Asia Dance Channel

BANGSAWAN “SHAKUNTALA”
29April 2010
Experimental Theatre, National Arts, Culture and Heritage Academy (ASWARA)
By Syed Khairuzman
Photography by Syaffiq Hambali

Bangsawan “Shakuntala” is a theatrical performance by second year diploma students from the Music, Theatre and Dance Department of ASWARA. This two-hour performance was fully managed and staged by the students as part of their compulsory course evaluation, under the guidance of Encik Mohd Shahrul Mizad Asaari and advised by Encik Rahman Abu Bakar.

Bangsawan “Shakuntala” is a Hindu mythology revolving around Shakuntala, daughter of Dewi Menaka who came down to earth to live as a hermit. The story portrays Shakuntala to be as beautiful as the forest. She falls in love with Emperor Dusyanta, founder of the Paurav Dynasty. They eventually got married in the forest, not knowing that Durvasa, a Hindu demigod had cast a curse on Shakuntala. As soon as Emperor Dusyanta gave his ring to Shakuntala, he loses all memory of her. Meanwhile, Shakuntala discovers that she is pregnant and goes to the emperor’s palace. Emperor Dusyanta does not recognise his own wife. She was expelled and was carried away to heaven by angels. As she was carried up to the heavens, she accidentally drop her ring and it fell into the sea below.

A fisherman found the ring, which was swallowed by a fish, by chance when he was fishing at the Ganges River and returns the ring to the emperor. Emperor Dusyanta recovers his memory and reunites with Shakuntala and his new born prince in heaven and they were blessed by all the angels. The emperor returns to earth and continues to live a happy life with his wife and son.

Bangsawan “Shakuntala” is tale that is light and easy to follow. Live music accompanied the performance. The orchestra brilliantly delivered the mood of the entire performance creating suspense, romantic and dramatic moments, and even highlighted funny moments with weird sound effects. There was this one time when one of the actors made a silly joke accompanied by a funny timpani sound and everyone laughed. Sometimes, the music and sound effects from the orchestra were too loud and overshadowed the performer’s voices. The actors did not use microphones while the singers and story teller did.

There were only a few moments of dancing and singing performed by the main cast and also students from the dance and music department. True to the format of Bangsawan, these were not related to the story.

Overall, the acting by the drama students was excellent and they manage to engage the crowd into every scene. The emotions and expressions delivered were flawless. Kudos to the entire cast for pulling off a wonderful performance!