Theatre

84 students from seven schools will perform streetplays on child rights and right to education in various parts of Bangalore this November. Bal Jamoore, is an initiative by CRY to make children think and act as social agents of change who respect and stand up for equal rights to all. Pic: Deepthi Sarma. The training program for Bal Jamoore was held on 30th and 31st of October at the CRY office, Cox town. Each participating school has a team of 12-15 students for the street play. The training programme is divided into two segments. The first segment helps the students…

 She prays to Lord Krishna, who provides her with an unending stream of saris to protect her modesty. An exhausted Duhsasana falls to the ground, wondering at the mystery. The Pandavas and Draupadi curse the Kauravas, vowing to kill them in war. Dritharashtra, the father of the Kauravas, realizes the seriousness of the situation and tries, in vain, to beg forgiveness, saying he will return everything that the Pandavas lost, to them.A blind Dhritarashta stumbles into his own court.Bhishma the patriarch, and Vidura, both acknowledge her divine nature, and enraged at this, Duryodhana orders Duhsasana to place her on his…

In some ways, a theatre group has it easier when it is playing to an audience of children. Children are much more willing to suspend disbelief, and are easily entertained....and if the audience that I saw queueing up at Ranga Shankar on the evening of the 1st of September was any indication, that was true that day, too.I asked a few children, and their mothers, how they had heard about "Tenali Raman", the play that Bangalore Little Theatre was putting up that evening. Padma said that she had received an email from Indianstage, and Ranjani said that she often came…

I have been following the fortunes of Yours Truly Theatre (YTT)for a while now, in keeping with my interest in the young theatre groups of this city. Yours Truly has been a pioneer, in Bangalore, in staging Interactive Theatre, where the audience takes on an interactive role in the staging of the play, rather than be passive spectators to a preconceived ending. Now they have several other initiatives, too, such as plays for children, students, and for underprivileged people,I've watched their last play, "Common Man", but had missed the earlier shows of "Bhagwan Dhoondo", and so decided that I'd go…

Dramanon is a young Bangalore-based theatre group whose fortunes I have been following for a fair length of time now, and I have been impressed with their commitment to English theatre, given the obstructions that an amateur group has always to face: affordability of theatre space, funding obstacles, and rehearsal difficulties with day jobs to take care of. They like to choose plays, that, in their own words, "have spunk", and this time, the play in question was Elling, Simon Bent's adaptation of a cult Norwegian film, which in turn was based on a novel by Ingvar Ambjørnsen. 'Elling' by…

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…

It is very easy to review a play which has had a house-full audience, which was cheered to the echo, and was obviously enjoyed to the hilt by every child in the audience!"Tale of Haruk", a Korean fairy tale, staged by TUIDA, a Korean performance group (that aims to be nature-friendly in play-making) was brought to the Bangalore children by way of Ranga Shankara's AHA! initiative to provide theatre for children, supported by Britannia. The production used puppetry, some amount of sleight of hand, a set of musical instruments that are recycled from items of ordinary use,and a talented cast…

Perch, a Chennai-based theatre collective, in association with Rafiki of Bangalore, will be premiering their new play, Ms Meena, inspired by Durrenmatt's The Visit. The play will be staged at Rangashankara from July 28 - August 1.here is the wiki entry about the play.For bookings, contactRanga Shankara36/2, 8th CrossJ P Nagar, II PhaseBangalore - 560 078P: 080-26493982 / 26592777E: rstheatre@gmail.comW: www.rangashankara.org⊕

Why is it that many of us lack manners and consideration. Is it the way we were brought up or we display our pushiness in minor things when most other things are beyond our control. Is the nature of Bangaloreans changing?  Usha Vaidyanathan writes about a fusion performance by Dr L Subramaniam, Ambi Subramaniam, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Ernie Watts and Corky Siegel at Chowdiah Memorial Hall, earlier this year, disturbed by some obnoxious members of the audience. Should not the organizers escort such people out? Who will bell the cat?The doors were closed at 7:05 and the invocation began. Just as…

An insensitive and ignorant society labels them eunuchs, hermaphrodites, kojja, ali, ombathu, and so on. But they prefer theterms hijra, kothi, jogappa, panthi, mangalamukhi, gay, lesbian, intersex, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, etc. Often ostracized by their loved ones for daring to be open and different, they are among society's most marginalized and traditionally excluded. Further, the state and its representatives harass and discriminate against them denying them fundamental rights and benefits like housing, education, employment, healthcare, identity cards. However, for over a decade, the sexual minority community has been demanding humane and dignified treatment and basic entitlements. Additionally, alternate sexual persons…