Under Construction

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The Play
Three men wake up in the morning and slowly head in one direction – towards the kettle – the magic key for the new day. They press the button and wait, cups in their hands. But the world is unpredictable, and nothing can be taken for granted. Just when the tea is about to be poured, all phones and gadgets start to ring at once. Then a huge cockroach jumps out of the kettle. Then it turns out that there was no water in the kettle to start with, and a trip from the bathroom can be quite complicated if one follows the GPS… Once the water’s in the kettle, men start to boil instead of the kettle; pipes burst, flat fills up with smoke, mosquitos attack… And the kettle seems to be dead. But these gentlemen want to have tea, and they will have it! In the pursuit of their modest desire, the heroes of the play gradually destroy their apartment, and finally discover that the kettle was unplugged!
Happy end follows and everybody is welcome to the tea party.

DAVAI’s Note
The show was written and directed through the collective work of DAVAI group. Our genre is physical theatre, or non-verbal comedy. In our shows, it is important for us to tell a simple story -like this one.Three lonely men, each one with his bizarre character, wake up in the morning and want to have a cup of tea, and they have to go through an entire odyssey to get it. Using such a minimal plot helps our concentration during the show’s creation, and provides a steady base for the flight of our imagination. The atmosphere of the show is reminiscence of our Soviet childhood.Three of us were born in the former USSR and moved to Israel when we were teenagers. Throughout these years, we have preserved a sense  of belonging to another culture, and we still feel "aliens" in our country of residence. In this show we invite the audience to join our "alien" capsule, get carried away in our daydreams and laugh together with us at the absurdity of our life.

DAVAI
As a group, we have written and directed Under Construction, That Round Thing (a show for the entire family), and Mama (an outdoor show). As individuals, we have directed shows for adults: The Benefit For Don Vitorio, Baby Faust, One Thing Show; shows for children: Red Riding Hood, Apchee, Smartphone Bros., Old Hag With A Bag; street shows: The Lost Wheels Of Time, Everything Show; as well as 4 family shows with live orchestral music.

The Group
DAVAI was formed in Tel-Aviv (Israel) in 2013 by Fyodor Makarov, Alexey (Losha) Gavrielov and VitalyAzarin. Our common interest is physical theatre. Background training includes drama, clown, voice, photography, philosophy, cinematography, circus and music. The company is based in Tel-Aviv, Israel. DAVAI is an independent theatre group, supported by the Israeli Ministry of Culture (in regard to new productions) and by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign affairs (in regard to international travels).

Cast & Credits
Set Design : Losha Gavrielov
Costumes : Yasmin Wollek
Sound Design : Losha Gavrielov
Original music : Daniel Sinaisky
Technical Director : Iliya Gerchikov

Producer : Alina Feldman
Written, Directed and Performed by DAVAI i.e. Vitaly Azarin, Losha Gavrielov, Fyodor Makarov

Manohar Khushalani

Manohar Khushalani

Prof. Manohar Khushalani is a former Visiting Faculty at Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi. The courses he taught were: Animation & Graphics, Non-Linear Editing for Film and Radio and Theatre Appreciation.  He has won a total of nine Excellence in Teaching awards for all the courses he has taught at IIITD Earlier he retired from Government of India as Director Environment Management, Central Water Commission and held many senior positions in the Government Based on a Belief that Culture and Environment are the two keys to global sustainability , Manohar Khushalani has launched two portals: A Portal on Environment and Water called One Vorld at url: www.onevorld.org and two Ezines on Culture called Stage Buzz at url: www.stagebuzz.in He has taught extensively in varied subjects such as Dam Safety, Instrumentation, CAD, IT, Animation, Theatre, Newspaper Editing. He has conducted Courses on Environment Management, Water Shed Development, Team Building and Personality Development. He was an Expert Member of Prasar Bharti’s Committee for Grading & Short listing Films for Telecast on all channels of Doordarshan.  He is a Radio Anchor for All India Radio and has moderated several programs for the Rajdhani Channel He is a well-known Theatre Actor/Director and Critic, has been involved in theatre since 1977. He has worked as an actor in over 50 plays with almost every leading director/Actor in the Country including Badal Sircar, Feisal Alkazi, Amal Allana, M.K. Raina, Anuradha Kapoor, Maya Rao, Manohar Singh, Prasanna, Rati Bartholomew and Sushmita Mukherji. He has been active in the social sector as a street theatre activist. As a member of Workshop Theatre, Theatre Union and Prayog, Khushalani has participated in street plays taking up major social issues such as dowry, bride burning, Sati, banned medicinal drugs and communalism. Dario Fo’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist and Can’t Pay Won’t Pay, both directed by him, received rave notices from critics and audiences alike. Other plays directed by him include Badal Sircar’s, Sagina Mahato and Boris Vian’s Empire Builders for Ruchika Theatre Group. Khushalani has also acted in a few films such as Sudhir Mishra's Hazaron Khwaishen Aisi , Shoojit Sircar’s Madras Café and Pradeep Krishan's Annie Gives Those Ones. He is an Animator & Graphics Designer and has directed a number of documentaries. He also held a number of Honorary positions and was President of North India Films Association, He was the Chairman of  Jury for UGC CEC Educational Films Competition and has been on their Preview Committee since last many years. He was on the preview committee of Door Darshan Channel 3, was a visiting Professor at National School of Drama, New Delhi, and Film & Television Institute of India, Pune, AJKMCRR, Jamia Milia Islamia and Professor in Media at FICT, Delhi  He has judged a large number of Drama Competitions and conducted a number of Theatre / Management Games Workshops with Institutions such as AIIMS, NTPC, CWPRS, NWA, Karve Nari Prakshishan Sansthan, FICT, IIT, MAMC, Gargi College, KNC, Tagore International School and Vivekananda School. He is a Theatre Critic for IIC Diary, has also been a Columnist with Midday and Pioneer Daily and wrote Column's Called Culture Cocktail and Footlights Respectively. He was also the Guest Editor for an issue on Folk Theatre of ICCR Journal Horizons. He has written for Times of Indian, Hindustan Times, Blitz, Hard News, Hindu Business Line, Theatre India & Art Times. He has designed dams and hydraulic structures for the Government. He is a programmer and has developed Engineering design software in Fortran. He is a co-author of Irrigation Practice & Design (Vol 1 to5 - 1500 pages) published by Oxford & IBH and sponsored by National Book Trust. He has been a Director, Environment and Sociology, at the National Water Academy, Khadakwasla and Director, Environment Management Directorate, Central Water Commission and Member Secretary, National Environmental Monitoring Committee for River Valley Projects. He was also Director of Instrumentation Directorate in the Dam Safety Organisation. He was Chief General Manager and Head of Water Resources at Scott Wilson and is an accredited consultant with numerous other organizations He is a Delhi Public School, BITS Pilani, IIT Delhi and FTI Pune Alumini. He was also the President of BITS Pilani Alumni Association, Pune.

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