ranga shankara

In Bangalore in the early 90's, I was very impressed by one very young dramatist who wrote plays in English that showed a talent and an ability to mirror social issues well beyond his physical age.I watched every production of Mahesh Dattani's plays that I could, and bought the book of his plays to read the rest. I have also grown up in Kolkata, enjoying the vibrant Bengali theatre scene; to me,there was no greater  accolade of a person's creative talent than the words, "O theatar korcche" (He is into theatre).  So when my friend Shangon told me that a…

Having watched Adishakti Laboratory for Theatre Art Research (what a mouthful, I'll call it ALTAR for short!)'s earlier production, "The Tenth Head" at Ranga Shankara, and reviewed it here, I was prepared for an interesting evening when I went to watch "Nidrdravathvam". The play is about two brothers of the protagonist and the antagonist of the Ramayana: Lakshmana and Kumbhakarna. They are connected in having received boons that, in the words of the excellent brochure provided by ALTAR, "dramatically alter their cycles of sleep and wakefulness." Kumbharkarna's tongue is tied by Saraswati, and instead of asking for "Nirdevatvam" (destruction of the Devas) he…

The play, "The Tenth Head", written by Vinay Kumar KJ, directed by Veenapani Chawla, and staged by Adishakti Laboratory and Theatre Art Research, Puduchery, has a very interesting central premise: that all the heads of Ravana are not alike, and that the tenth head is quite different from the other nine.   Intrigued by this, I went to watch the staging at Ranga Shankara, on the 18th of February, 2014. I found myself both interested and puzzled at different times during the play.   The on-again-off-again power situation took its toll on Ranga Shankara's usual punctuality, and the play started…

It's quite unusual to go to review a play that's been running for some time, but I did just that on the 23rd of January, as I went to watch "The Incredible Mullah Nasruddin" at Ranga Shankara. This was their 13th show. The play is a production by the "AHA!" children's theatre wing of Ranga Shankara. The main protaganist is Mullah Nasruddin, who, in this version, comes from Arabia to India to garner wisdom, and undergoes various experiences, depicted in 21 short vignettes. The play had several features unusual in children's theatre. For one, there was a blue turban that…

  S G Vasudev is an interdisciplinary artist – an artist whose works are deeply influenced by other arts – music, dance, poetry, weaving, mythology and more. The release of the artist’s coffee table book “Vriksha – The art and times of SG Vasudev,” held on 20 July 2013, couldn’t have been better timed. The garden city is also playing host to a month-long exhibition of paintings of one of the country’s greatest interdisciplinary artists - Rabindranath Tagore. The austere occasion started with the launch of Vasudev’s book by the high priestess of theatre in Bangalore, Arundhati Nag. On the…

I have been following rafiki, a theatre group, from the time when they used to stage the plays of Athol Fugard, South African playwright and novelist.They stage plays with ideological contexts and started working with children in the field of theatre, too. I have seen their struggles and their hard times, and so it was with even more satisfaction than usual that I noted that they collaborating with “Toto Funds the Arts” (TFA) to stage an adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s work at Ranga Shankara, on September 6th and 7th, 2012. A scene from Rafiki's play. Pic: Nitye Sood At first,…

There was an extra festive element at the Ranga Shankara Theatre Festival this time, as it fell between Dasara and Deepavali. The Theatre Festival started on October 16 and wound up on October 23. Street play at Ranga Shankara. Pic: H V Venugopal This year's theme was "Political Theatre," a controversial topic that brings out debate, and creativity, in people. Keeping with the theme, there were several contemporary folk theatre performances and documentaries screened, with vigorous discussions at the end. Sadanand Menon's workshop on Theatre and Arts Appreciation was very well-attended, as was the seminar on the same theme. "It…

Having attended most of the performances of the Ranga Shankara Theatre Festival 2010, it's worth introspecting on the effort this festival has made to introduce different forms of folk theatre to the Bangalore audience. This year's theme was different from the normal staging of plays, and probably unique as a theatre festival presentation. The most impressive aspect of this was the huge effort that has been made to get folk theatre artists from not just our own State, but from as far afield as Assam and Manipur. Also, various forms...the singing or the "recital" forms such as the Pandavani from…

It was a lovely evening to walk down to Ranga Shankara to see my first ‘serious’ play since my return to the city after a long absence....and I was not disappointed. “Ms.Meena”, on at Ranga Shankara from July 28 to August 1, is a joint effort between the members of Perch, a Chennai-based theatre group, and rafiki, a Bangalore group. The creative use of props - two brooms have become the handrail of a bus and the winnowing frame the steering wheel. Pic: Deepa Mohan. Sachin Gurjale and Sunitha of rafiki had watched two productions of Perch - Sangathi Arinhya…

Recently staged at the JP Nagar-based Ranga Shankara, Naariyal Paani is a production of the group Our Theatre. Directed by Sandeep Shikhar, the play is basically like a monologue where the character narrates his love story to the audience. He is interrupted by two characters - a tabla player and a guitarist. The tabla player, enacted by Santosh Satavailli, represents the protagonist's physical presence. The guitarist, on the other hand, represents the rest of the universe. Vivek Vijayakumaran plays the protagonist. His constant rubbing-hand-against-thigh act was fun to watch. For me, however, it was guitarist Anupam Roy who stole the…