Sasidharan Naduvil’s HIGUITA – A GOALIE’S ANXIETY AT THE PENALTY KICK

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Playwright & Director: Sasidharan Naduvil

Group: Remembrance Theatre Group, Kerala

Language: Malayalam

Duration: 1 hr 30 mins

The Play & Director’s Note

This is an independent dramatization of two famous works, one by N.S Madhavan (Higuita) and the other by Peter Handke (The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick). Higuita was staged for the first time 20 years ago as a 30-minute short play. The stage arrangement consists of a football ground with a church on one side. Father Geevarghese is the church vicar of a small town somewhere near southern part of Delhi. He had once heard the story The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty box from Father Capriaty, his friend from Italy. Geevarghese, on his tiny television set in his room, is watching the world cup football match. In the centre circle of the football ground, the then and now Father Geevarghese, meets the people from his past – Lucy Marandy, Jabbar, his friends, and family. Imprisoned in their boxes, the goalkeepers stand like caged birds under the scorching sun. But what excitesGeevarghese is the image of Higuita, walking back peacefully to his own post, after kicking the ball to the farthest striker of his team towards the rival post. Father Geevarghese watches himself overcoming all barriers like Higuita. He retorts against the injustice happening in front of him. Footballs are ablaze and swinging in the air, and from the dark, someone yells…

The Director & Playwright

Sasidharan Naduvil was born in 1963 in a remote village named Vallachira in Thrissur district of Kerala. Since his childhood, he was fond of theatre and performed many plays during his school and college days. Later in 1980s, he became a disciple of Jose Chirammel and joined the Root Theatre Group, one of the renowned theatre groups in Kerala, run by the theatre activist Chirammel. Being a theatre person for the last 35 years, Sasidharan has acted in more than 12 plays, written 27 plays, and directed more than 400 plays. He has won inter-university drama competitions eleven times held at various universities of Kerala, including the South Zone and National Festival, and has been awarded many a times.

The Group

Campus theatre personnel of NSS Engineering College, Palakkad and theatre artists from various districts of Kerala founded Remembrance Theatre Group (RTG) in 2003. It has participated in festivals like Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards, Bharat Rang Mahotsav, PRD Festival, KSNA Festival, Keli Theatre Festival, Prithvi Theatre Mumbai, 8th Theatre Olympics 2018, and Ochre Theatre Festival, Canberra, Australia. RTG is actively performing in Trichur, Calicut, Bangalore, Doha, Sharjah, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Australia. It has an ensemble of plays like Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea, Jean Genet’s Balcony, Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Sasidharan Naduvil’s Pithalasalabham, and N S Madhavan’s Higuita.

Cast & Credits

Fr Geevarghese: Jijoy P R  

Jabbar: Manikandan

K Geevarghese/Higuita: Rishnan Unni

Narrator 1/ Commentary: Thamam Mubarish

Narrator/P T Master/Geevarghese Father: Sumesh Manithara

Priest 2/Footballer 1: Roshin

Team Manager /Malappuram Guy: Sreekumar Prigi

Stage Manager/Referee 2/Coach 2: Paul D Joseph

Referee/ Actor: Aravind Patel, Hena Patel     

Sevens Foot Baller 2: Aditya Patel, Athira Patel   

Foot Baller 3: Sanaji Kumar

Foot Baller 4: Rajesh Prasad

Foot Baller 5: Vyshakh

Foot Baller 6: Henson

Foot Baller 7: Tom  

Foot Baller 8: Jithin

Foot Baller 9: Githin

Foot Baller 10: Viswajith V Menon

Foot Baller 11:  Hiran

Foot Baller 12: Akhilesh Pali

Others: Sonia Giri, Archana, Ganga, Aswathy, Kavitha, Abhilash Arimbur

Technicial/Malappuram Guy: Francis

Music Direction & Execution: Satyajith

Light Design & Execution: Murali

Playwright & Director: Sasidharan Naduvil

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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