Playwright: Henrik Ibsen

Director: Sankar Venkateswaran

Group: Jangama Collective, Singapore

Language: English

Duration: 1 hr 25 mins

The Play

The play consists of a few final episodes from the life of an ageing sculptor, who achieved fame at the expense of personal happiness. The artist in his old age has lost his inspiration, he wanders around aimlessly, has stopped producing art works and his marriage with his young wife is at the verge of a breakdown. He comes across a deranged stranger lady, who claims to be dead. He comes to realize that the strange lady was once his muse and model to his most famous work of art. His interests were only artistic while she suffers a certain death of soul due to the unrequited love. His wife breaks free from him to find life and love in a bear hunter, while the artist and the model dredge up and dig through a difficult past to realize that the life they led is irretrievable.

Director’s Note

The questions are, why should we care about this play and the characters today? And how do we approach them? The answer to the first question, I think, is that these characters are like us, in their selfishness, denials and egos. My answer to the second question leads to another difficult question and is rather harsh. What if we deny the author his words, his rhetoric, the way the sculptor denies acknowledging a life beneath his model which then turned her into a statue! And when we do that to this play, we are left with a phantasmal envelope of silence where bodies move like ghosts and speak their silence. This might start to provoke our imaginations beyond the spoken, and we might start to see the irretrievable. We may begin to ask questions such as- are we awake? Are we dreaming? Or, are we dead? Do we need to wake from the dream or death? What happens when we dead awaken?

The Director

Sankar Venkateswaran is a theatre director and dramaturg from Kerala, India. He graduated from the Calicut University School of Drama and Fine Arts, and pursued his post-graduate training at Theatre Training and Research Programme (now Intercultural Theatre Institute), Singapore. Currently, Sankar has set up a cultural space in Attappady, Kerala, and works with the indigenous communities of the region. He is a recipient of the International Ibsen Scholarship 2013 (Teater Ibsen, Norway) and Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar 2011, and was a jury member for Zurich Theater Spektakel 2016.

The Playwright

Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) was a Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is considered by many as the ‘father of realism’ and remains one of the most influential playwrights of his time and is the most frequently performed dramatist in the world after Shakespeare. Ibsen’s dramas have a strong influence upon contemporary culture, and continue to be staged in different languages around the world today.

The Group

Jangama is a collective of five actors/performance-makers that strive to create work that may speak across cultural and linguistic barriers through their own forms and languages. The collective comprises of Lakshmana KP (India), Pooja Mohanraj (India), Hau Guei Sze (Malaysia), Caroline Chin (Singapore) and Alexander Beard (Australia). The five have been undergoing training at the Intercultural Theatre Institute in Singapore, an actor training institution that focuses on immersing actors in both Western and Eastern theatre forms. Each of them is working as independent artists in their own countries, while continuing to connect with each other and create work around the world.

Cast & Credits

Maia Rubek: Pooja Mohanraj

Arnold Rubek: Lakshmana KP

Ulfheim, a bear hunter: Alexander Beard

Irene, a stranger lady: Caroline Chin

Sister of Mercy: Hau Guei Sze

Translator: William Archer

Original cast of Ulfheim: Yazid de Jalil

Movement consultant: Lim Chin Huat

Voice and Speech consultant: Simon Stollery

Production photographer: Bernie Ng

Headshot photographer: Gabriela Neeb

Supporting Institution: Intercultural Theatre Institute

Playwright: Henrik Ibsen

Director: Sankar Venkateswaran

Playwright: Roopram

Director: Devendra Sharma

Group:  Brij Lok Madhuri, Uttar Pradesh

Language: Hindi

Duration: 1 hr 30 mins

The Form

Before the advent of Bollywood, Nautanki was the biggest entertainment medium in the villages and towns of northern India. Nautanki’s origin lies in the Saangit, Bhagat, and Swang musical theatre traditions of Northern India. Nautanki performances are operas based on popular themes derived from romantic tales, mythology, or biographies of local heroes. The performance is often punctuated with songs, dances, and skits, which serve as breaks and comic relief for the audience. The pleasure of Nautanki lies in the intense melodic exchanges between two or three performers, and at times a chorus. Traditional Nautankis usually start late at night, often around 10 p.m. or so, and go on all night until sunrise the next morning (for a total of 8–10 hours).

The Play

Written in the 1920s by Roopram, a writer of Natharam Gaud’s Nautanki troupe, this Nautanki is the story of Sultana, the famous dacoit of early 20th century. Sultana Daku, the ‘benevolent dacoit’ is an equivalent of England’s Robin Hood, who steals from the rich and gives to the poor with the help of his gang of three hundred dacoits. Sultana’s love was Phoolkanwar, a tawaayaf (dancer), who lived with him in the jungle. The present Nautanki portrays that ironically, Sultana was betrayed by a poor person, whom he helped with money.

The Director

Dr. Devendra Sharma is a Professor of Communication and Performance at California State University, USA. Dr. Sharma introduced and popularized Swang-Nautanki in America and Europe. He was trained in the famous Samai-Khera Gharana by his father guru Pandit Ram Dayal Sharma, and in film direction at University of Southern California (Cinema School). Dr. Sharma has been invited as a professor of media and communication, and to perform, direct, and produce musical theatre shows at renowned institutions such as the University of Oxford, University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, Columbia University, Cornell University, University of California-Berkeley, University of California-Los Angeles, and University of Texas -Austin. In 2010, he was invited by the world-renowned Théâtre du Soleil in Paris, France to train French actors in Nautanki. In 2012, he was a visiting professor and Director-in-Residence at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) Pune.

Guru

Pandit Ram Dayal Sharma is a living legend of Swang, Bhagat, Nautanki, Rasiya, and Raaslila musical theatre traditions of north India, and is the present guru of Samai-Khera Rahasdhari Gharana. He is a famous singer, composer, actor, writer, director, and has performed more than 2000 shows all over the world. Panditji has been a visiting professor of Nautanki at the National School of Drama for more than three decades, and has taught music at many universities. In addition to numerous other awards, Panditji was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Nautanki by the President of India in 2015.

The Group

Brij Lok Madhuri (BLM) was founded by Pandit Ram Dayal Sharma in 1970s. It has been invited by various institutions such as Sangeet Natak Akademi, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, and Tara Arts London. Led abroad by Panditji’s son, Dr. Devendra Sharma, it has performed at prestigious venues like Théâtre du Soleil, Paris; School of Oriental and African Studies, London; Counter Pulse, San Francisco; Inner Eye Foundation, San Ramon; Mondavi Center for the Arts, California; Hindi Sangam, Portland, and also in various top universities of the world. For more than four decades, it has collaborated with organizations like United Nations Program for HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), etc.

Cast & Credits

Sultana Daku:  Devendra Sharma

Sadhu: Pandit Ram Dayal Sharma

Phoolkunwar: Sharvari Deshpande

Mr. Young: Vishnu Sharma/Pandit Ram Dayal Sharma

Kavi/Ranga: Pandit Ram Dayal Sharma/Vishnu Sharma

Dakiya/Seth/Comic: Kishan Swaroop Pachori

Pradhan: Guddu

Abul Qasim/Deputy: Manish Bawa/Ashish Kumar Sharma

Sundari/Bedhini/Mahila: Patra Lalita, Kavya Mishra, Dolly Sharma, Anu Singh

Daakus/Munim: Jatin Sharma, Manish Bawa, Nathilal Yadav, Ashish Kumar Sharma

Dakiya Ka Beta: Kavi Sharma

Harmonium: Hari Singh

Nakkar: Matol

Dholak: Rasheed

Clarinet: MadanLal

Costume: Krishna Sharma

Make-up/Property: Sadhna Sharma

Management: Sahitya Sharma /Ashish Kumar Sharma

Playwright: Roopram

Guru & Music Director: Ram Dayal Sharma

Director: Devendra Sharma

Playwright: Ujjwal Chattopadhyay

Director: Jayasree Bhattacharya

Group: Pragya Cultural Centre, Kolkata

Language: Bengali

Duration: 1 hr 40 mins

The Play

A dramatist wants to write a play on Baghajatin. He is trying to understand Baghajatin’s strategy to fight against 500 British soldiers with only four companions. Was Baghajatin right? The writer appeared to have had an interaction with the soul of Baghajatin who answers all his queries. He explains how Bhagawad Gita and other holy scriptures of our Indian philosophy had defined true leaders. The melodrama begins when the dramatist rewinds the sequences, imagining that the five great fighters have won the battle.

Director’s Note

I believe it as my duty and responsibility to cover a few moments of truth related to a charismatic freedom fighter of India. India’s Freedom did not come all of a sudden. It was an outcome of great sacrifices of our freedom fighters who selflessly fought against the rulers. As a director, I started researching on the subject quite a while ago and discovered many unknown and interesting (sometimes unpleasant) happenings in the life of Baghajatin. I visited all the places where he had lived, worked and sacrificed his life for the country. The more I travelled, the more I was touched.  Knowing Baghajatin is a journey and that I have tried to capture in this play Nine Miles to Go.

The Director

Jayasree Bhattacharya did her M.Sc. in Archaeology from the University of Calcutta. She is a part-time lecturer at Maharaja Monindra Chandra College and Bagbazar Women College. Jayasree started her theatre journey in Kolkata at the age of three, with her paternal aunty and renowned actress, late Keya Chakraborty. She joined the National School of Drama (TIE), Sanakar Rang Toli as an artist-teacher in 1996. She conducted several theatre workshops under the extension programme of National School of Drama in North East and West Bengal. She is a founder member of Pragya Cultural Centre and works in the tribal areas using theatre-in-education as a tool. She is researching on theatre therapy for the differently-abled, and is presently doing theatre therapy and theatre workshops for differently-abled women and children. She assisted filmmakers Rituparno Ghosh and Buddhadeb Dasgupta. She has made 11 telefilms and one feature film and has won two international awards for her films Madur and Binisutormala.

The Playwright

Ujjwal Chattopadhyay is a professor of Economics and an eminent playwright of West Bengal who has been serving Bengali theatre for decades. Most of his plays have been produced by directors like Bibhas Chakraborty, Meghnad Bhattacharya, Bratya Basu, Soumitra Mitra, Kaushik Sen, Prokash Bhattacharya and others. Some of his remarkable plays are Akarik, Antaral, Bhrom, Antoni-Soudamini, Arabyorajani, Biley, Drohokal, Dhrubatar, Nati Kiranshasi etc. He has also adapted the works of Chekov, Tagore, Shakespeare and Kalidas.

The Group

Pragya Cultural Centre is a Kolkata based theatre group. It works for social causes, and for differently abled people using theatre as a therapy. The group has been performing a popular play Fight Cancer since 2003. It runs theatre workshops for theatre lovers in the eastern zone. It has won several drama competitions and awards.

CAST & CREDITS

Jatindranath Mukherjee (Baghajatin): Suman Saha

Dramatist: Gunjan Prasad Ganguly

Chittapriyo Roychoudhury: Samrat Roy

Jyotish Paul:  Argha Roy

Niren Dasgupta:  Soumya Bhattacharjee

Manoranjan Sengupta: Shinjanbasu

Manindra Chakraborty: Tanmoy Karmocar

Bhima:  Madhusudan Chatterjee

Freedom Fighter 1: Arnab Mukherjee

Freedom Fighter 2: Aaishik Thakur

Villager 1:  Dipankar Bose

Villager 2:  Sukanta Pal

Jodu: Sovan Jana

Sharatshashi Devi: Bela Ghosh

Binodbala: Sulakshanasaha

Indubala: Nisha Haldar

Research Work: Prithwindra Mukherjee

Set Design:  Kneel Kaushik

Light Design:  Soumen Chakraborty

Music: Dishari

Make-up:  Sk Amir Ali

Costume:  Jakir

Publicity & Creatives:  Gautam Barat

Singer:  Tanmoy Bhattacahryya

Backstage:  Madan Haldar, Somnath Chakroborty, Sanju Haldar, Supriyo Sur, Abhisekh Mallik

Production Controller: Jayanta Kundu

Entrepreneur:  Sutanu Sinha

Playwright:  Ujjwal Chattopadhyay

Director:  Jayasree Bhattacharya

Playwright & Director: Subhadip Raha

Group: Krishiv Creations, Pune

Language: Hindi & English

Duration: 1 hr 15 mins

The Play

Delhi based lecturer Rajashree and her sister arrive at a country side place to stay in a government guest house. This place is a guerrilla warzone. Rajashree is a self – styled political idealist sympathiser of the guerrillas. An alibi for her presence is that of a researcher pursuing a PhD related to the place. Her sister Sudha is a college girl without an ideology, but flamboyant and rebellious. She is told not to step out of the guest-house. The bored collegiate draws her sister into a discussion around political ideology, questions her leanings, compelling Rajshree to reveal her true purpose. She is an undercover scribe on a mission to uncover the police’s human rights violation for holding a guerrilla leader captive. She seeks permission to meet the leader in lieu of finding out his name. She enters the cell surprised on seeing the guerrilla who (it seems) is no one else, but – Che Guevara! He / his look alike engage and disrobe her ‘pseudo’ socio-political ideology, in conversation. Doubtful, she leaves the cell casually naming the captive leader as, Che Guevara to the police, returning to the guesthouse.  Sub- inspector Sant gleefully reveals the captive’s identity, to be Che and gets beaten for no one believes him. Sudha too is shocked by the sting video. Rajashree reaches the police station to meet the leader and clear her doubts. Sant allows her a last chance while threatening her with death. She confronts Che, but ends up distressed at her inability to justify her belief and his identity. Meanwhile the inspector hears an animal’s howl coming from the captive’s cell. Reaching there he spots a wolf donning Rajshree’s earings and necklace. The sight is full of blood spilling from the wolf’s mouth onto the floor. Che Guevara is witnessing the sight, (defiantly).

Director’s Note

At mid-night when the moon rises on top of the sky I always try and find my twin but am attacked always. Memories of childhood have been giving productive-ambiguity to my socio political stand. As it’s like I am in the children’s park digging the soil at my feet and concentrating my whole effort to witness a color – which, punches my head, touches me, penetrates my sweat, grills my eyes, blasts my ears repeatedly. I and they fly probably, from the dug up hole – the three musketeers meet move their heads looking at me I pick my pen up. Something has given birth out of our own critical political ideologies; we then approach the cloudy rehearsals, like boxers punch at their adversaries inside a ring spilling blood in the center. We smell it and approach the unbearable crisis daily. We all put glasses to see the approaching shadow of, supersonic Ernesto Che Guevara – we kiss, hit, dig, burn and hug him finally. Each day becomes its last, the last chance, we explore, deal with this edgy, long lasting poisonous fact. I look around me eternally! Which direction? There’s one… Hash Ernesto Tag Guevara takes birth!

The Director and Playwright

Subhadip Raha began professional theatre in the 1980’s in Siliguri, West Bengal. He is the fourth generation in a family of theatre practitioners. He was trained in theatre at HCRFTA Mandi, Himachal Pradesh and subsequently at National School of Drama 2007. Started teaching at Anupam Kher’s school, Actor Prepares, Mumbai and Center for Research in Film and Television, Delhi. He is on the panel of visiting faculty of Bhartendu Natya Academy, Lucknow. Now, he is creative Director at Indira school of Communication and Acting Academy, Pune. He has directed about 40 plays and acted in hundreds, has also written 5 plays.

The Group

Krishiv Creations was formed on 28th August 2014. The main purpose of the group is to promote and encourage experimental, alternative theater. Its previous productions are Antaryatra (Marathi, Wri. Dr. Sameer Mone), Udakshanti (Sanskrit, Wri. Vinaya Kshirsagar), Titiksha (Marathi, Wri. Dr. Sameer Mone), Anthaarambha (Sanskrit, Wri. Yatin Mazire), Naa Jaane Kyun (Hindi, Wri. Pramod Kale), Thumba se Tapal (Marathi, Wri. Yatin Mazire) all directed by Yatin Mazire. Hash Ernesto Tag Guevera is written and directed by Subhadip Raha. Just Assassins is group’s latest production written by Albert Camus and Directed by Girish Pardeshi.

Cast & Credits

Che Guevara:  Girish Pardeshi 

Rajshree: Gita Guha

Inspector: Amit Kumar

Sudha: Pramitee Narake

Stage Manager: Aditya More

Property: Nishchay Atal, Sudhakar Ingole 

Light Design: Sagnik Chakravarty 

Backstage: Prasoonratam

Music Execution: Amay Surve

Stage Management: Hardik Kaushal

Playwright & Director: Subhadip Raha

Playwright: Mahesh Dattani 

Director: Lillette Dubey

Group: The Primetime Theatre Co., Mumbai

Language: English & Hindustani

Duration: 2 hrs

The Play & Director’s Note

This is a fascinating story of one of the classical superstars of her time and a fiery, feisty, independent minded woman of her generation, who was the first to sing on a wax record, and whose personal life was as mesmerising as her professional one. The play also offers an exciting glimpse of that period… Allahabad, Benares, Lucknow and Kolkata at the turn of the 20th century, both from the historical, political and cultural point of view! The play will have some live singing, though it is essentially a drama. It’s an important, powerful and moving story of a person who was a pioneer of the Thumri Tradition in Indian Classical Music and the play is a revelation for the younger generation, who know little about those times or about this great musician. Her story has all the ingredients for a very exciting and dramatic script, which will appeal not just to music lovers, but to lay audiences as well.

The Director

Lillette Dubey is a renowned Indian film and theatre actor and a theatre director. She has been Artistic Director of her own Theatre Company. The Primetime Theatre Company, for over 28 years and her theatrical work, which has travelled the globe, has been much acclaimed nationally and internationally, both in the sphere of actor and Director. Over a span of nearly 40 years, she has played the lead in over 60 theatre productions ranging from Shakespeare, Greek Tragedy, Brecht, Musical Comedies, Farce, Contemporary Drama, Absurd Theatre, to Contemporary Drama, including Ibsen, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Pinter, Dario Fo, Edward Albee and a gamut of famous Indian playwrights, from Vijay Tendulkar, Partap Sharma, Mahesh Dattani, Girish Karnad, Mahesh Elkunchwar to name just a few.

Most of the plays she has produced and directed, platform outstanding Indian playwrights, and many have won Best Play of the Year awards, and many have received Best Director and Actor awards at National Festivals. Ms. Dubey herself has won several Best Actress awards for her plays and films, including for Adhe Adhure (META 2013), Pankh (Jagran Film Festival 2010), Driving Miss Palmen (Dutch TV 2007), Bow Barracks Forever (Madrid international Film Festival) and others.

Several of the Company’s productions, directed by Ms. Dubey, have traveled widely across India and abroad, with a few having played for long runs at the Bloomsbury Theatre & Watermans in London, at the Tribecca in New York, at the Portland International Performance Festival in the U.S, as well as in Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, Dallas, Washington DC, Stamford, Raleigh (North Carolina), Los Angeles, Boston and New York. 

The Playwright

Mahesh Dattani is a playwright, stage director, and filmmaker. In 1998 he won the Sahitya Akademi award for his published plays. His plays are taught in several universities across the country and internationally as well. The International Herald Tribune hailed him as “one of India’s best and most serious contemporary playwrights”. He lives in Mumbai.

The Group

The Primetime Theatre Company was set up in March 1991 with the twin objectives of providing a platform for original Indian writing in English and travelling with its work across India and abroad to showcase indigenous work in different cultures and milieus, and also explore performances in different spaces and venues. The company has tried to showcase its work to the largest possible audience at prestigious International and National Festivals to Educational Institutions of all kinds, from Supper Theatre to some of the best performance venues in the world, from large open air auditoria to pocket sized black box theatres from factories to gardens. 

Cast & Credits

On Stage: Rajeshwari Sachdev, Zila Khan, Denzil Smith, Danny Sura, Rajeev Siddhartha, Gillian Pinto & Parinaz Jal

Set & Light Designer: Salim Akhtar

Costume Designer:  Pia Benegal

Kathak: Uma Dogra

Playwright: Mahesh Dattani

Producer & Director: Lillette Dubey

Playwright: Tennessee Williams
Director: Govind Singh Yadav
Group: The Dramatic Art& Design Association, Delhi
Language: Hindi
Duration: 1 hr 30 mins

The Play
Aijazis an aspiring poet who works in a factory to support his mother Nafeesa and sister Lubnawho has a problem with one of her legs. Aijaz’s father had run away many years ago.NafeesaasksAijazto find a match forLubna. Aijaz brings home Amjadwho had studied with Lubnain school. Amjad reveals that he is already engaged to another girl, and leaves. Aijazsays he wants to join the merchant navy.Nafeesa is disillusioned by now. Lubna has been preserving glass dolls since her childhood. At some point her favourite glass doll is disfigured by Amjad. Aijaz leaves home after this incident and arrives back in town after many years laden with guilt towards his mother and sister.

Director’s Note
SheeshekeKhiloneis an urdu adaptation of the play The Glass Menagerie written by Tennessee Williams and adapted by BilquisZafeerulHasan. The play questions why God doesn’t take care of us humans,as Lubna takes care of her glass menageries. Why does God leave us to wander alone in tough times? This is in fact the motive of the play as expressed by Lubna’s brother Aijaaz, at the end of the play.Based on a simple storyline, this play portrays many things, which is why a drawing room set has been chosen for the stage setting.

The Director
Govind Singh Yadavstudied at National School of Drama and BharatenduNatyaAkademi. He has to his credit the direction of plays like Lolita, AndhaYug, AdheAdhure, KhamoshAdalatJaariHai, Miss Julie, KabiraKhada Bazar Me, Duvidha, BallabhpurkiRoop Katha, Do KoudikaKhel and Tansen, his most recent show. He receivedSangeetNatakAkademi’sBismillah Khan Award for Best Lighting in 2008.He studied theatre and light techniques at the National Theatre in Korea. Recently he visited the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London to study theatre further. He has designed light for the productions of the National School of Drama Repertory Company, the Theatre in Education wing (NSD), and NSD’s student productions. He is presently working as the stage manager, and light designer and executor forNSD Repertory Company.

The Playwright
Thomas Lanier ‘Tennessee’ Williams III(1911 – 1983) was an American playwright. Along with Eugene O’Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the foremost playwrights of 20th-century American Drama.Much of Williams’ most acclaimed work has been adapted for the cinema. He also wrote short stories, poetry, essays and a volume of memoirs. In 1979, four years before his death, Williams was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

The Group
The Dramatic Art and Design Association is an active theatre group working since 2005. The group has been active since a decade in New Delhi, Ghaziabad, Allahabad and Bangalore. Many young artists have worked in the group and gained training as actors for theatre, and also for the media i.e. TV and films.

Cast& Credits
Aijaz1: Suresh Sharma
Aijaz 2: PrasannaSoni
Nafeesa: AnjuJaitley/RatikaMehra
Lubna: Shipti Saberwal /TanviGoel
Amjad: Chinmoy Das/Deepak

Costumes: MotiLalKhare
Assistant: RatikaMehra
Music: Mukesh Kumar
Light: Govind Singh Yadav
Set: Rajesh Bahl
Property: MotilalKhare
Assistant: TanviGoel
Video Design: Nitin Kumar
Stage Manager: UpinNirmal, TanviGoel
Poster & Brochure: Govind Singh Yadav

Urdu Adaptation: BilquisZafeerulHasan
Playwright: Tennessee Williams
Design & Direction: Govind Singh Yadav

Playwright: Vasant Kanetkar
Adaptation & Direction: Pooja Vedvikhyat
Group: N.S.D. Diploma Production, New Delhi
Language: Hindi
Duration: 1 hr. 20 mins

The Play

Raktbeej is an adaptation of a famous Marathi play, Ithe Oshalala Mrutyu. It tells a story about war between two of the most powerful empires in 17thcentury, that of Marathas led by Chatrapati Sambhaji and Mughals by Alamgir Aurangzeb. The play has a complex web of characters including Yesubai the dutiful wife and queen, Kavi Kalash an ardent friend, Ganoji Shirke the devious sardar but a loving and doting brother of Yesubai and Asad Khan the devoted and loyal uncle of Aurangzeb. The play draws upon a mental canvas of conflicts between both Sambhaji and Aurangzeb as Kings fighting contradictions in personal and political battlefields.

Director’s Note

I wanted to explore the relevance of history in our contemporary socio – political scenarios. This play is not just a representation of a historic event, but dwells deep into complex psychological realities of those characters vividly. Although at a glance it seems like a historical narrative – of two kings and their kingdoms but its personages enact a complex web of human behavior.
Raktbeej is a story that explores varied perspectives of human personas than those just as – larger – than – life characters recorded in the annals of history. It also draws multiple facets of their natures and varied shades of their character. I approached the play through this dual purpose of having stood by an authentic historical narrative while exploring its nuance and niche.

The Director

Pooja Vedvikhyat is a Performer, Director and Designer who places her work in new spirit of emerging theater and relates it to contemporary issues. She graduated from National School of Drama 2018 while completing a course from DUENDE School of Ensemble Physical Theater under the guidance of director, John Britton. She directs plays of varied nature and flavor like: Kus Badaltana and Andher Nagri Chaupat Raja. Her forte is history and family dramas.

The Playwright

Vasant Shankar Kanetkar (20 March 1920 – 31 January 2000) was a Marathi playwright and novelist. He was born in the town of Rahimatpur in Satara district, Maharashtra, India.
After passing M.A. exam in 1948 from Sangli, he joined as lecturer in Nashik in 1950. He received wide acclaim from audiences for his play, Raigadala Jewha Jag Yete and continued writing several successful renderings for the stage. He kept the Marathi commercial theatre vibrant and alive for more than two decades with several successful stage renderings. His best five plays received awards of the year by Maharashtra State Government.

The Group

This play is being presented as a part of National School of Drama’s graduate showcase (class of 2018), which aims to provide a platform for emerging theatre practitioners, allowing them to share their work with a wider audience.

Cast & Credits

Yesubai: Pallavi Jadhao
Sambhaji: Prasanna Hambarde
Kavi Kalash: Sanjeev Jaiswal
Aurangzeb: Punsilemba Maitai
Asadkhan: Ankur Saxena
Pralhad Niraji: Salim Mulla
Ganoji Shirke: Guneet Singh
Rakshak: Ajay Khatri, Nikhil Pandey, Jayant Rabha, Ravindra Garewal, Abhishek, Tanay, Abhishek, Azim Mirza
Shahir: Snehalata Tagde, Deeksha Tiwari

Set Design: Pooja Vedvikhyat.
Sound Design & Execution: Aniruddha Bhoodhar, Vatary Bhoopati, Sham Rastogi, Akash Gupta, Nikhil Pandey
Costume& Headgear: Aruja Srivastava, Bhagyashree Tarke
Costume Assistance: Nishigandha Ghanekar
Light Design: Saras Kumar, Gaurav Sharma
Poster Design: Ujjwal Kumar, Adwait Morey

Playwright: Vasant Kanetkar
Adaptation, Design & Direction: Pooja Vedvikhyat

Playwright: Saptarshi Maulik
Director: Rudraprasad Sengupta
Group: Nandikar, Kolkata
Language: Bengali
Duration: 1 hr 50 mins

The Play
The story starts with a pregnant lady taking her dying husband to the hospital by pulling a rickshaw on her own. But the hospital refuses to treat him and finally he dies. The pregnant lady cremates her husband and takes shelter on the footpath. The night guards of the city rape her repeatedly and one night she bites their sex organs! After a few days, Rabi, a rickshaw-puller, hears a baby weeping in a pile of garbage. He adopts the abandoned baby and names her Pari. He has now found a motive to live…. in bringing up Pari.
Time passes. Now, Pari is a mother but she surrenders her little son, Bodhisotwo, to Rabi’s custody and disappears. Rabi raises Bodhisotwo and leaves behind him a stable along with poor pets – an unfledged parrot, a lame cat, etc. Will Bodhisotwo’s life maintain an undisturbed flow with these pets? Will the roads of our city allow him to grow up as its citizen? Will he be able to live alone…?

The Director
Rudraprasad Sengupta was born in Calcutta (now Kolkata), Bengal. He studied at the Scottish Church College of the University of Calcutta where he earned his B.A. and M.A degrees in English literature. He was formerly a reader in English at the Brahmananda Keshab Chandra College, Calcutta, and a visiting lecturer in the Drama Department of Rabindra Bharati University. In 1961 he joined the Kolkata-based theatre group Nandikar and in the early 1970s started to direct several plays for the group. In the late 1970s he became the leader of the group. He has directed many plays for Nandikar including Football and Feriwalar Mrityu among others. He has also appeared in some Bengali art films, Bernardo Bertolucci’s Little Buddha, and Roland Joffé’s City of Joy. He has received numerous awards to include Best Actor and Director Award from Theatre Journalists Assn. (W.B.) in 1975 & 1976, Best Director’s Award from Critics’ Circle of India in 1979, the highest national award from Sangeet Natak Akademi in 1980, Girish Award as Eminent Theatre Personality in 1980, Senior Fellowship, Department of Culture, Government of India (1984-1987 & 1996-1998), Kalakar Award as Best Actor in 1997, Carey Award for life-long contribution in 1998, Natya-Swapna-Kalpa 2000, Dinabandhu Puraskar in 2006, B V Karanth Samman (Bhopal) in 2007 and many more.

The Playwright
Saptarshi Maulik is presently the Assistant Treasurer of Nandikar. He is also a Training Assistant in Nandikar’s In- House Training and Theatre-in-Education Programmes in schools. He has worked with the inmates of Dumdum Central Correctional Home; students of IIEST, Shibpur; students of Seth Anandram Jaipuria College; and the students of IMI, Kolkata. He has acted in Nandikar productions and is the author of four plays.

The Group
Nandikar is a 56-year-old institution which has been at the forefront of the national theatre movement. Nandikar has participated in International festivals in the New York Fringe Theatre Festival, Bonn Biennale, four festivals in Sweden, and the London Nehru Centre and Edinburgh Festival in the UK. It has interacted with Universities of New York, California, and Riverside; Brecht Zentrum, FIRT and a number of ITIs in various countries. It has worked with the Ministries of Culture, Youth Affairs and Sports, Women and Child Development, and Human Resource Development (Department of Education); and also with the Sangeet Natak Akademi, Sahitya Akademi, National School of Drama, Indian Council for Cultural Relations, and the Indian Council for Social Science Research.

Cast & Credits
On Stage: Saptarshi Maulik, Anindita Chakraborty, Arghya Dey Sarkar, Rakesh Das, Shubhadeep Roy,
Ayon Ghosh, Pritam Kalyan Chakraborty, Souvik Bhattachraya, Somesh Saha

Costume: Solanki Dev
Decor: Ayon Ghosh
Light: Arghya Dey Sarkar
Music: Souvik Bhattacharya
Make-up: Shusree Mukherjee
Associate Director: Sohini Sengupta

Playwright: Saptarshi Maulik
Director: Rudraprasad Sengupta

Playwright & Director: Tripurari Sharma
Group: NSD Sikkim Repertory, Gangtok
Language: Nepali
Duration: 1 hr 30 mins

The Play
This is a tale which revolves around the life of a couple that leads an ordinary life and bicker incessantly. The wife is depressed about how her life turned out to be and hopes for salvation. One day the God of Death, Yama sends his messengers to inform her that she has only twenty-four hours from now to live, after which she would depart from the earth. The husband grows furious when he learns of this but is later deeply saddened by the news. He gradually realizes how precious his wife is to him. The wife, knowing that her end is near, tries to live her entire life within the span of a day. The play follows how the husband finds ways and means to fight the order of universe and dissuade the God of Death from taking her away.

Director’s Note
The Gond tale, on which the play is based, deals with the ingenuity of a man who wants his wife to live. The story reflects the imagination of a community which places men and Gods in a frame of combat that has reference both in the might of the divine and human behavior. The tale talks of a time when Gods personally came to earth to take a person away at the time of departure from earth. This is also a moment of reckoning, of being born anew and a rediscovery of the world. Set in the midst of mist and clouds, the performance creates a narrative of fantasy. The simple minded clear focus of husband contrasts with that of wife’s emotions oscillating between life and death; and the narrow minded avarice and complacency of others around. The logic that a woman cannot go without her husband’s consent is carried to extreme in order to keep her away from death. The tale with its ambiguity intrigues. The man is both villainous and heroic. The triumph renders possessiveness, tempered with love and integrity, almost a virtue. It was a rare opportunity to explore the tale with the actors of the Repertory Company of Sikkim, NSD. Each moment was full of spirit and delight.

The Director & Playwright
Prof. Tripurari Sharma, born in 1956, is a graduate from Delhi University with Honors in English Literature. She completed her diploma from NSD in 1979 with specialization in Direction. She has written and directed a number of plays and has been associated with several theatre groups throughout the country and abroad. She has written scripts of critically acclaimed films like Mirch Masala and Hazar Chaurasi Ki Maa and has also written and co-directed a few short films on the theme of the adolescent girl child and has been associated with the Street Theatre Movement. Prof. Sharma has travelled with her group to Norway, England and Pakistan and represented India in the first Women Playwright‘s Conference in USA, 1988. She was honored with the Sanskriti Award, Delhi, in 1986 and also by the Delhi Natya Sangh in 1990. In 2013, she was conferred with the Sangeet Natya Akademi Award for her immense contribution in the field of theatre direction. At present, she is a Professor of Acting in the National School of Drama.

The Group
Sikkim Theatre Training Centre is the first centre of the National School of Drama outside Delhi established in the year 2011. Situated in the lush green picturesque valley of Gangtok, the centre offers a year-long extensive training in theatre. In 2012, the centre started its Repertory Company in which students from the previous year’s training program are selected as artists.

Cast& Credits
Maya: Ranjana Manger
Santey: Bikram Lepcha
Bhatti Wala: Tashi Lepcha
Bhatti Wali: Prarthna Chettri
2 Old Women: Pabitra Kri. Gautam, Tila Rupa Sapkota
Yam Doot 1: Satyam Gurung
Yam Doot 2: Buddiman Rai
Yamraj: Tushar Nirala
Pregnant Woman: Chandrika Chettri
Shikari Kancha: Birbal Subba
Old Man: Nitlesh Chhetri
Sabji Wali: Balsrame A Sangma
Jhakri: Birbal Subba
Bhes Dance: Suman Rai / Birbal Subba
Badal: Chandrika Chettri, Prarthna Chettri, Suman Rai, Balsrame A Sangma, Vupen Gurung, , Bhuwan Sharma, Barsha Basu Thakur
Dance: Chandrika Chettri, Tashi Lepcha, Prarthna Chettri, Vupen Gurung, Bhuwan Sharma, Balsrame A Sangma
Villagers: Vupen Gurung, Anil Kr. Manger, Tashi Lepcha,Nitlesh Chhetri, Birbal Subba, Pabitra Kri. Gautam, Prarthna Chettri, Tila Rupa Sapkota, Balsrame A Sangma, Bhuwan Sharma, Barsha Basu Thakur.

Technical in-charge: Goge Bam
Production Coordinator: Lhakpa Lepcha
Stage Manager: Chakra Bdr. Chettri
Light & Set Design: Dipankar Paul
Light Assistant, Execution & Operation: Chakra Bdr Chettri
Set Execution: Tashi Lepcha, Sanjeev Sharma
Costume Design: Anil Kr. Manger
Sound Execution: Nitlesh Chhetri
Assistant: Uttam Gurung
Musicians: Uttam Gurung, Birbal Subba, Subrata Banerjee, NishithMajumdar, Tathagata Banerjee, Partha Sil, Suman Rai, Sayan Chakraborty

Stenography Painting: Dhiraj Pradhan
Poster & Brochure: Sangeet Shrivastava
Choreographer: Kiran Lama
Nepali Translation: Hasta Kr. Chettri
Property Design & Making: Jeewan Limboo
Assistant: Prem Pradhan, Buddiman Rai
Assistant Director: Bikram Lepcha
Associate Director: Vinod Bahadur Rai

Music Director Raghuvir Yadav
Playwright & Director: Tripurari Sharma

Playwright: Bratya Basu
Director: Kanchan Mullick
Group: Paikpara Indraranga, Kolkata
Language: Bengali
Duration: 1 hr 50 mins

The Play
Madhab Marik is a politician who aspires to become the leader of the country. He dreams of taking the oath as the Prime Minister. But everything goes haywire when during his dream of oath-taking ceremony a voice interrupts calling him a hooligan, cheat, and rioter. Madhab realizes the voice to be that of his childhood friend Satya who had died when he was in school. Madhab’s latest transition from one party to another keeps him wondering about what people are actually thinking about him. Through his encounter with Satya, Madhab’s fears come to light. Satya, to get his friend out of the turmoil, helps him with the magic lamp of Aladin. But this lamp functions a bit differently. It helps Madhab to see the true face of the person towards whom he points the lamp. Madhab finds that all his political party members, high-command leader, even his elder daughter and her husband, have pretentious faces, and the lamp reveals them all, except for his wife, and Satya’s mother who genuinely care for him. Madhab breaks down knowing the reality. He returns the lamp. Satya suggests Madhab to leave all his political pursuits and settle down and look after his family but Madhab disagrees and decides to start exploring his life afresh in a different light, for the people.

Director’s Note
This was the first time I was asked to direct a play, and I will always cherish this offer and respect the confidence Paikpara Indraranga showed in my abilities. I had a smooth experience directing the play since the group is so professionally managed that besides direction I did not have to get involved in any other aspect of this big production. I especially thank Bratya Basu for believing in me and for giving me the opportunity to direct a play for the first time ever in my 27 years of living and breathing theatre.

The Director
In the year 1990 Kanchan Mullick started his theatre career with the group Hindol. He has been associated with the theatre group Swapnasandhani for almost 25 years. Here he learned acting, back stage work, set, light etc. Kanchan Mullick is known as a Bengali film and television actor. He has acted in movies like Mahakaal, Ranjala Ami Aar Asbo Na, Dhruba, Kelor Kirti, Lakshyabhed etc.

The Playwright
Bratya Basu, is an accomplished theatre artist, a playwright and director, who started his career as a sound operator. He is a theatre thinker and activist, and has served Bengali theatre for nearly 20 years. His plays have been staged by various directors like Suresh Bhardwaj, Bapi Bose, Arpita Ghosh, Debesh Chattopadhyay, Suman Mukhopadhyay, Koushik Sen, Kishore Sengupta, Anirban Bhattacharya, Sekhar Samaddar, Biplab Bandopadhyay, Debashis Biswas, Debashis Ray, Debashis Dutta, Avi Chakraborty etc. A compilation of his plays has been published in three volumes in 2004, 2010 and 2016 respectively.

The Group
Indraranga was renamed Paikpara Indraranga in 2012. Ekdin Aladin is our fifth production since then, after Nishshanga Samrat, Arabya Rajani, Awdyo Sesh Rajani and Banijye Basate Lakshmi. Our six-year journey in the world of group theatre has been one of ups and downs. It was a learning experience, for it taught us the philosophy and introspection of the art of theatre.

Cast & Credits
On Stage: Kanchan Mullick, Taranga Sarkar,Indrajit Chakraborty, Aruna Mukhopadhyay,Sumana Mukhopadhyay, Shantanu Nath, Indranil Mukhopadhyay, Prasun Bandyopadhyay, Pankaj Sarkar, Tutul Ghosh, Mouli Roy,
Pubali Bandyopadhyay, Sukanta Saha, Soham Mukhopadhyay, Soumadipta Mondal, Joydeep Acharya, Sanjay Das, Anish Ghosh, Subrata Sadhukhan, Richa Roy, Payel Ghosh, Bhagyasree Roychowdhyry, Ranjana Karmakar

Set Design: Debasish Roy
Set Making: D’moy
Sound Design: Dishari Chakraborty
Sound Operation: Santanu Paul, Soumya Mukherjee
Light: Sudip Sanyal
Make-up: Md. Ali & Sanjoy Paul
Choreography: Sumit Roy
Costume: Madhumita Dham
Logo & Publicity Design: Hiran Mitra
Brochure Design & Still Photography: Abhijit Nath
Production Assistants: Paromita Chakraborty, Bijay Basu, Ranita Das, Indranil Mukhopadhyay, Nairwita Dutta

Playwright: Bratya Basu
Direction: Kanchan Mullick

Watch Meet the Director segment for the play