Thespian Ataur Rahman is directing English poet-playwright William Shakespeare's famous tragedy Hamlet, translated by the late poet-playwright Syed Shamsul Haq. It is Haq's last translation work.
Ataur earlier directed three Shakespearean plays, including Troilus and Cressida, Merchant of Venice and an adaptation of Julius Caesar titled 'Ganonayok'.
Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy will produce Hamlet in April to mark the Shakespeare's 451 birth and 401 death anniversary and will also pay homage to the late poet-playwright Syed Shamsul Haq. Twenty five actors from different theatre troupes in the city will perform in the play.
The actors were selected from 85 theatre activists through a 15-day workshop held in last April in which participants had to prove their skills by acting in five Shakespeare's plays - Macbeth, The Tempest, Othello, Taming of the Shrew and The Merchant of the Venice.
Ataur Rahman has plans to impart a few Tagore songs and lines from Jibanananda Das's poems into the play as experiment.
Ataur Rahman is a veteran stage and television actor. He was born in Noakhali on June 18, 1941. He completed his master's in Soil Science from the University of Dhaka.
Rahman served as the general secretary and later president of Bangladesh Centre of the International Theatre Institute (BCITI). He is the founder general secretary of the theater troupe "Nagorik Natya Sampradaya". He is a former chairman of Bangladesh Group Theatre Federation.
Rahman directed over 30 plays including "Rokto korobi", "Banglar Mati Banglar Jol", "Narigon", "Irsha", "Opekkhoman", and "Waiting for Godot". He has received Ekushey Padak, Shaheed Munier Chowdhury Award and more.
