Actomania is returning to the Dhaka stage with a work that reads like a farewell and a confession. The theatre group’s third production is Henrik Ibsen’s final play, “When We Dead Awaken”, staged in Bangla as “Punurutthaner Din”.
The play will premiere on January 27 at 7pm at the Main Auditorium of the National Theatre Hall, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, with a second performance scheduled for January 28 at the same venue and time. The opening show will be attended by the Norwegian ambassador to Bangladesh, Håkon Arald Gulbrandsen.
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Written in 1899, “When We Dead Awaken” was Ibsen’s last dramatic work before his death. Often described as his most autobiographical play, it confronts the cost of artistic ambition, the burden of unrealised desire, and the uneasy space between creation and human intimacy. More than a century later, its themes remain strikingly contemporary.
The Bangla translation is by Shahidul Mamun, while the production is directed by Nowrin Sazzad Bristy, whose recent work has consistently pushed Dhaka theatre towards more introspective and text-driven terrain. Actomania, founded in 2023, has positioned itself as a group committed to experimental and idea-led theatre. Its earlier productions—“Hamletmachine” and “The Man Outside”—were widely discussed for their formal boldness and philosophical urgency.
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Reflecting on the play, director Nowrin Sazzad Bristy says “When We Dead Awaken” speaks fundamentally about freedom and its contradictions. “The play explores liberation—liberation through artistic creation and liberation through human relationships,” she says. “Some characters seek freedom through art, others through emotional connection. That unresolved tension is what gives the play both its worldly weight and its spiritual pull.”
She also points to the play’s portrayal of artistic anguish. “This is a text about inner burning. The pain of failing to create the art one longs for is presented as something close to death. Art transcends time and place; it is universal. That is why a play written in Norway in 1899 still feels so contemporary. The suffering tied to artistic creation is shared by artists across eras and disciplines.”
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The production features a large ensemble cast, including Kamruzzaman Tapu, M H S Laban, Nowrin Sazzad Bristy, Marcia Shawon, Sagar Barua Shan, Fakir Biplob, Marzuk Al Hasan, Prathoma Rahman, Sanvi Mir Chowdhury, Rajan Arif, Dibakar Mondol Jitu, Shahriar Yusuf, and Abhijit Saha Rudra, among others.
With “Punarutthaner Din”, Actomania avoids easy spectacle. Instead, it offers a quiet, demanding encounter with failure, desire, love and the existential stakes of making art.
