Theatre

After a long absence, it was refreshing to enter my favourite theatre space, Ranga Shankara, once again, this time to watch a Hindi play, "Rocky Ka Insaaf", staged by Mashaal.   The play has been expanded from a ten-minute vignette that was staged as part of the "Great Galata Festival" at Ranga Shankara in 2013.     The main protagonist, Rocky, takes a journey into the world of the common man today; a world where “development”, while raising the standard of living in material terms for some people, leaves others untouched in India. Rampant corruption, the me-vs.-you attitude of the…

After a long absence, it was refreshing to enter my favourite theatre space, Ranga Shankara, once again, this time to watch a Hindi play, "Rocky Ka Insaaf", staged by Mashaal.   The play has been expanded from a ten-minute vignette that was staged as part of the "Great Galata Festival" at Ranga Shankara in 2013.     The main protagonist, Rocky, takes a journey into the world of the common man today; a world where “development”, while raising the standard of living in material terms for some people, leaves others untouched in India. Rampant corruption, the me-vs.-you attitude of the…

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…

Occasionally, instead of a light-hearted evening of theatre, one gets a  powerful, thought-provoking play to watch. My friend Shangon and I braved the rain to go and watch Michael Freyn's play, "Copenhagen" which was being produced by Centre for Film and Drama. I had not read up about the play, or watched it before.There can be no better synopsis than the online one that Ranga Shankara has on its online schedule:"Frayn's play, Copenhagen, speculates what might have transpired during a meeting between Nobel laureates Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg in Copenhagen in September 1941, at the height of the German…

Occasionally, instead of a light-hearted evening of theatre, one gets a  powerful, thought-provoking play to watch. My friend Shangon and I braved the rain to go and watch Michael Freyn's play, "Copenhagen" which was being produced by Centre for Film and Drama. I had not read up about the play, or watched it before.There can be no better synopsis than the online one that Ranga Shankara has on its online schedule:"Frayn's play, Copenhagen, speculates what might have transpired during a meeting between Nobel laureates Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg in Copenhagen in September 1941, at the height of the German…

Theatre Professionals, a part of the  Drama School, Mumbai, staged "The Dragon", translated from the Soviet author and playwright, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evgeny_Shvarts">  Evgeny Shvarts </a>This  is a play written in 1944.. The excellent translation, bringing the action forward to a contemporary time, was done by  Harsh Khurana.As a reviewer, I usually watch the first show.  This time, for a change, I decided to watch the last one, and see how the successive stagings had honed the production values.A film of the play was made in 1988. I thought it would be interesting to watch how germane the concepts of totalitarianism, first…

Theatre Professionals, a part of the  Drama School, Mumbai, staged "The Dragon", translated from the Soviet author and playwright, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evgeny_Shvarts">  Evgeny Shvarts </a>This  is a play written in 1944.. The excellent translation, bringing the action forward to a contemporary time, was done by  Harsh Khurana.As a reviewer, I usually watch the first show.  This time, for a change, I decided to watch the last one, and see how the successive stagings had honed the production values.A film of the play was made in 1988. I thought it would be interesting to watch how germane the concepts of totalitarianism, first…