Play stopped midway for fear of attack on Shilpakala: DG Jamil

Theater troupe Desh Natak’s play “Nityopuran” was stopped midway at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in Dhaka yesterday after a group of people protested in front of the gate of the academy.

Narrating the incident in a virtual press conference today (November 3), Shilpakala Academy General Manager Syed Jamil Ahmed said that the decision to stop the game midway was taken to ensure the “safety of the audience”.

The incident was subject to heavy criticism on social media.

The Shilpakala chief executive explained that he feared the academy itself could become a “target of attack”, given the circumstances.

“Recently, 22 branches of Shilpakala Academy across the country were attacked. This affected me deeply. Along with the audience in the hall, I thought what would happen if the protesters attacked them. Considering the safety and security of the audience, I interrupted the performance and went inside and apologized to the audience.” he said.

Eyewitnesses who were present at the time said that around 6 pm yesterday, a group of people started protesting in front of Shilpakala gates and tagged Ehshanul Aziz Babu of Desh Natak as an “accomplice of Awami League”.

Jamil Ahmed then went and calmed down the protesters and the game then restarted.

However, the protesters regrouped in front of the door and started protesting again.

Describing the incident, Jamil said, “I told them that more than 200 Desh Natak members actively participated in the mass uprising in July-August. Some of them were injured by bullets.

“At first they accepted (what I said) and the game started again. But later they started protesting again… Some people climbed over the wall and entered. When the door was broken, after talking to Desh members, we decided to stop the game completely. Natak.”

Early on October 17, Desh Natak’s Ehshanul Aziz Babu posted on Facebook and said: “Come together to save the country. Let’s chant Joy Bangla slogan and confront these anti-Bangladesh, anti-independence Razakars.”

He added an edited photo showing some advisors to the interim government wearing Jinnah hats and labeled them as “Razakars”.

According to General Manager Jamil, this post sparked protests and disrupted the game.

“The taste of the post was not good. That’s what I told Babu. I told all of them not to post such posts on Facebook and instead criticize the government with their games,” he said.