Lens

This is one of the plays I kept hearing about but couldn’t watch it before. Coming from B Jayashri’s team, this is one of those “typical” plays — from which the Indian movies can be said to have originated from — complete with actors singing, drama punctuated by songs/dances and sometimes with a laughter sidetrack.

The story is about a prince who opposes his marriage until he falls for a beautiful woman, Sadarame. Sadarame’s father & grandfather are cunning misers and demand to be crowned in exchange for the daughter’s wedding. King, very eager to get his son married, accepts to this demand. Sadarame and her husband, wander away to another province and find it difficult to survive having exhausted the money.
Sadarame’s husband approaches the prince of the land, who is lusty and lures Sadarame for marriage. She hatches a plan for delaying marriage and plans to escape with husband. Again, a thief overhears her plan and acts as her husband and takes her away and ask her to marry him. She again manages to escape from the thief and lands in another state, and remains impersonated as a man. She, having survived a challenge qualifies to marry the princess of the state. She discloses her true self to the princess, yet remains king until she finds her husband back. After which all three stay together (yeah !), and the cheats get punished.

Main plot as described above at times looked like a thin sketch, it was about other parts – often the side track, that evoked much laughter. For example, of course the masterly act of the thief by B Jayashri herself is priceless – her energy level, her lung power, her singing – and that of a male thief’s make-up was wonderful. And then there was a drunkard singing and mouthing dialogs – his acting was brilliant. The song sequences – the actors singing themselves with simple lyrics – were though good (esp by the hero), but it eloborated too much than required at places. Likewise a scene of bargaining and cheating by Sadarame’s father went on and on. Also I could not follow many Telugu dialogs spoken by him. But Dingri Nagaraj was fantastic and had the audience split with his timings and humour. I also felt, may be this play required more than 2 hours of time and they did considerable editing – especially the challenge which Sadarame wins, was just told in words and had no scene to it and looked abrupt. It reminded me of the TV channels chopping the scenes to accommodate advertisements. Wondered why there was no character introduction at the end of the play. Finally a mention has to be made about the colorful and eloborate stage preparation mostly with the apt giant screens.

Overall: As the pamphlet suggested, the play displayed “navrasas”, the humour being very strong. As such it was an enjoyable experience. The story let me down, but the performances were superlative.

“All you need is love” was the play presented by “Yours Truly theatre” on Sunday Feb 22nd at Nayana auditorium. There were two shows of the same - yet since this is an interactive theatre in playback format, each show is unique. In playback format, to put briefly, the input from audience is enacted on the stage. I was quite curious to see this happening and my reaction is mixed.

There were multiple parts to the show - the first one being, what they called, “fluids”. Answers to questions like “what does love mean to you”, “what would happen if there was only love”, were collected from audience and the actors on stage enacted a depiction of it. This happened for few rounds. What was interesting in this was in the way the actors enacted the meanings - it could be straight forward interpretation, or by adding a touch of humour, or by a means of sarcasm. It made me realize there were many ways of looking at same thing and I feel if ..if I can creatively imagine on the similar lines, my gazing-out-of-window-during-busy-traffic-hours could get just a little more engaging and colorful.

There was a round of fluid for the audience reactions to the show…which was a nice touch.

Overall some of the interpretations were not convincing to me..or may be it is just me, I can’t take all ! But some others were apt. And there were many hilarious moments - especially when we are aware that it is impromptu show - the timing and situational comedy was good. As an audience later said, the process and in turn the actors seem to be very intelligent.

The second part was about depiction of a conflict. A deep conflict, for eg, in the second show an audience mentioned “Is love enough for marriage, should one marry at all, or isn’t there a life beyond that” as a conflict. It was a conflict to me few months ago and I found an answer - two infact , one the ideal and second the practical - and it ceased to be a conflict to me. However,in the show, it was a much welcome conflict to ponder upon rather than other futile conflicts that could have come up. Conflicts too, were enacted by three pairs in their own way and the audience-whose conflict was selected- was given a chance to choose which of the three pairs came close to what he/she had in mind. It must have been an unique and strange satisfaction to see the demons/thought of the mind take the form of words and interpretations and en-act on the stage.

The third part was, the actual story being enacted on stage. For this, one of the audience was asked to narrate their story and the actors will act the story in a dramatic way on the stage. The story in the first show was about a job-seeker being helped with a bus ticket by a stranger was not strong on the plot - as per me(because personally, have been through very strong emotions and turmoil…) The emotions or the story wasn’t as profound as the second show’s story. However, the actors did a nice job of highlighting the north-south divide which was just an after thought in the story but it took good shape in the play.

(However as an aside, those who complain about the north-south divide troubling them in Bangalore - in my Bengaluru which embraces everyone without complaining - should really go to Chennai(I did live there, to support my claim) - as the character does go, in this story. Ironically, that character must have realized what a comfortable place Bangalore is, compared to Chennai; I wished this could come out in the play - but it was out of context I guess.)

Comparatively the second story,that of a grandson who hated his grandfather for his discipline while he was alive; but after reading his diary realizes how much care and love his grandfather really had towards him; the soft heart he had beneath the hard outlook. This plot was profound and had a depth of substance; and the actors did superb justice to it.

As is evident, the half the strength of part of the show - for a viewer - lies in the story. If the story is quite substantial - as it was in the second show than the first - the play results in an experience to remember. More the depth-> little more the duration of the play->better the engagement with the audience and a better experience/memory. The co-ordination, flow (the speed), energy and performance as a whole - with acting and music - was quite an entertaining and engaging experience. The only grouse is, this format requires a good story from the audience.

That said, the joy to see one’s story on stage, in full colour and music, must be overwhelming ! Especially to a person like me - I see my story or can relate to an incident or a personality in most of the movies;either to me or to a person I know. Again I was silent for most part of the audience interaction - except for one or two sound bites - otherwise just trying to capture and dissect; to assimilate and analyse the audience’ thoughts and beliefs. But one day, some day.. I will have a story - a grand one.

Uff, the perils of an interactive theatre. And aah, the joys of the same.

International Contemporary dance festival - attakkalari, happened in Bangalore for last 10 days, spread over at different venues. I happened to watch 2 of them, a briefing of the same follows.
Cosmic dance of Shiva
The first one was “Cosmic dance of Shiva”. Shiva, as is known to all, is a king of dances – Nataraja. And his “tandava nrutya” – rudra tandava to be specific- is as full of aggressiveness and passion as it could get. As wikipedia says,

The dance is a pictorial allegory of the five principal manifestations of eternal energy:
‘Shrishti’ - creation, evolution
‘Sthiti’ - preservation, support
‘Samhara’ - destruction, evolution
‘Tirobhava’ - illusion
‘Anugraha’ - release, emancipation, grace
Thus Tandava symbolizes the cosmic cycles of creation and destruction, as well as the daily rhythm of birth and death.

I have always enjoyed the (almost same) music and the dance in mythological scenes in movies or in tv. It is usually when Shiva gets angry, he breaks into a dance!

So, I was expecting to watch something on similar lines. But what I watched has stunned me. The performance, by “Samudra” , was visually beautiful and colorful due to the costumes and lighting. But the dance and music ( music was very varied) itself were even better. The rthythmic movements mostly showcasing different yogic postures (and probably different forms of dances ) were a visual treat. I did try to notice the happy and anger facial expressions but I could not relate the dance to any “sequence/event/meaning” – it was supposed to have a meaning which I came to know during post-show discussion.
However the show has motivated me to try Yoga, sometime.

Extended teenage Era…
This was a performance by Samir Akika, is about study of young artists that learn well but without a job - as per the description.

This was at Chowdiah memorial hall, where I wanted to attend a performance since - the time I went too early for a Evam show of FPS (which I could never watch it, alas) and returned. Its architecture and the environment itself is so arty that I feel good being there.

The show started with a lady instructing the audience about the “don’ts” in an ironical way and was funny. More impressing was her voice and speaking which was so musical and warm that I feel should be used for some philosophical discourse.

Once the performance started by one of the artists, other artists got busy with their work – tearing pages, using cardboard to build boxes or hang postures. The whole stage was their workplace and this went on for the entire show. This initially created a distraction or restless and informal happening on the stage, it slowly became a part of the performance and culminated in a wonderfully surprising way (see below).

The characters were an ensemble of different nationality or cutlure, but supposedly of same age except a small kid – who was thoroughly cute and unbelievable at times. I not only doubted if such small kid could do anything on being told, but to imagine him to rehearse or to do anything on time was beyond my imagination. Probably the impromptu environment could have helped, where he could do anything and still it looks like a part of the performance, but not to take away any credit from him – he did dance quite spectacularly for his age and shouted beats perfectly.

Rest of the characters, each an expert in dance – I am not sure if I could call it dance at all , because it included many things – at one point I wondered if they were straight out of a circus company for they performed gymnastics. Other times too, it was an intense – and sometimes shocking – body movements and jumping around, but there were well choreographed chorus dancing too. Even in the most unconventional movements, what were clearly visible were energy and the beautiful synchronization – a cursor to the amount of extra-ordinary effort that must have gone into the practice – they later said they stayed as a family for 2 months – yet 2 months is not much for the kind of show they put.

I enjoyed the dance and the music, though I didn’t relate it to the narrative or the main plot .. I could realize it was either an angst put out in dance or a celebration. The plot in general moved with childhood memories – the association with pets, the growing up – a superb recital of A for __ to Z for __ with totally unconventional words – probably poking fun at the conventional A for Apple stuff, was funny. The “follow rules” for a slightly grown up kid where parents start suggesting the right ways to sit, stand, walk, even about cleanliness – was humourosly-symbolically represented by a person who learns to sit and eat. Identity crisis was presented as a game (like 20questions). There was a slight touch upon –fear and love – two prominent emotions that suddenly get highlighted(uh,blame on hormones) in pre-teen or teenage. A monologue that followed, which tried to exemplify the beauty of solitude – am sure was a subtle satire on love failure , will be very disappointed if I am wrong. Except that I liked that I got to hear to my favorite concepts - time is important, lost time is gone forever, time is the most precious gift one can give other.

The entire duration was frequently punctuated by a dance or a monologue (a breakfast monologue – totally unrelated or disconnected, as per me, was humorous because of his presentation and delivery. I didn’t get the jokes – it was related to breakfast of Germany,probably boring and monotonic – but yet I could laugh and enjoy.) and while all this, other cast members were busy constructing some random objects – or so they seemed. At the culmination of the show the entire stage was full with those constructed objects – and looked quite chaotically beautiful –formed a part of chain-reaction setup (I found a name to this kind of setup -Rube Goldberg machine ) over the entire stage with all carefully planted objects – that it finally made sense. And that chain-reaction was brilliant too.

With all the plus, a minor grouse – at many times, so many things were happening in parallel on stage that I found it hard to switch eyes from one to anohter and had confusion where to look or what to concentrate on. Also, if only I could relate more to the dance , monologues.

In total, a performance, contemporary and unconventional, which was so full of energy and vibrant, which must be a result of tremendous effort and rehearsal – so much so that, it looked casual and informal – at a level it probably was informal and impromptu, brilliant dances/body movements to good range of music – such magnificant canvas and such art - the package created fans and deserved the repeated standing ovation it got from the audience.

Ps: If my writing is unstructured, grammatically incorrect, sentence formation confusing – good, I am currently influenced by the unconventional show and am on my way to do unconventional, chaotic perhaps, writing. To hell with editing and correction and all – I want to write free flow; but, to the extent that interested/curious reader must/will get the point.
Pps:
This is a famous video that shows Rube Goldberg Machine ..

Common Man – Theatre in “complete the story format”

For more reasons than one, this was a play I wanted to watch since long time – probably few months. And it was an evening well spent and memorable.

The common man is the central character of the play, as is obvious from the title of the play. The play is an attempt to see the world through the eyes of a normal person ..who is born and brought up in typical middle class family….follows a conventional path..attends an engg college…

He joins a workplace … is not the kind of person to resort to leg pulling or showing off ..or”chamcha” kind.. gets dominated and works extra time..he toils while others steal limelight and awards…

He marries in a conventional arranged marriage set up…is silent even when he is cheated..

He attends a self-help guru class…ends up failing even applying the lessons learnt…

And so on and so forth..just the common activities.. But what makes this story different is that, it simultaneously explores the insecurities and failings of the common man while at the same time, exposes the atrocities (if I can use the word) performed by other members around him. If colour could help theater, am sure the group would have put the common man in a black and white frame while other characters in colour. The very intent to downplay the character and the story, takes limelight. There lies the beauty of the this play.

At some juncture…when common man meets failures and dejection at every road..helplessness at every attempt..failure at every opportunity..despite his honest efforts…I was so moved…it was the point at which I became connected with the play..also to mention the stirring song “rasta kya chahe tujse…” And a scene where the umbrellas just suck the common man into them…there was no pre or post scene for this and it stand-alone stood perfect and complete.

The common man, as a cue from the common man of R K Laxman, here too never speaks. He is the silent spectator in every scene. Even when the scene is about him; about things affecting him – even then, he is the silent observer. And yet he leaps – he wishes to leap into a colorful world – beautifully portrayed at many places but at one particular scene of the movie shooting. The yearnings of the common man; the dreams of a common man – to somehow jump into the other side .. to somehow hog the limelight, to earn fame, money etc…the wishes of most common men .. was quite nicely – metaphorically captured in this scene remains unscathed in the memory.

So in an event that, he does manage to become famous…what happens next ? Do all his problems get solved..? after few scenes, the play stops and the audience is made responsible to suggest the continuation and ending.

The “identification” with the characters on screen assures the connectivity – or the striking the chord thing – which was evident in this play aplenty. Almost everyone said they identified with the common man – I was quite unhappy to see so many unsatisfied people. Haha, jokes apart, I did not “like/wish” to be identified with him. But for the aspirations, which find a commonality, I really do not want to dwell upon my life – am quite aware that it is very common, but I would like to leave it at it.

[As an aside -Also it is quite not-surprising how every one feels he is deprived of proper rewards for his efforts – for eg I see everyone being unsatisfied with their appraisals and read somewhere that every employee feels he is undervalued. Haha.]

Since I didn’t quite appreciate the audience’s thoughts, I will not go into detail but, the common man is given, after a suggestion from an elderly man, a moment of triumph. Didn’t I say, the yearning of common man was obvious in the common man of the audience too 

Ps: A child remarked, on asked what might happen to common man, said, “He would be shot by Kasab”. That thought, even now manages to send shivers down the spine. That one sentence speaks a lot to the fears and insecurities of the common man, the collective failure of the system, the role of media/society and not to forget – the unfortunate era we are living in.

Plus:

Coming to the other aspects of the play other than the story, in no order of importance :

1.

Singing and music : If one thing that made us keep going back to the play and think about it, even after a day of watching it , it was the soulful singing and music. It was just out of this world, refreshing and deliriously hummable. The silent guy sitting at the corner of the stage packed such energy and soul (have to use this word alone!), that whole auditorium was reverberating with his frequency. Not to forget the wonderful background music too – especially it came alive even during the audience suggested part of the play. It was a display of unbelievable synchronization between the team and backstage artists.
2.

Acting: Acting varied from good to excellent .. some of the acts were a real hit with the audience. The acting by the common man – who remained off colour when the entire other cast was hyperactive, was a superb act. Even though what I wrote about story was gloomy, the play was lot of fun. The parody, the satire, the sarcasm – and contributions from other characters in the play was quite funny. Leave aside all philosophical thoughts, all thought provoking ideas, this play is worth watching just for its gags.

3.

Usage of props and costumes : the simplicity of props usage and the costumes were very prominent. The ring for the award, the umbrella, dupattas etc.were nicely used!. To convey a message, only message is important, other things can be just formed in the mind – to help that formation the actors put up a brilliant setup. Though I didn’t give extra attention to lighting (there were so many new things to notice this time, unlike earlier times – more about it later), I felt it was apt at all places and very good at few.

4.

The good scenes in no order : the common man getting sucked into umbrella – that was poignantly brilliant. I was quite hit by the scene, got scared that I couldn’t quite immerse myself and started looking away. Life is scary and …err..that word…err …sucks. The other good ones were…the film shooting, the oshome swamy, the monologue of the wife, the high energy acts …

5.

Lastly, I like the spontaneity in which the performers picked up the story from the audience and performed fluently. There was no talk/preparation and somehow it just flowed. I knew this would be a complete the story format, but this continuation was more than I expected. Also, quite impressed by the concept

Minus:

1.

Audience immaturity. For many reasons, one of the vital parts of “complete the story” format should be audience. But I was disappointed by the continuation the audience suggested. For one, none were bothered about the whole picture, second they were happy to take minor digs. For example I can not approve of the wife eloping – it hardly made any sense or any continuity – it was just for the kicks ! And same with every character saying they were Amol – the name of the common man, which hardly made sense to me – even thinking philosophically. Agreed every man is a common man, yet, we were seeing him being portrayed by a central character ..
2.

Not doing the repeat endings is – though – good for the actors as it would be challenging, but for most of the audience it is the first viewing – so it is nice that they get a good ending being played. There may not be very good different endings after a few runs of the play.
3. The oshome oshome swami act, looked quite detached to the plot – though it was entertaining and it slightly connected back, it could have been short.
4. Some situations come back after common man becomes famous - like the award in office. I wished it happened to many other scenes - like common man visiting a shooting scene after he is a known face and everyone mobs him instead of giving attention to the stars. Or him visiting oshome ashram and people asking him questions by neglecting the swami.

Suggestions:

When I cringed about the maturity level of the audience and when I expressed my dissatisfaction about the ending suggested by audience , my friend quietly asked – you were a part of audience too, why didn’t you speak. This, I’ll explain in a bit, but hit me hard. Yes, I am a complaining person at times, just like many common people, pointing fingers at things, but not knowing solution by myself. “Not knowing solution” does not enfore that I “not see the problem” too. Also, some people are of opinion that if you are not able to create, you are not eligible to criticize – which in my opinion untrue – we all know ways even Tendulkar can improve but handed a bat, we may not even score a run. But that’s how we are

So long story short, coming back to why I did not try completing the story. Basically, I never jump ahead and give my opinions anytime but there was another significant observation I made – I could not get my thoughts together. I was still in the play mode, swallowing and digesting everything and suddenly lights on – audience feedback – people started suggestions and I started following them and I lost my trail.

Thus, when I looked back, I felt 2 minutes silence to the entire audience will help everyone get their thoughts together. It will help them put aside minor plot continuation to the larger picture – because I felt people were caught in developing the play scene by scene but they didn’t know where they were heading finally.

If I look back now, I guess if allowed to myself, I would complete it in no different way than what happened in real to the first KBC winner Harshavardhan Navathe : read long back that he became the victim of jealousy of his neighbors and on-goers who frequently damaged his car and what not. Can’t find such a source, however, found this

Asked out continuously to preside at several functions within and outside college at the behest of the authorities, Harsh was not able to complete the requisite attendance for his last semester - a fact that almost cost him his last term college, leading to severe depression.

By the time, he recovered, say our sources, he has crossed the age limit for taking the IAS exams, something he had set his heart on doing, and a fact he had openly admitted when he occupied the hot seat on KBC. A job in Mumbai later yielded the same problems that had plagued him when in college.

All said, the overall experience was a wonderful evening spent in Rangashankara. The story was moving..The play, the fun itself was entertaining….but also quite impressed with the concept of audience involvement, couldn’t help imagining the plots and endings that might be thrown up in different stories I have come across. I myself have frequently had problems with endings and had often wished, what if this, what if that..and it was so overwhelming (but difficult at the same time) when the power did come to the audience’s hands to continue…

Full disclosure: Yours Truly Theatre is a theatre group which is innovating in the forms and formats of theater - like the complete the story, and ‘yours truly’ (I!) has attended workshop conducted by them and have joined them.
Ps: Wondering if the innovation could be patented

I went to watch this play for the sole reason being - it was a thriller/suspence play. Been sometime since I opted for anything but comedy. The story in brief is like this: There is a couple who plan in detail to cheat the law and become rich, by ( perhaps very common in the stories) cheating the insurance company. There is an inspector who sees through their plot and tries to take advantage of the situation. And then there is a final twist.

The set and lighting arrangements were detailed and good. The performances were okay but for one or two scenes in which they manage to excel. I could never approve of the third person’s acting - probably it was meant to be like that !  The lady often said wrong numbers - like she mentioned 8 months since marriage once and next time 6 months and like 50 thousand for 50 lakh - when the audience loudly murmured in a way of correcting her that it was Lakhs and not thousands. Lack of preparation or nervousness might have caused which was strange because she did some scenes convincingly - the one where she explains her interview with Inspector. 

The final “twists” have become quite predictable nowadays and I always look for the inconsistency it causes with the whole previous happenings. And whenever I find some I disprove/dislike the final twists. In particular in this play, if the final twist was true, many things looked like redundant. ( There is a small justification though - the entire play was played out for the third person - I know this is not explaining correctly, but those who’d seen would get it).

The play is originally of Marathi by Yogesh Soman, translated to Hindi by Prashant Kirwadkar , which is translated to Kannada by Dr Tippeswamy. Directed by Anoop Joshi and the group was Rangayana. 

# This is a play of classic story of mistaken identities. There are two pairs of twins and they mix up.

# Good name of the play!

# In brief - 1.1 (one set’s one of the twins) and 2.1 are initially friends. They come to a city which also had was inhabited by 1.2 and 2.2 who had run away from their houses many years ago. In the event they mix up and 1.1 confuses 2.2 to be 2.1. And so on.

# It is sometimes surprising to note how many plays pay a remote tribute to Shakespeare. This too is one of them “Comedy of Errors”  and a tribute to Shakespeare was announced before the start.

# The title and the poster - which lists the cast like this Sihi Kahi Chandru, Sihi Kahi Chandru, Srinivas Prabhu, Srinivas Prabhu - is a small give-away which I noted randomly while standing in the queue outside.

# Few minutes into play, it’s too evident - Ulta pulta the famous Kannada feature film starring Ramesh and terrific Kashi. And Ulta pulta itself was inspired by an old Hindi movie.

# This Ulta-pulta kept coming back to mind, and the mind compares - even if I tell it not to! And as usual, comparison spoils it, sometimes. I am convinced, seen independently, this play is quite good.

# Comedy play it was and had good moments. Like

• 1.1 is a novel-worm - that too a fan of investigative novels. He cooked up various imaginative names of the novels and I almost cracked up every time.
• There is a sub-plot which explains these two guys running away from home. Since this was relatively new, was quite funny !
• Sihi Kahi Chandru whom I have become a good fan after his terrific performance in Sankramana. His role is not as full-fledged as it is in Sankramana but he is as good as possible. [ However Kashi was superlative ]. Also Chandru impresses in timing and delivery of dialogues.
• Srinivas Prabhu’s facial expressions were note worthy.
• Last mad run of mayhem seemed a bit longer - it continued even after we stopped laughing !

# Verdict: If you have not seen Ulta-Pulta, watch and enjoy. If you have, check out some other play from the same team - for eg Sankramana.

# My previous reviews of plays seen in RS could be found here.

This is a musical play using quite heavily the poems of “prema kavi” B R Lakshmana Rao to the music of C R Ashwath.

One part of the story is oft-repeated love story - the birth of the story, a third angle which was actually a misunderstanding, happy ending - in marriage. If there was any freshness it should be attributed to the natural performance of the lead pair. The story is intercepted with songs and dances - typical of a feature film - probably a reason story stretched with not much happening otherwise.

Second part is about the love leaving the couple after marriage and the minor fights that happen - probably due to lack of co-operation and the need to adjust. The fights lead to the point of separation but they realize and make up.

In between there are lots of digs about many social issues and many were cliched or already-heard-of.

C R Simha was quite jovial considering his age. He mimics a famous swamiji and his blessings is reserved for lovers Except for the lead pair - who gave natural good performance and a loud Ritwik Simha, others were passable. The other girls looked very happy and seemed to enjoy their role thoroughly. Sometimes it was little over-acting but better than average lazy acts by the boys. They looked out of place at times and looked inflexible.

Of course it is not possible to get Ashwath to sing for every show, but this recorded music was a huge put-off for me, given that I have enjoyed the plays for their direct interaction which includes the music playing at the side stage. Recorded music’s quality was also not good.

Overall, though touted as comical drama, did not make the audience laugh many times (unlike the ones where I really laughed till it ached). Probably also because it all looked either repetitive or cliched. But it did manage to make us smile few times - few dialogues and mannerisms by lead pair - and several messages were put across quite fine.

This was, again, a collection of three short stories by Vaidehi. Given the inclination/theme her stories has, the play too was an attempt to dive into woman’s mind.

There were three protagonists, the first one was most interesting for me. She was Shakuntala, the famous character of Kalidasa’s play. The director/playwright here takes few wonderful deviations (was reminded of the deviations by Farhan Akthar in Don) from the original. The play suggests that temporary memory loss was infact a lie told to the world and that the king just did not keep up his word. This challenges the self-respect of Shakuntala and she takes revenge - if she had wanted she could have shown the ring as proof, but she instead lies that it was lost in the river. And finally, when king tries to apologise, she doesn’t give in.

I liked the deviations because they were convincing and more practical than the original. And of course they are so consistent with the theme - self-respect and independence of woman is at the core.

Second story was of a lady who longs for love and marriage. I would not go into details but I felt it was treated a little over the top. Or may be because, I could not accept those reactions/feelings coming from a girl - we are very much used to see that from a boy just like many dialogues that she mouthed.

Two credits to this second story - one it had varied dimensions and density in the character. And while the former story invoked heavy dose emotions and was serious by nature - despite a romantic backdrop - this one evoked few smiles, so what if it combined pity with it.

Third story was a complex one. That, coming from me is saying a lot ! This character is a wife of a rich man, a poet herself but suffering by some complex. Probably an inferiority complex, or an identity crisis –somewhat similar in theme to other two- or even lack-of-attention syndrome. She indirectly questions the patriarchal society and walks out of her marriage and settles with someone who she thinks would love her.

While one lady performed other two ladies played supporting and it was interesting to watch a supporting cast don the main role in the next part, well & differently. Music support was quite simple - by the same person traditional harmonium for Shakuntala and modern keyboard for other two.

The play overall was quite low on entertainment value, but I appreciate the effort that went into it. However I guess it was quite interesting to art lovers like Dr.URA whom I spotted in the audience.

Posts of other few events I attended would follow.

Heegadre hege - A play.:
This is a funny play formed after putting together 3 different stories of T. Sunandamma. One talks about the Kannada vs English, one dream about winning the lottery, another about the life of writers, life after retirement. All make us look at the situation in light fashion. Lakshmi Chandrashekar and Sundar performed.
Since the play was sponsored by Kannada station on WorldSpace “Sparsha” , there was half an hour long introduction about the shows being aired in that station. It sounded pretty impressive.
A good review is found here.

This was an awesome play, one of the best ones I have seen. This is a Hindi play translated to Kannada and directed by S.Surendranath - director of “Nodi swami navirode heege” movie. The play also marks the return (or debut ??) of Girija Lokesh to stage after many years.

Its quite easy to see why I like this very much because it was so easy for me to identify with it. The stage setting is white everywhere¹ - one white painted stool, a white painted chair and table, one white cloth on the floor. There is a table fan sitting idle at the corner of the stool and there is only one time it is ever used - and what a stunning impact it leaves. There is a light bulb hung and just like the fan, this is lit up only once.

My intepretation about the usage of white so prominently - other than to depict widow’s saree for a cultural reason or to show simplicity in the father’s character - is that, it suggests how only one sided their views are. No black and white - no two possibilities, no two explanations - just one -and one’s own - belief.

There are three characters in the stage - but they never come on stage at once (except for a second, mother and son come together) and I can easily call it a collection of three mono-acts and monologues. But the acts are tightly coupled.

The intent is actually to show how one’s actions are in this family, why according to him his actions are like the way they are and how another person in the family views it differently. Some views and counter-views like that, slightly highlighting generation gap.

The first scene is that of a widow, cleaning the cotton, describes how her husband has been admitted to hospital, how he died. In next few scenes with the mother, she recalls how her husband had reacted at his retirement and going a little back how he had dreamt and built his house and few other smaller details. She also narrates how her son behaved earlier and how he reacted in hospital.

In between her many appearances are present one stellar performance by SihiKahiChandru in the role of the father. It was the longest monologue - almost an hour and one should see to believe it. There were plenty of opportunities to go out of sequence, or to use our own lines as long as it made sense (but I doubt he did that !), but still it was one superb show.

Then comes that of son’s, acted by Manjunath Hegde, another class act. During his part is the success of the play, for the very same audience who had accepted and clapped to every action of father as right, claps and agrees again to that of son’s. At this point director had clearly succeded in making the audience realize how different the viewpoint is and how both can be right.

Both father and son, though rant and talk seriously, have audience in split, or rather in crack. Yes, even the issue is not fun, it is shown in the lighter vein giving the audience great comic relief.

Mother’s is not very strong character for the drama. She appears few times but with shorter durations compared to other two. Also I failed to understand why her part is set in the present while the son’s and father’s are actually set in the past. Though the mother’s role adds sorrow, sympathy and also it shows her as a strong person. She keeps calm when her husband dies and she was calm earlier too - somehow managing both polarities in son and husband. This is so very typical.

Many incidents like the collection-repair of locks, lazy-irresponsible son, wearing pant only after reaching college, house repair issues and various various other things are so very common in normal household - which is the reason audience too enjoyed it! Keeping the door open, not switching off the lights, lock , returning home early etc were some of the very very real life scenarios. Nicely captured and presented. One of the superb funny lines is when son is questioning his father’s direction to return home because of the increasing crimes in the city. Son ponders “If I return home earlier, will the crime outside reduce? “ So tongue-in-cheek !

Even though the son’s views are totally opposite to that of father’s, once his father expires he follows his father’s actions in a hyper-active or maniac fashion. There is the irony, there is the highest point for the play and there is so much untold meaning in those small actions and thats where the play ends. (Audience expected more but it made perfect sense to end!)

No music (except water dropping sound in the background), no lighting effects, no changes in the sets, it is the most simplest arrangement for a play I have seen!

Overall it is a combination of vyangya, tarka, vidambane and haasya.

After having told all this, I still haven’t told you anything. This play is a must watch according to me and you can watch it at Rangashankara on 26th May 7:30.

27th May 7:30

27th May 3:30

Misc:
1. One old couple talking was loud enough to hear to entire audi and of course to observation of artists too. Even continued stares from the neighbours did not discourage them from talking loud. Another lady, yawned making audible sound, which was too another irritant.
2. In another play too, there were two ladies who laughed almost hysterically and sometimes when not needed. RS people take enough care to silence/switch off the mobile phones, what could be done to these throats ?

1. Tide could utilize the oppurtunity (just like they did to few movies) and sponsor the play so that more people could watch it! [back]

I watched this play written by Girish Karnad, staged by the team Benaka, directed by B V Karantha. Though this is a popular play, luckily I had no clue about the story.

Story (Warning: Only spoilers!)
Before the main story, the “Bhagavataru” (Bhagavataru is usually present in Yakshagana and the one who sings in background, the one who narrates some part of story. This play too had some shades of Yakshagana.) explains the unusualities in Ganesha’s body - elephant’s head, broken ivory etc. Then enters a horse faced person(”hayavadana”) who has a different story behind that abnormality. But since this character is present as a humorous side-kick lets go to the main story.

Two friends Devadutta and Kapila are distinctly different from each other - in terms of knowledge (Devadutta is a knowledged poet and other has knowledge only due to his association Devadutta, Kapila is energetic, active, has a well-toned body and full of life. The story starts when Devadutta is mesmerized by the beauty of Padmini and he confesses that to his pal. Fixation-struck Devadutta even takes an oath that he would even give his hands to Goddess Kali and his head to “Lord Rudra”. Passion of this degree drives his friend Kapila to find out this girl for Devadutta. Kapila meets her and gives the identity of his friend and conveys his friend’s wish to be married to her and she agrees. After meeting her, Kapila too is floored and impressed by her beauty and child-like behaviour, and for a fraction of second thinks that he is better suited to her than Devadutta. Nevertheless Devadutta and Padmini marry but as the time grows, Devadutta observes that Padmini is more fond of the qualities of Kapila than his and this causes discomfort to him. He is not actually jealous of Kapila but starts disliking himself. But Kapila is a honest person and has no hidden intentions. On one journey to Ujjayini, Devadutta gets too jealous and uncomfortable with the behaviour of Padmini with Kapila, and gets himself away from them and visits nearby Kali temple.

Now he is reminded of his oath and decides to behead himself. Kapila goes to find his missing friend and on finding the dead body in the temple is too shocked at the incident and blames himself for this and decides to behead himself. Pregnant Padmini goes in search of her companions and is unable to hold back the grief at the sight of two dead bodies. Driven into the valley of emotions, she too tries to kill herself, but Goddess Kali appears at this point. On hearing the woes, she decides to grant life to these two people. Padmini joins the heads back to their bodies and Kali incarnates life in them.

And here is the twist. In a hurry, Padmini has mismatched the heads to thier bodies. Though they dance happily on getting a re-birth and on changed body-heads, the problem arises when they have to decide who is Devadutta now, or importantly who is now Padmini’s husband. Head vs body debate happens and both claim themselves to be her rightful husband. When debate goes out of their hands, they approach a scholar, who rules in favour of the one who has now Devadutta’s head (Kapila’s body) citing the reason that head is the greatest organ. This disappoints Kapila(with Kapila’s head) and he escapes into forest. Padmini and Devadutta now lead a life with their kid. Body sometimes wins over the mind for example when Devadutta’s body makes him fight in a game of wrestling(mallayuddha!). Also we are told later that Kapila too wrote some poems. Slowly, as Devadutta has other scholarly things to do than to tone his body (which was Kapila’s), he finds it deteriorate and he can not sustain like earlier. Meanwhile, Kapila has now conditioned his body through rigorous activities and work. Also as the time passes, Padmini again starts remembering Kapila and even visits him with her kid.

Devadutta is angry and comes to Kapila and they remember their past lives. They recall the effect of exchange of head and body.

And then they decide to fight and kill each other.(This time I can’t make a mention of the bigamy option as I said in my previous post! Because that option was thought for a second but they dismiss it!) Irony is that the same hands cut the same heads again. Too much to handle, Padmini decides to go Sati (burns herself with both their dead bodies).

As usual, knowing the story and watching a drama is very different. The beauty of drama lies in its performance and stageplay. The use of dolls for narration and as fillers, singing and music by the group, the comedy in the role of Goddess Kali, sidekick in hayavadana and light humour thrown at many places, musically and linguistically rich songs and dialogues were the highlights. T S Nagabharana as Bhagavataru was good. He along with singing, played harmonium and beat some tabala too! Mico Manju as Kapila and Vidya Venkataram as Padmini were good. Poornachandra Tejaswi as Devadutta was very good.

If my mother got to speak to actress Tara, my brother enquired a German who had come to watch. I am curious if he really understood and was thinking how I could have explained him the nuances and nicety of the drama. Which is why I tried detailing the story above, to see how much can I convey via words.

A fortnight back I was witness to a laugh riot that happened behind Ravindra Kalakshetra, an account of it I record now.

On seeing the programmes in the cultural section of the newspaper, something that caught my attention - a twin package of food and comical drama by a well known troupe. The name “All the best” was heard of and on noting it was 350th show, I had no second thoughts on how that evening would be spent. The tickets were booked in advance and the presence at the venue was on time.

The open air theater was, surprisingly, not full to its capacity even though the tickets were sold out. So we were requested to wait, during which a documentary was shown on the achievements of the team and the plays. The team is “Guru Samsthe of Hubli” headed by Yeshwant Sardeshpande [the same person behind the dialogues of Rama Bhama Shama and the person who made Kamal Hassan recite the north karnataka kannada dialogues] and they have won laurels for All the best and other 2 plays which they are performing all over the state in a three day programme which is known as “Aarogyakkagi haasya, aarogyakkagi aahara” (Laughter for health and food for health) and thus includes a complementary meal from the sponsors MTR. That day’s show was All the best followed by a 50th show of “Sahi ri sahi ri” and a debut of “Dil maange more”.

As the sky turned dark, the stage was lit up. The three protagonists of the play are each challenged - one blind, one deaf and the other dumb. They have a code language (either in terms of written cards or hand sign) to communicate to each other and they compliment each other and are able to make up for the loss of ability. Then a girl enters their lives, whom all of them like. They go out to achieve individually to impress her and to win her over only to find at the end that she is already engaged to another man.

The above might suggest a sentimental setup (and I guess it was that setup which drowned the film “123″ which had the same story and enacted by Prabhudeva & brothers with Jyothika) but in the play, the comedy is the king and there is no time for sentiments. Once in the war, one constantly tries to save himself from the onset of bullets firing. Once in the seat, there is continuous bullets in the form of dialogues, mannerisms and jokes and what not - only difference is no one tries to save himself from them but welcomes them with open hands. Infact lapse of concentration for a second is sure to cause loss of laughter for a minute! No wonder the audience was finding it difficult not to roll on the floor laughing (for there was no space) and hence held on to their seats tightly with one hand and the other was either on stomach or on mouth trying to control laughter. The heat generated due to such rigorous activity kept the cold away but the freezing wind made its presence felt during intermission. But for the shivering, the combination of starry sky and the open air theater cold on a friday evening was a dream setup.

When I think, it was not as much jokes, but they way it was presented and carried out, that made the difference. Of course, once a barrier is broken , it is easy to keep the audience laughing - like once ball overcomes inertia and starts rolling, it is easy to keep it rolling.

On 350th show, the show is surely what it is expected to be - devoid of holes. All the three actors (Yeshwant Sardeshpande and the person who played dumb were better than the third) did their part superbly, had impeccable timing and more importantly complemented each other. Sarika has very good facial expressions and her dress sense was superb. Each time she looked different and attractive than before

On finishing the play, all headed to relish the MTR delicacies which was a feast for just realised hunger.

Before leaving, I made sure I bought tickets for my parents[my judgement that next day would also be good, was confirmed later. Even though they resisted, I knew they would not regret!] and later suggested few to see it. If I could, I could have been present on all the three days.

Sitcoms shown on TV which forcibly include a laugh track in the background as a hint to audience that they are supposed to laugh, when they meekly try to smile but fail, should learn a thing or two from these shows.
Situational comedies when in good hands has unbelievable ability to make the audience laugh hysterically. It is not great jokes, but in contrast simple jokes, which are supported by good dialogue delivery, body language and timing.

This was the play seen during the Diwali Offs, on Kannada Rajyothsava, to be precise, at Rangashankara. I am glad that directly or indirectly I was responsible for 13 people to visit the place and witness the play that day.

The program started with an introduction about the “Habba” - festival that was being celebrated to commemorate one year celebrations of RS. Introduction was by the very Arundathi Nag explaining about the various events planned and organised for the festival like workshops, platform plays and various plays written by eminent modern writers of different languages. Experiments also involved playing in other language than the one in which it is originally written.

The play finished much later than scheduled and hence customary character introduction was also skipped.

About the play:
It started with an old man (of low caste – Kuruba) complaining and explaining about the restrictions posed by the “Sharanas” and Basavanna. The restrictions would imply a stricter and nobler way of living and requires one to denounce bad habits like drinking, eating non-veg and womanizing.

Old man’s son and a priest’s daughter (high class - Brahman) are in love with each other. The son has recently become Sharana and is a devotee and follower of Basavanna. Girl is against the philosophies and ways of working of Sharana or Anna. The conflicts of idealisms lead to the quarrel leading to an unpleasant incident which causes communal riots and King is in a tricky position.

Basavanna is an adviser and a friend of King. But King himself is very just and knows the delicacy of the situation. He calls for both Basavanna and Priest to his court and listens to their complaints and defenses. He also calls for the girl.

After a long discussion with Basavanna and using his own ways of providing justice which is not only backed by sound reasoning but also supported by rich experience, King decides to visit the village and declare his verdict.

The performace by Sihikahi Chandru (King Bijjala) was outstanding mostly decorated by a near perfect dialogue delivery. Leading lady was also remarkable displaying control over her performance. And father (played by KSL Swamy Ravi) – I am not sure…) left a mark with screen presence.

Except for the first scene where the dialogues were rich with uncomfortable (and unnecessary) profanities, the dialogues were profound part of the play. It (especially during the classic argument between Basavanna and King) was too complicated and abstract to be followed ( by me…It was one of the few occassions when I have not been able to follow the parallel meaning completely). There was sparkles of humour here and there (mostly managed by mannerisms and timing of Sihikahi Chandru).

Sankranti is by P.Lankesh and it was directed by Prakash Belawadi. The audience had good number of cine/theater actors.

Overall, a strong script supported ably by good performances and direction resulted in a sensible play (heavy on thoughts but low on entertainment).

Earlier Posts on Plays

Sleuth is one of the most produced plays and most successful thriller by Anthony Shaffer. Produced by ACTor Company Theater, this play is being staged thrice a day for a week. I thought there would be no takers for the morning show, but I was wrong. One day I had to return empty handed.
(more…)

I have always had clear ideas about the strengths and weaknesses of “letter writing”. Letter writing, till the computers dawned and now emails have been my favourite pastime. Nehru’s letters to Indira and few other such instances in history highlight the role played by letters.Someday I will also come out with my collection of letters.

The day I had been waiting has finally come. After a ride in dusty Kanakapura road, thanks to Chill, we entered RS just in time. Unlike last time, we got the tickets.

We comfortably placed ourselves in the top most row. The theater has a homely feel and at the same time, is grand. The 3.5 crore project can not leave any stone unturned. The lighting, sound arrangements are all set to give good experience of theater.

For the next one hour we observed and absorbed the play silently. The different story from the usual stereotype movies was a welcome change. Our group has shown interest to watch plays regularly.

After visit to bookstall and a sip of coffee we parted.

Play – The final rehearsal
The protagonist was sitting on the chair quietly much before the play started. The bell rang and the drama unfolded. The difficulties faced by an actor and his undying spirit to win the best actor award are the main jist of the play.

The obscurity of the content was itself a good strength. The play gripped the audience despite its initial enigma, thanks to its intensity. The versatility of the actor was exhibited. His voice modulation and the sudden change in facial expressions were laudable. The effort-estimation behind a single person performing continuously for an hour, is difficult.

Well, there was another sensitive co-actor Brownyell(a chair). The satire and pun were present throughout, but I liked the great detail in the personification of brownyell.

Let me not claim that I followed each line. But the abstractness was challenging. Distraction and relaxing for even a second meant you missed something. And as later suggested by my friend, I realised that reviewing a play is difficult and useless. One has to see it to believe.

Acting and dialogue delivery fetch full points to the performer. Its nice to know that director-actor Pawankumar is from our college(PESIT)!

Post blog:
Read a better blog My tryst with Theatre by Chill about the same event.

Theatre festival – screamed the posters hung all over the city. With an abstract face painted in bright colors, the publicity by Hutch could not go unnoticed. The interviews of Arundathi Nag and other information by the media could only add to interest among the people.
The bug could not leave me – occasional visitor to theatre – unbitten. Work pressures and other appointments kept me away from it but I finally managed to allot it priority and time on weekend.

Located in the quiet and residential JP Nagar, it is little easier to approach RS compared to heavy traffic ways to other theatres in Blore. Plays are to start at 7:30, but anticipating some rush (weekend), we decided to be there by 6. To our surprise there was a long queue. We were told there were available only 10 tickets and since there was no point standing in queue (as told by security), we tried to explore the place.

The architecture of the building itself adds it to visit-worthy spots of Bangalore. The stone kept at the entrance, interior decoration, lighting, colors all try to imitate the abstract beauty of plays.

There is a bookshop whose shelves are decorated with all kinds of books. It will just be another hangout place for book lover. Spotted cinema related books and other best sellers.

There is a café where one can taste light snacks and sip coffee. What makes it look trendy and different is the homely feel due to unconventional chairs/tables and their placement. Candle lit tables and the surrounding dark atmosphere makes it a right hang-out place for people who love peace.

A platform performance was going on…(a puppet show managed by a single person behind the screen) but my disappointment of having missed the play came in the way of enjoying the performance.

Thanks to good publicity and class performers from all over India associated with this festival, there was a good crowd. Crowd varied from mature old people to MTv isthyle young people. From serious looking faces to time passing couples. From people wearing dull jubba to colorful dresses. All this only added to already vibrant atmosphere. Among the celebrities I spotted were, apart from the very Arundathi Nag, some other TV/Theatre personalities(Mukta,BAB etc)

Shankar Nag:
Rangashankara is erected in tribute to Shankar Nag – one of the most versatile artist India has ever seen. From acting to directing, from theatres to tv/movies, if there was a person whose thoughts were always ahead of his era, it was Shankar. Nick named Karate king, some of his movies had ingredients of popular movie while others had a touch of art cinema. But of all his works, Malgudi Days remains my favorite and is a timeless work liked by all ages. It is only a tragedy and loss of unknown impact that death hugged him in a hurry.
His friend and wife Arundathi set out to put one of his many dreams into reality. Her second child – Rangashankara – is the result of her efforts to create “dedicated space for theatre and theatre related activities�?- a dream she shared with Shankar Nag and other friends.
Though it feels nice to imagine Shankar Nag to be breathing all over the place, mind looks out for his presence. There it is – his picture with his hands held high, welcoming us right in the entrance.

With a disappointed heart, we had to depart – having smelt, seen the food, without tasting it. We bid bye with a wish to go there once again, soon.

Coming soon : Rangashankara – Once more.