Theatre

It's a tough act to follow, when a play is a re-interpretation of a literary classic, and that, too, one written for the stage. Chitrangada, the musical dance-drama by Rabindranath Tagore, was staged in a new form by Red Polka Productions at Ranga Shankara, on Tuesday, the July 17, 2018. Having long read, watched and appreciated the literary and dramatic works of Tagore, I was eager to see what the new production would be like. The original dance-drama was written by Tagore in 1891, and is the story of Chitrangada, the only child of the king of Manipur. She is treated…

A play where one actor alone comprises the cast faces several challenges. The success of the play devolves, in large part, on the shoulders of that one actor, no matter how good the crew and the production values may be. For this reason, I am always interested in watching "monoacting" as it is called here. I went to watch 'Karl Marx in Kalbadevi' at Ranga Shankara, on 29 June 2018 in this spirit. The underlying premise of the play is that Karl Marx comes back to life, 150 years after his death, to the Mumbai suburb of Kalbadevi; he wants…

National School of Drama, Bengaluru Centre invites applications for admission to its residential One year Certificate Course in Acting. The Course will begin from 25 th July, 2018. Anybody throughout the country (India) can apply but preference would be given to candidate from Southern States of India (Karnataka, Andhra pradesh , Telengana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Union Territories of Pondicherry and Lakshadweep. Total seats: 20(Twenty) Medium of instructions: English. The language of instruction shall be English. The language of performance will be multilingual (South Indian Dravidian Languages). The language of writing the examination shall be English or any one from…

A play that is an interpretation of another play faces several challenges. What if the audience is not familiar with the original play?  How can the production pick up on very contemporary issues from a play originally written in 1972...46 years ago? The Big Fat Company addressed these issues, and more, successfully, in their production, "Head 2 Head", where the cast and crew "play" with Hayavadana. A scene from the play, in a photo  displayed in the foyer: As I entered the theatre space, I found the first attempt in this direction by the Big Fat Company.  An excellent brochure, printed…

Since I have enjoyed the work of Tahatto for many years now (you can read my review of another of their plays, here (written on a rainy evening exactly 5 years and 3 days ago!) I looked forward to watching "remember Remember" by this young and talented group, on another rainy evening, (12 Oct '17) and neither my friends nor I were disappointed. Pic: Thomas Kadavil Abraham The play had a good house, too considering that it was the middle of the week, and the audience had braved weekday traffic and heavy rain to get to Ranga Shankara. The assistant…

I went to watch Kriyative Theatre’s presentation of “Where The Shadow Ends” after having read the theatre group’s introduction to it, with an open mind...and that open mind was truly filled with sights, sounds, concepts both abstract and concrete, in the one hour and twenty minutes that the play lasted. The narrative, as the group says, is surreal;  the play travels through myths and history that are common across cultures. The play (mainly in English, but with touches of Kannada and Sanskrit here and there)   uses contemporary movement and text to explore the space between reality and shadows of the…

When I read that "The Cut" had been shortlisted for The Hindu Playwright award in 2016, I was keen on watching it; so off I went to watch the play, staged by Theatre Nisha, a Chennai-based group, on Saturday, 27th May 2017. I'd read two reviews of the play, by Karan Pillai for The New Indian Express, on Jan 27, 2017  by Parshathy J Nath for The Hindu, on 30 Jan, 2017   I was expecting the sepia tones referred to in one, and the brilliant performances mentioned in the other (see photo below, from an earlier performance.)   The…

One of the inequalities of life is that children may not be allowed for many theatre productions...but adults can certainly go and enjoy children’s theatre. The enjoyment is all the more, when one goes with one’s own child...or grandchildren, because there are then multiple layers to the experience. There was a fairly large audience of children, accompanied by their parents or relatives,  to watch “How Cow Now Cow” by the Sandbox Collective a group that has just crossed its second birthday.   I have not watched the work of this young theatre group before, and I am always interested in…

Theatre changed her lawyer dreams Ranjitha Surya Vamshi talks about how, when and why she got into Theatre even though her childhood dream was to become a lawyer. She talks about the various people who encouraged and supported her through her journey. She also shares her views on why women should not limit themselves to the four walls of their houses.   For the love of acting Nayana Sooda, a native of Dakshina Kannada / Karnataka has lived in Bangalore for over 20 years. She shares how she entered the world of theatre. Many people encouraged Nayana to take up…

Having watched an excellent play staged by Tadpole Repertory earlier (you can see the review here if you wish to) I was eager to watch the production of  “This Will Only Take Several Minutes”, which this group was staging as a joint effort with Hanchu-Yuei, a Tokyo-based theatre collective. The introduction on the Ranga Shankara website was very intriguing. A play in Hindi, Japanese and English! Off I went, with three friends.  The play is the result of a joint effort between two playwrights, and deals with six characters, who interact with each other (not all at the same time),…