Assistant to the Director : Mubidur Rahman Sujat, Anwesha Das

Production Co-ordinator : Kamal Barua, Dipta Chakraborty

Stage Manager : Showman Rudra, Hasibul Alam

Costume Design : Anwesha Das

Music Control : Anwesha Das, Farhad Hossain

Projector Control : Farhad Hossain, Md. Adnan Sami

Props & Set Making : Abdul Malek

Wardrobe : Puja Biswas, Sabiha Binta Jashim, Amita Barua, Aruna Datta

Make-up : Shahriar Hannan, Bishwajit Dasgupta Api

Boxing Trainer : Kazi Mohammad Joua

Cinematography : Amllan Barua

Publicity : Md. Azmal Hossen, Nawajesh Ashraf Easad, Shoaib Hossain

Poster Design : Bishwajit Talapatra

Production Advisor : Tilottoma Sengupta

FOH : Fameans