Swapnadal stages Chitrangada at the Studio Theatre hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy on Wednesday. — Snigdha Zaman

Tagore’s masterpiece Chitrangada, written by the Nobel Laureate in poetic drama format in 1892, was staged by Swapnadal at the Studio Theatre hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy on Wednesday.
Chitrangada that upholds the fact that the beauty of soul and spiritual strength are eternal human qualities rather than external beauty through symbolic portrayal of some legends of the epic Mahabharata like Arjun, Manipuri princess Chitrangada and others, was first written by Tagore in 1892 as poetic-drama though he again wrote it as dance drama in 1932.
Swapnadal’s production, directed by Zahid Repon, is full of dialogues in verses with infusing of Tagore songs from the dance drama version of Chitrangada including Badhu kon alo, Amar aange aange, Ketechhe ekela. 
And such inclusion enriched aesthetic quality of the poetic drama presentation of Chitraggada. The director has also infused the narrative technique where a narrator who introduced a new sequence to the audiences.
The production, in deed, aimed to present Tagore’s classic through traditional Bangla narrative style in case of the director’s compositions, use of orchestra, which takes position at one side of the stage, and infusing of some rural games such as lathikhela [stick-tricks] to portray the combat scenes on stage.
However, speedy dialogue delivery by the few actors onstage sometimes failed to communicate the audience with the prolonged verses of Chitrangada.
‘Many troupes have been presented Chitrangada in danace drama form, but we are presenting in the poetic drama form marking151st birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, which was observed recently,’ said, director and chief of Swapnadal  Zahid Repan.