The Script
The Script, April 2007. Issue 4.

Dear Drama lover,

Hello again! And as temperatures soar, April brings the hottest shows back to town.

If you thought QTP was active in March, April progresses on similar lines. Our two new productions, Crab and The President is Coming move to the NCPA Experimental.
Also, Thespo at Prithvi steams ahead into its second month with  Workshops, Platform Performances and most importantly a show of the best plays from the youth. In April, Retellings is being showcased so come and encourage the youth.

Apart from the regular theatre listings, in this month's edition of The Script, we have Purva Rakesh's take on the META Awards held at New Delhi and the World Theatre Day Address. World Theatre Day was on the 27th of March.

And not to forget, our monthly Great Texts reading is on the last Monday of April. Look forward to seeing you there.

Happy reading.

Yours Sincerely,
On Behalf of Q Theatre Productions,

Himanshu.
Editor, The Script.

Quick Links:
Corno-Q-pia:  Crab, The President is Coming, Thespo at Prithvi & Great Texts
Point of View:  Purva Rakesh shares her experience on META Awards.
4 Corners: World Theatre Day 2006 message by ruler of Sharjah, H.H. Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi
Up & Coming:  All the exciting plays happening in the city!
Great Stuff:  Auditions and much much more!
Curtain Call:  Robert Brusteiname on the act of theatre and movie going!

Corno-Q-pia
The horn of plenty of QTP events and happenings.

QL

Point of View:  
This month Purva Rakesh reviews the recently concluded META Awards held in New Delhi. The views expressed in this article are those of the author. You are welcome to agree, disagree or comment by emailing us at qtp@vsnl.com.

META (Mahindra Excellence In Theater Awards) – March 5 - 9 2007

 This was the second year of the META awards, which invited plays from all over the country for participating in what is being developed into the first ‘theatre awards’ in the country along the lines of the award functions for the best in the film world. Supported by the Mahindra group, it was well organised by Ravi Dubey with the help of Sanjoy Roy and his team at Teamworks. The judges were Shyam Benegal, Amol Palekar, Anita Ratnam, Joy Michael and Mahesh Elkunchwar. The selection panel comprising Deepa Gahlot, Anuja Sharma, Venkat Swaminathan and Jaidev Taneja saw 87 plays ( video recordings I believe) to select the final contestants.

 The plays were split up between Shriram Centre and Kamani auditorium with the afternoon shows at Shriram and the evening ones at Kamani. Since I saw the evening shows, I was spared the ever swooping bats that pervade the echelons of Shriram Centre, whose shrieks often disturb performances.

 Kamani of course offers a cozier experience of theatre watching. Strangely, though the plays were dubbed the best of the year from all over the country and the tickets were priced at Rs. 100 per play (first cum first serve seating), the audience was sparse for some of the productions. It seemed like the plays which got large audiences were more as a result of the personal invites by the director. While the organizers plan to address this next year, it is also a question : Do we as audience, not put any value to any performing arts other than blockbuster movies?
 
 It was good to see something like this being organized on this scale as this is a HUGE opportunity waiting to be tapped in terms of creating an All India event that can truly be a combination of supporting talent, giving visibility and a terrific branding platform to any brand in the country and very similar to Thespo’s event of similar nature for the under 25 age group.

 Cotton 56 Polyester 84 won the award for the best production (play) directed by Sunil Shanbag and produced by Arpana from Mumbai, best original script ( Ramu Ramanathan) and the best actor (Nagesh Bhonsle). The play is a saga of Mumbai, Girgaon, tracing the development of  a modern city and the attendant struggles of the workers of Girgaon.

 The award for the best play was Rs.1 lakh and each participating team got Rs. 60,000 for performing the shows at the festival.

 Amal Allana got the award for the best director for Nati Binodini. The play, based on the autobiography Aamar Katha is about a stage actress who becomes a prostitute living a dual life of a kept woman and an actress. The play used an interesting devise of having 5 actresses play Binodini as the elderly Binodini (Salima Raza) recollects her life. And all five (Swaroopa Ghosh, Sonam Kalra, Natasha Rastogi, Amita Ailawadi and Salima Raza) were awarded the best actress award for the portrayal of her character.

 Gowri Ramachandran’s Dark Horse based on her one meeting with the Marathi poet Arun Kolatkar (played very well by Dhritiman Chatterji, who opted out of the best actor nomination) 15 years ago at Kolatkar’s favoutrite Kala Ghoda area, had some excellent singers and she used their skills very innovatively as part of the play to win the best sound design. The one scene in which Savita Narsimhan sings Kolatkar’s poetry to a range of music from Carnatic style to modern pop and Beatles music was hilarious and added the right touch of irreverence to a piece that was an ode to the poet and his work.

 Other winners were Best supporting actor (male) Nachiket Purnapatre from the play Tu, best supporting actress (female) Nutan Surya in Chekhov Ki Duniya, best stage design to Numbers in the Dark ( Atul Kumar), best lighting design shared by Numbers in the Dark and Tu ( Sujay Saple and Pradeep Vaidya respectively), best costume design (Amal Allana) for Nati Binodini, best choreography (Atul Kumar) for Numbers in the Dark with Gowri Ramachandran getting a special mention for Dark Horse.

 As an audience, the play that touched me the most was the story of two old men in an old peoples home (Bali aur Shambhu) played by Kumud Misra and Sushil Pandey, written and directed by Manav Kaul.  It was a simple story of two characters with opposite personalities who have to live in the same room and their secretive stories about their lives. Sadly, it didn’t win any awards.

 It is a pity that the number of plays was so small. It would be great to see some more productions getting selected in the future. They have to be available on DVD for one for the selectors to see them, which might be a constraint for some participants. But more information on the awards is available on www.metawards.com  for those who are doing productions between January 1 2007 and December 31 2007.

 Theatre has, for very long, been neglected in India. Which, with the right support, can be a major entertainer to rival the industries of Westend and Broadway. It is but natural, that with the right support, both financial and marketing, the productions can get bigger and better. It is quite incredible that it has even survived to see this day and there are people everywhere still putting in the effort and the time just for the passion of it. The META awards hopefully, will provide a major platform and boost to this in the coming years.

 Purva Rakesh is a theatre enthusiast and a budding film maker.

QL

4 Corners:
WORLD THEATRE DAY was created in 1961 by the International Theatre Institute (ITI). World Theatre Day is celebrated annually on the 27th March by ITI Centres and the international theatre community, various national and international theatre events being organized to mark this occasion. One of the most important of these is the circulation of the International Message traditionally written by a theatre personality of world stature at the invitation of the International Theatre Institute. For more information log on to http://www.iti-worldwide.org

World Theatre Day International Message 2007; by H.H. Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council of the United Arab Emirates, Ruler of Sharjah.

INTERNATIONAL MESSAGE

 It was during my early school days that I became fascinated by the theatre, that magical world which has captivated me ever since.

 The beginnings were humble, a casual encounter which I only saw as an extracurricular activity to enrich the mind and spirit. But it was to be more than that when I became seriously involved as a writer, actor and director of a theatrical production. I remember it was a political play that angered the authorities at the time. Everything was confiscated, and the theatre was closed before my very eyes. But the spirit of the theatre could not be crushed by the heavy boots of the armed soldiers. That spirit sought refuge and settled deep in my inner being, making me fully aware of the vast power of the theatre. It was then that the true essence of the theatre impinged on me in a most profound way, I became absolutely convinced of what the theatre can do in the lives of nations, particularly in the face of those who cannot tolerate opposition or differences of opinion.

 The power and spirit of the theatre took root and deepened in my conscience through my university years in Cairo. I avidly read almost everything written about the theatre, and saw the diverse range of what was being performed on the stage. This awareness has deepened even further in subsequent years as I have tried to follow the latest developments in the world of theatre.

 In my reading about the theatre since the times of ancient Greeks up to the present, I have become acutely conscious of the inner magic which the many worlds of the theatre have the power to exercise. It is in this way that the theatre reaches the hidden depths of the human soul, and unlocks the hidden treasures that lie deep within the human spirit. This has strengthened my already unshakable faith in the power of the theatre, in the theatre as an instrument of unification through which man can spread love and peace. Theatre power also allows new channels of dialogue to open up between different races, different ethnicities, different colors and different creeds. This has personally taught me to accept others as they are and instilled in me the belief that in goodness humanity can stand united, and in evil humanity can only be divided.
True, the struggle between good and evil is intrinsic to the code of the theatre. Ultimately, however, common sense prevails and human nature will by and large align itself with all that is good, pure and virtuous.

 The wars with which humanity has been afflicted ever since ancient times have always been motivated by evil instincts which simply do not recognize beauty. The theatre does appreciate beauty, and one could even argue that no art form is capable of capturing beauty more faithfully than the theatre. Theatre is an all-encompassing receptacle for all forms of beauty, and those who do not value beauty cannot value life.

 Theatre is life. There has never been a time as now when it is incumbent on all of us to denounce futile wars and doctrinal differences which often raise their ugly heads undeterred by the conscience that is vibrant with responsibility.
We need to put an end to scenes of violence and random killings. These scenes have become common occurrences in today's world, only to be aggravated by abysmal differences between wicked affluence and abject poverty, and by diseases like AIDS which have bedevilled many parts of the globe and defeated the best of efforts to eradicate them. These ills are alongside other forms of suffering from desertification and drought, calamities fanned by the absence of any genuine dialogue which is the sure way of turning our world into a better and happier place.

 Oh Theatre People, it is almost as if we have been struck by a storm, and overwhelmed by the dust of doubt and suspicion which is approaching us.

 Visibility has become almost totally eclipsed, and our voices shrill and barely audible in the clamor and division intent on keeping us far apart from one another. In fact, were it not for our deep-rooted belief in dialogue so uniquely manifested by such art forms as the theatre, we would have been swept away by the storm which leaves no stone unturned to divide us. We must, therefore, face up to and challenge those who never tire of agitating the storm. We must face up them, not to destroy them, but to rise above the contaminated atmosphere left in the wake of their storms. We need to rally our efforts and to devote them to communicating our message and establishing bonds of friendship with those calling for brotherhood among nations and peoples.

 We are mere mortals, but the theatre is as eternal as life itself.
 

QL

Up&Coming:
The following is a list of shows you should watch out for this month. The code to it's deciphering is as follows:
red is the Theatre Club show 
and in blue are QTP events. 
Those with an (R) next to them means that we have reviewed it, and if you require a review simply email us at qtp@vsnl.com asking for it. 
Those with an (PP) next to them means that it is a platform performance, entry free!