ADHE ADHURE by Mohan Rakesh

The Play

Savitri, a middle aged woman, is dissatisfied with her circumstances. She has an unemployed son, a promiscuous teen daughter and a husband, who has failed to provide her emotional and financial security. She tries to find fulfilment in relationships outside her marriage, only to realize that all men are the same beneath different faces. What makes Mohan Rakesh’s portrait of Savitri, one of Hindi theatre’s first feminist icons, so gripping, is that one is never sure whether he admires her rage to get a grip on her life, or whether he suggests that she is a woman caught in her destiny and circumstances in the manner of a tragic Greek heroine.

 

Director’s Note

I thought of doing this play in eighties as an expressionistic farce. In the nineties again thought of doing in a simple manner but with controlled and more believable performance instead of actors’ greed to jump in to rhetoric and overplaying. At last now in 2018 got a chance to direct it for the theatre Olympics, when all my ideas and the ways of theatre have crossed to 21st century.

Hence, in this poetic theatre piece we, the team are trying to find out what all the sequences of the play mean to us at 2018.

The play a definite confluence of Sanskrit plays, Parsi theatre prototype characters is schemed and the approaches of the western playwrights like Tennessee Williams, Jean Anouilh poses multi-layered pressure for actors.

Thanks to the encouragement of Nalini, Rajesh Singh, Rana Santosh, Chetan and later on the whole team. Special Thanks to Neelu Dogra for having accepted the burden of Savitri. Thanks to Rajesh Bahl for designing the set and poster. Thanks to Vijay Srivastava for adjusting time in spite of busy schedule, Bharat Sharma and Devender Mann. Thanks to the Director of NSD and Festival Cell for the invitation to perform at the 8 Theatre Olympics.

 

The Director

A graduate from Utkal University and an NSD alumnus, Robin Das joined the National School of Drama teaching faculty in 1977-78. As a designer he has worked with important directors of the country and has produced exciting and innovative designs for over 50 plays of diverse genres.  As a director, he has brought forward many complex and important aspects of traditional Indian theatre, in the context of contemporary global theatre. He has also worked as an art director and actor for films and other media. As a senior teacher he has held many workshops with students, theatre groups, theatre institutes and at regional and tribal levels. He was awarded by the Sangeet Natak Akademi in the year 2000 for his contribution in the theatre.

 

The Playwright

Born as Madan Mohan Guglani on 8 January 1925 in Amritsar (Punjab), Mohan Rakesh did M.A. in English and Hindi from Punjab University, Lahore. He was one of the pioneers of the Nai Kahani literary movement of Hindi literature in the 1950s. He wrote the first modern Hindi play, Ashadh Ka Ek Din in 1958. He made significant contributions to the novel, short story, travelogue, criticism, memoir and drama. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1968.

 

Cast & Credit

Kale Suit Wala Aadmi              Kaviraj Laique

Savitri                                          Neelu Dogra

Mahendranath                          Rana Santosh Kamal

Jagmohan                                   Rahil Bhardwaj

Juneja                                          Vijay Srivastava

Singhania                                    Chandan Kumar

Binni                                             Ankita Sharma

Kinni                                             Deepika Roy

Ashok                                           Chetan Padhiyar

 

Set Design                                   Rajesh Bahl

Light Design                               Avtar Sahni

Music                                           Vishala R Mahaley, Sourav Poddar

Properties                                    Mrinalini Pandey & Team

Choreography                             Vikram Mohan

Photography                               Shiv Bharadwaj

Executive Producer                   Devendra Man, Nalini, Rajesh Singh

Stage Manager                           Mrinalini Pandey

 

Playwright                               Mohan Rakesh

Director                                     Robin Das

 

Contacts

Robin Das

310 A, Shipra Suncity

Indrapuram, Ghaziabad, U. P.

M: +91 9811814121