review

It was like a rare alignment of the planets: several factors come together to pull me out of my usual Ranga Shankara ambit for watching a play. I had not been to visit Bangalore International Centre, which opened a while ago in Domlur; Bangalore Little Theatre, as part of their "VP 80" festival, was staging "Credit Titles"; the play, written by Vijay Padaki, whose 80th birthday the festival marks, was based on a story by Vinod Vyasulu, an eminent economist whom I've known for a long time, as our daughters share a cose friendship dating from 1988. And last but…

It had been quite a while since I went to Ranga Shankara for a play, and the blurb about "Bali" was interesting enough to pull me in. Here's the quotation from the excellent brochure that was handed out before the play: "Adishakti's Bali is a retelling of the various events that lead up to the battle between Bali and Ram and eventually, the death of Bali. The play explores the notion of right and wrong, and how it may change when each and every character is given an opportuntiy to voice their thoughts and opinions." With this intriguing introduction, I…

Once in a while, it's a refreshing change to look forward to a children's play, and on the 31st of March, '18, I took my grandchildren to watch "Fish Tree Moon", a play by Ranga Shankara as part of its "Aha!" initiative for children. The beautiful moon from the play. The performances (3 in all) had been well timed for the start of the school summer vacations, and the play drew an almost full house, with many children eager to watch, and their families eager to immerse them in theatre. The play deals with a varied set of characters.... an…

Once in a while, it's a refreshing change to look forward to a children's play, and on the 31st of March, '18, I took my grandchildren to watch "Fish Tree Moon", a play by Ranga Shankara as part of its "Aha!" initiative for children. The beautiful moon from the play. The performances (3 in all) had been well timed for the start of the school summer vacations, and the play drew an almost full house, with many children eager to watch, and their families eager to immerse them in theatre. The play deals with a varied set of characters.... an…

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…

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…

Bengali plays are not very common at Ranga Shankara, so I was quite keen to watch this Badal Sircar play, produced by Centre for Film and Drama (CFD), and directed by Nilanjan  P Choudhry.   For this play, a neat brochure had been prepared by CFD  and the write up described it as a "fast-paced comedy".   Bogota(sic) Charit Manas depicts the journey of a young orphan, whose naivety and lack of self-esteem leads him to be bullied at every turn. Driven to the brink of suicide at the prospect  of having to become a "ghar jamai" at his maternal…

Bengali plays are not very common at Ranga Shankara, so I was quite keen to watch this Badal Sircar play, produced by Centre for Film and Drama (CFD), and directed by Nilanjan  P Choudhry.   For this play, a neat brochure had been prepared by CFD  and the write up described it as a "fast-paced comedy".   Bogota(sic) Charit Manas depicts the journey of a young orphan, whose naivety and lack of self-esteem leads him to be bullied at every turn. Driven to the brink of suicide at the prospect  of having to become a "ghar jamai" at his maternal…

I thought it was difficult to write a review of a play I liked very much; I did not want to sound as if the theatre group had sponsored my review!But alas, the difficulty of that task is nothing compared to that of writing a review for a play that left me completely cold. Whatever the impression the play has on a member of the audience....the fact remains that a lot of effort and time has been invested in the production. For this reason alone I would like to find some positives in any play that I watch, and write…

I thought it was difficult to write a review of a play I liked very much; I did not want to sound as if the theatre group had sponsored my review!But alas, the difficulty of that task is nothing compared to that of writing a review for a play that left me completely cold. Whatever the impression the play has on a member of the audience....the fact remains that a lot of effort and time has been invested in the production. For this reason alone I would like to find some positives in any play that I watch, and write…