Name: Sheikh Asmita Rojen

Student ID: 24203049

Course title: Introduction to Drama

Course code: ENG114

Section : 4
Review on: Rashomon

The play that I watched was Rashomon, a play written by Ryunsoke Akutagawa. It is a play that

shows various perspectives and it is a drama that involves murder and the mystery behind it to

find out the actual truth and observes different perceptions of the same action from wider range

of people. This play was directed by Shantanu Bose and it was staged by the extremely talented

group Natyachakra , known for their indepth representation of the lines of the play.

The play was executed on March 29, 2025 at the Bangladesh Shilapakala Academy in Dhaka.

Rashomon is a blend of both psychological and philosophical play that holds a mystery. This

drama showed the audience the moral ethics and the ultimate truth as well as the multiple

perceptions of human for the same event. The performance touched the hearts and made us think

more deeply helping us to connect with the situation of tha play.

The drama is mainly based on a crime that has taken place in a forest where firstly, the scene

starts by portraying the death of a samurai and the wife is in a brutal state. The play has arose

different emotions among the audience because of the different perceptions of four people. The

event is same yet the perceptions are conflicting. The main characters are : the samurai's wife,

the woodcutter, Tajomaru the bandit, and the ghost of samurai. Tajomaru abused the samurai's

wife and fought with the samurai whereas it conflicts with samurai's wife's perspective. She was

brutally abused and for such reasons she wanted the samurai to take her life but she fainted . The
moment she woke up she saw her dead husband. The ghost of samurai shows that he killed

himself as he couldn't stand the incident with his wife and was ashamed. Lastly, the woodcutter

who claimed that he experienced the whole situation has a whole different version of the story.

He translated that there was abuse and betrayal. However, the story highlights two more

important characters : the priest and the commoner. This incident was told during a lightning

storm infront of the Rashomon gate and the priest was utterly tensed as the truth was being

hidden. The priest was concerned about the future and how they had little humanity left. From

the commoner's perception he identified that the world had selfish creatures who would just

think about their advantages only, however, a ray of hope could be seen at the end of the play

where a man adopted a baby. This gesture brings a little relief.

Plays like Rashomon needs to be executed with in depth emotions and this was quite nicely acted

out. The actors acted out , especially the in in depth lines of the play which helped the audience

to feel the emotions , there was intensity in their acting.

Tajomaru the bandit , was played by Ayman Rahman and he did a magnificent job. The bandit's

portrait was very defined and well acted , the cruelty , the craziness all were nicely proportioned

and acted out. Samurai's wife was played by Sharmeen Alam, who did a phenomenal job, like,

every scene of her varied from boastfulness to the miserable state then again her constant

desparation, everything had its own flow. The audience felt lots of emotions while seeing her act,

first a bit worried about what's happening and in the next moment everyone could relate to the

fear she had as well as her remorse.

Then comes one of the most important characters of the play, the samurai, it was portrayed by

Saif Imtiaz. the role of ghost was executed in such a manner , it created thrill among the

audience. He didn't show lots of movement but acted out especially the ghost scenes, were truly

enjoyable. Rafiq Hossain, who played the role of the woodcutter created an ambience where the

audiences were truly touched by his act . He didn't overdo his expressions rather it was more

realistic and the breaks he took in the scenes and was not too fast, each expressions though the

expressions were not so over the board but he acted out in a proportional way. It was realistic and

fun to watch. The audience could relate the most with him as the derivations, differences, he

portrayed the realistic human emotions and flaws.

Then comes the commoner and the priest , their characters uplifted the philosophical thoughts

where they had different perceptions about the ethics and morality and the traits of human

beings. Everyone could see the real and uncut version of their perception that created doubts as

well as the audience could think and connect more about the human nature and their philosophy.

The setup and the stage created an ambience where the audience could relate. The lights were

nicely positioned and especially the forest was created beautifully. It felt real especially the

shadow , the Rashomon Gate. There were no unnecessary setups rather it was more direct like

the wooden panels and the dim lanterns and the difference in lighting when the characters were

playing the various parts. Audience could feel the actual scenes and the emotions due to the

minimal production setups.The forest played a vital role and it was created more realistically. It
had branches and the shadow was shown in a manner it created different emotions among the

viewers.

Another important setupi is the lighting, which helped to create different moods and the changes

in emotions among the viewers. The subtle lights represented the times and the want whereas the

dramatic lighting represented horror and conflicts. The ghost of the samurai, the viewers felt it

was real and the way the ghost was portrayed created a sense of tense among the audience. From

low intensity of the lighting to the high intensity, it showed a powerful picture of the ghost.

The dress up of the actors were inspired from the Japanese cultural wear and it was not too

dramatic. The costumes were not too fancy rather it had its realness due to the colour and

contrast according to the play and the ambience. The clothes were more relatable to the nature

and natural colour contrasts were the key component. Their attire created a sense of poverty and

the struggles of each characters and their lives through which the human nature and desires could

be seen through. Each of the clothing had their own set of stories like the blood stained cloth of

the samurai , the clothes of the samurai's wife was town which implied the torture and violence

she went through. Then comes the sound of the set up. The lightning storms created a sense of

terror and the next moment the calm winds and then the sound in the forest created different

versions of emotions. Unnecessary music was not there but the sound of the Japanese culture, the

type of music they are into was played in the middle , that gave a visual of their culture and

created a wave of emotions in the most important elements of the scene.

Rashomon left audience with questions, thinking more about the philosophical factors and the

human nature. It seeks for truth. This play makes the audience question that what is the ultimate

truth as everyone has their own perceptions and one is right from their own perspective. Yet

these questions are still unanswerable as there is no complete truth.

The production helped the audience to get a closure and broke down the human characteristics

that consists of desire, terror selfishness and etc. From the perspective and emotions of every

characters , there is us, we humans daily face these emotions.

However, still there's a hope that the play showed , when the woodcutter took the responsibility

of the baby. It reflected that despite the worldly cruelty there's still a little bit of kindness left .

Rashomon is a play that conveyed in depth message to the world rather than using lots of words

and exaggeration . Lastly the message it portrayed is that there's nothing greater and powerful

more than kindness even when people have different opinions. Kindness is powerful and can

bring changes.