Our play Crab has been in cold storage for many a month. The last show being in April. It took an invite from the Ranga Shankara Festival 2007 for us to defrost it and serve it up again. The response was overwhelming. Bangalore audiences proved again that they are among the most exhilarating in the country by giving the performances thunderous applause. Dilnaz Irani, (new to the cast after Freshia Bomanbehram took ill) was a revelation, and essayed the role with incredible ease in spite of the short rehearsal time. For the next set of shows of Crab, watch this space.

Ram Ganesh Kamatham’s Crab runs in every direction: the narrative scuttles back and forth in time, skips from character to character, pokes at the problems of urban life and even mountaineering. The set recreates both metropolis and mountain, and helps realise the emotional pitch and intensity of the tautly written script.
- Outlook

What stands out is Kamatham’s spare style – his frugal use of words fuels tensions even as it reins them in, resulting in a controlled piece of drama…
… Arghya Lahiri’s artful direction and aesthetic use of light – shadows and stark pools of light charge an atmosphere that’s already bristling with emotion…
- Time Out

… makes apparent the difficulty of communication and the sheer power, need and joy of it.…
… explores the intensity, pain and fragility of relationships against the backdrop of the alienating concrete jungle…
…Arghya Lahiri’s direction is austere but sharp and lucid. The design is stark and arresting…
…luminous with poetic lines and a very intricate, very delicate filigree of emotions…
- Mumbai Mirror

'….very creative expression and was aptly communicated in the imaginative set-design’.
A director’s coup with superb casting.
- Tehelka

… sky bound, with harsh bursts of firecracker dialogue…
… Crab has four characters, but one who matters. Zamiel. The existential heir of Meursault in his remorseless commitment to the truth and Gregor Samsa in his love that is deeper, more willing to take risks. In 2007, when achievement and success are defined by measly measures of employability, disposable income, group dynamics and other corporate-speak, the “alone-ness” of Zamiel is even more stark. And therefore quite darkly romantic…
- Indian Express

Great Texts: On the last Monday of each month people meet in Q's drawing room to read a play they may have heard of but not necessarily have read. Writer's come to see how the greats wrote, actors come to play multiple parts and theatre lovers come because it keeps them in touch with the art form. It is open all and everyone takes turns in playing characters from the play. Discussions ensue after over tea and biscuits.

Last month, we read Dario Fo's Accidental Death of an Anarchist - "The play is based on events involving a real person, Giuseppe Pinelli, who was thrown from the fourth floor window of a Milan police station in 1969. He was suspected of bombing a bank (the Piazza Fontana Bombing), but his name was since cleared. The events of the play itself, however, are fictional."

The turnout was exceptional and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the play although, the general consensus was it would be enjoyed a lot more if watched rather than read. Most people felt the play  was very relevant in today's political environment and that even a common man can outwit the high level government servants.

In the month of November, we will be reading Jean Anouilh's Ring Round the Moon -  "The play concerns two twins, a cold, manipulative playboy Hugo, and his sensitive brother Frédéric. Frédéric is madly in love with Diana, the spoiled daughter of a self-made millionaire. She herself wants Hugo, as his impenetrability teases her."

One of the most popular French dramatists since World War II, Jean Anouilh was sometimes called a mere entertainer. Choreography and music are often integrated into his plots; yet a seriousness and a pessimistic view of life lie beneath his farce and caricature. His protagonists usually reject compromise--and thus life. The result is either death or a retreat into illusion that becomes untenable.

Originally titled L'Invitation au Château (Invitation to the Castle), it was written in 1947. The play was adapted (not translated) in 1950 by Christopher Fry as Ring Round the Moon. The play criticizes class difference and the power of money in our society.

We will be reading it on the 26th of November at 7:30pm at 18 Anukool, Sq. Ldr. Harminder Singh Marg, 7 Bungalows. Next to Daljit Gym.  All are welcome. If you need directions call Himanshu on 26392688 or 9820356150.

2nd November 2007

Directed by Digvijay Savant

3rd November 2007

 Directed by Abner Reginald

In the by lanes of Agripada, Mastana Rampuri urf Chhappan Churi, a small time gangster with an eye for the women, rules the roost.. His desire for the pretty Kokila, brings him into conflict with her father, Kaushikbhai Kadakia, beggar boss, and political party fund raiser.

It is the early 1960s, a time of change. India has lost the war to China, and the idealism and confidence of the fifties has given way to bitter cynicism.

An adaptation of Vaikom Mohammad Basheer's story (of the same name in the English translation by R.E. Asher and Achamma Coilparampil Chandrasekaran), The story revolves around the growing pains of a young Muslim-Malayali girl in a society of conflicts and is set against a backdrop of implied criticisms of outdated Muslim customs, an appeal to live in the present, an abundance of comedy and breathtaking Kerala. The play attempts to understand this shy girl who is at the centre of human life, a community, a village in North Malabar.

Babuji is based on the North Indian folk art of Nautanki, and the entire lifestyle of Babuji is completely attached with dance and music.

Disregarded and dishonoured by his own family and society, Babuji establishes himself independently in music. Many years later he gets an invitation to perform a Nautanki show at a marriage – the invitation is from his daugther's in-laws to be, for his daughter's marriage. He goes ahead and accepts the invitation.

GIRIBALA (Marathi)

Directed by Vijay Kumar

Brimming with wit, humour and hilarity, Raag Darbari (which literally means the melody of the court) is a devastating political satire on the distorted and corrupt system that we all live in.

Based on Shreelal Shukla's novel of the same name, Raag Darbari is set in Shivpalganj, a typical Indian village of the Fifties. The play captures the mood of an upcoming village with the trials of a small town.

Giribala, a newly married girl is deeply in love with her husband, who is a student in college. When her father-in-law suddenly dies, all his money and property go to Giribala's husband and he no longer remains her old loving husband. He gets addicted to his group of friends and to a theatre. GIRIBALA believes that he has fallen in love with the stage actress Lavanga. She secretly goes to attend the play that Lavanga is in… and gets transformed. The music, ambience and spirit of theatre make her long to be free from her cocooned life… what happens next?

6th November 2007

Directed by Etienne Coutinho

7th November 2007

Directed by Manav Kaul

Girija, is the only educated girl in her village - '10th class fail' She dreams of the kind of life-style she has seen in the touring talkies. Her small town aspirations based on her exposure to films and advertising are personified in the character of her 'hero'. She is so enamoured of her 'hero' that the dialogues he delivers in his films are the only truth she believes in. The make-believe world of her dreams is her reality which is completely at odds with her family and her village.

There's jazz, there's rock n roll.
There's sax, there's violins.
Slipping in slivers of Dixieland stomp,
Portuguese Fados, Ellingtonesque doodles,
cha cha cha, Mozart and Bach themes.
There's Mumbai, Bombay, India.
There's egos, failed futures, alcoholism
There's love, passion, bounced cheques.
There's show-biz, razzmatazz.

What do you make of a love story comprising a liar, a cop, two runaway circus kids, a guy called chai, a man resolved on suicide, another willing to help him in lieu of money, a bunch of pigeons who occasionally feel the need to break into song & dance and a lonely crow with an identity crisis?

Can all these sundry characters make a love story? Without love? And can it have a happy ending? They say it is possible.
They say... Aisa Kehte Hain.

TUKRA'S DREAM (English)

8th November 2007

Directed by Jaimini Pathak

Our hero Tukra doesn't belong to any of the known categories of heroes mentioned in the Natyashastra. He is like a shape formed out of the discarded organs of other people. A ready wit and an even readier tongue are his only weapons of defence. He is patriot, traitor, thief, womaniser. Everyone knows him yet he doesn't have a social identity. He compares himself with a blade of grass, so much so that it is difficult to uproot him.

Tukra's Dream then, is the Song of the Grass.

Three friends meet on the eve of an occasion, the bond between them tested through their relationships with the two exceptional women who have inhabited their lives. Into this melee walks an uninvited guest: Isaac Newton, a scientist of an era past who tries to find, then move, the Centre of Gravity of each relationship.

As the evening gathers momentum, would the original Laws of attraction hold enough to strengthen the bonds, or would the cords of friendship be frayed by the strain of expectation?

JAAGINE JOUN TO: NARASAINYO (Gujurati)

AAO SATHI SAPNA DEKHE  (English)

10th November 2007

Directed By Utkarsh Mazumdar

11th November 2007

It is about the life and times of the 15th century Saint Poet Narsinh Mehta, the Adi Kavi (First Poet) of Gujarati Literature. His life is full of striking upheavals. He faces personal, social, economic and political persecution with his strong belief in humanism and complete devotion to Lord Krishna. Like Kabir, Meera, and Tukaram he belongs to the Bhakti movement of medieval India. His timeless compositions are still sung with great love and devotion.

A musical set in the Chandni Chowk area of Old Delhi. It is the love story of a boy and girl the events of which are planned by their respective fathers… but soon things begin to take their own course. The story is told by a narrator.

What happens then, do you succumb or do you still hold on to your dreams? Sometimes we need to travel back in time to know ourselves….come, take the journey with us.