Tathagat is
A play presented by Jana Natya Manch is written and directed by Abhishek Majumdar. Music is by M.D. Pallvi

Set in an imaginary Buddhist kingdom in ancient India, Tathagat explores the ideas of caste and gender, rebellion and nationalism, freedom and courage.

Haridas, a shudra sculptor, has carved a statue of Buddha out of black stone with three missing fingers. He is sentenced to death as a traitor. On insistence of the queen, the king agrees to listen to Haridas’s plea in the court.

Expanding on the idea of tark (reason) in Buddhist philosophy, this play through the story of a vain king, a defiant queen, the rebellious sculptor, a courageous daasi, and a conniving courtier, examines the difference between a ‘traitorous’ and a ‘rebellious’ act.

Hindi, approx. 35 mins

Two shows of _Tathagat_ coming up that you can catch:
– Tuesday 14 Aug, 1 pm, AUD Kashmiri Gate Campus.
– Thursday 16 Aug, 6 pm, Sabarmati Hostel, JNU.
_Tathagat_ is Jana Natya Manch’s latest production, written and directed by Abhishek Majumdar, with music by MD Pallavi.

About Theatre Olympics
The Theatre Olympics was established in 1993 at Delphi, Greece. As an international theatre
festival, the Theatre Olympics presents some of the greatest theatre practitioners from
around the world, offering a platform where despite ideological, culture and language
differences, dialogue is encouraged. Since 1993, the Theatre Olympics has been held seven
times in: Japan (1999), Russia (2001), Turkey (2006), South Korea (2010), China (2014), and
Poland (2016).

17th February 2018: Imprinting her name in the global theatre map, India on this day
threw the floor open to the 8th Theatre Olympics, the largest theatre festival of the world,
being hosted for the first time in India by the National School of Drama, under the aegis of
Ministry of Culture, Government of India. Shri Venkaiah Naidu, Hon’ble Vice President of
India, along with Union Minister of State for Culture (IC) Dr. Mahesh Sharma, inaugurated
the mega event at the historic Red Fort.

“The 8 th Theatre Olympics will take Indian culture and heritage to the world and bring the
world to us. Art has the power to unite people across the globe. India believes in the culture
of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam which means the entire universe is one, which is an integral part
of the Indian cultural and theatrical tradition,” said Vice President of India Shri Venkaiah
Naidu on the occasion

“Through the 8 th Theatre Olympics, we meet the rich theatrical tradition of India and we
encourage the articulation of a free and collective voice which will defend the value of the
theatre tradition, research, and experimentation,” said Chairman of International
Committee of Theatre Olympics, Mr. Theodoros Terzopoulos.on the occasion

The video film, prepared by students of IIIT, Delhi, shows some of the major highlights of the festival including glimpses of Directors Meet in which Theatre Directors interacted with Theatre Critics, Theatre Students, Theatre Buffs a day after the show and so many other highlights like the Food and Theatre Bazar. It captures the festive ambience of the event

Theatre Olympics: First time in India

The Play & Director’s Note
This play has a storyline that could have been based on tomorrow morning's newspaper headlines. Using the wonderful theatrical device of three actors playing the central character of Kartik, we are able to enter his fractured world. We simultaneously see him as he was before the accident that changed his life; we also see him as he is immediately after the accident, recovering in hospital, at home and in school; as well as when he is an adult. The play brings together the present, past and uture in a seamless whole. It has been a fascinating journey with the actors and my own team. We have interviewed teenagers, their parents and teachers; watched their interactions in school, home and on the metro; created improvisations; spent hours mastering the intricate choreography; enjoyed the shopping for clothes that capture today's Delhi; and worked hard at creating over 36 characters,
played by just 14 actors!

The Director
Educationist, theatre director and activist, Feisal Alkazi lives and works in New Delhi. Over the past forty years he has carved his own niche with his group, Ruchika. He has directed over 200 plays with adults in Hindi, English and Urdu. Most recently, two plays, Noor and A Quiet Desire, written by him have been produced. In addition, he has directed over 100 productions for schools all over India. Ruchika also runs a training program in theatre for children since 1997. Feisal has written 24 books as well and is a counsellor with Sanjivani. In the field of disability, he has directed 30 films and produced several plays.

The Group
The Theatre-in-Education Company (Sanskaar Rang Toli) of the National School of Drama was established on October 16, 1989, and is one of the important educational resource centres in the  country. The TIE Co. consists of a group of actor-teachers working-with and performing-for children. The major focus of the company is to perform creative, curriculum based, and participatory plays in school, designed and prepared specially for children of different age groups. The company holds a one month long intensive Summer Theatre Workshop for Children organized in May-June every year. TIE Co. has participated in many international theatre festivals and symposia in countries including Poland, China, Philippines and Japan. Jashn-e-Bachpan and Bal Sangam are biannual festivals
organised by the company where it invites plays by and for the children from different parts of the country.

Cast & Credits
Sutradhar Kartik Manoj Kumar
Old Kartik, Gym Teacher, Shashank Manish Saini
New Kartik Mridul Anand
Mummy Aparna Kapoor
Papa, Changezi, Bhaiji Mahesh Kumar
Raghav Manoj Sharma
Himanshu, New Dancer Tasabber Ali
Nancy Jyoti Bala
Doctor Fatima, Rubina, Announcer Jyotsana
Inspector, Nurse1 Nidhi S Sasthri
Anshika, Nurse2, Vicky Soumita Kundu
Anthony, Shiny Piyush Verma
Drug Peddler, Teacher Kaleem Zafar

All Street Voices & Dancers Jyotsana , Aparna Kapoor, Soumita Kundu, Piyush Verma,

Mahesh Kumar, Manoj Sharma, Nidhi S Sasthri

Choreographer Vishwa Kant Singha
Assisted by Sandeep Kashyap
Costume Design Shaik Sheeba
Assisted by Jyotsana
Set, Poster & Brochure Design Jagan Shah
Assisted by Kamal Kumar
Light Design Mona Chawla
Assisted by Joginder Singh, Dhirender Kumar
Light Design Mona Chawla
Assisted by Joginder Singh, Dhirender Kumar
Music Operation Sheel/Vikram Jeet Singh
Stage Manager & Property Nidhi S. Sasthri
Tailor Saroj Silswal, Akhtar Ali
Sound S. Manoharn, Pratap Singh, Subhanjan
Photography & Videography Deepak Kumar
Assistant TIE Co. B.S Rawat
Administration Staff Pirat Singh Negi, Darmiyan Singh, Shailender Kumar,

Neha Bhatt

Attendant Md. Rashid, Pawan Kumar
Chief of TIE Co. Abdul Latif Khatana
Asst. Director Mona Chawla
Translation & Adaptation Kiran Deep Sharma
Design & Direction Feisal Alkazi

The Play
Dr Shridhar is enjoying a successful, happy and rich lifestyle with his beautiful wife Mita and teenage son Akshay. He wants to build a multi-utility hospital as a future provision for Akshay. He eyes a central piece of land to build his dream hospital. But the land is reserved as children’s playground. He is prepared to use his political influence and monetary powers to acquire the land. And then enters Sada (Sadashiv) in Dr Shridhar’s life. Sada, a schizophrenic patient, was jailed for killing his own wife and son, in his schizophrenic state. Throughout the treatment period, Sada keeps on asking intriguing questions, and throws some challenging situations at Dr Shridhar and Mita. The play finishes on an interesting and unexpected turn.

The Director
Napolian Almeida was born in Vasai, Maharashtra, India in Christian family. Napolian’s father was a teacher in a Marathi medium school. His father always encouraged the children to read books. Napolian developed interest in reading books about drama and plays. He started performing at a very young age. The challenges and difficulties faced during the early years motivated Napolian to study more about acting and acquire formal training from workshops. Napolian’s theatre career then progressed by active participation in dramas for organizations like Nutan
Mandal, Jeevan Darshan, Jeevan Jyoti, St Xavier’s Club and currently in Australia with Marathi Association Sydney Incorporated. Though an engineer by profession, Napolian continued to follow his passion in acting and direction. He
has acted and directed many plays including one-act plays and has won awards.

The Playwright
Abhiram Bhadkamkar is an alumnus of National School of Drama. His acting in films has won him accolades. Abhiram has explored many possibilities of expression in various art forms, and created a niche for himself as a multidimensional artist. Abhiram is adroitly active in feature films, plays and literature. He has been successful in making a mark on the front of writing plays, novels and screen plays; conceiving films as a director; and expressing as an actor. His plays are performed in Hindi, Kannad and Guajarati in addition to Marathi theatre. His collection of stories and novels are published by publishers/ publications of repute. Some of his popular plays / production are Hasat Khelat, Pahuna, Jyacha Tyacha Prashna (Sawal Apna Apna), Ladi Najaria, Dehbhan, and Sukhanshi Bhandto Amhi.

The Group
The team of Sukhanshi Bhandato Amhi are members of the Marathi Association Sydney Incorporation (MASI). MASI is a non-profit community organisation established more than 27 years ago. MASI promotes Marathi language, culture and customs through Marathi Akashwani Sydney, Marathi school, and cultural events and drama activities. Theatre is one of the iconic interests of Marathi community. Members of Sukhanshi Bhandato Amhi are volunteers and come from various professions. Despite being busy with their professional career, they are passionate about Performing Arts and theatre activities. This passion and interest brings them together and keeps them energised and motivated even through the initial settlement challenges. Members of MASI have staged a drama activity almost every year. Few names to mention here are Ghashiram Kotwal, Mala Kahi Sangayachay, Durga Ban Gayi Gauri, etc.

Cast & Credits

Mrs Pradhan Apoorva Athawale
Dr Shridhar Napolian Almeida
Kamalabai and Suman Nilima Berde
Sadashiv Chinmay Abhyankar
Mita Manasi Gore
Akshay Mandar Pathak
Lights Makarand Bildikar
Background Music Nitin Kundap
Stage Ahirwad Athawale, Ganesh Gavde, Charudatta Bhadkamkar
Costumes Sanjyot Samudra, Olivia Almeida
Make-up Sanjyot Dongre
Playwright Abhiram Bhadkamkar
Direction Napolian Almeida

[ratings]
The Play
Macbeth is a play about evil that emanates from the dark power whose agents are the three weird sisters. The present interpretation does not visualize Macbeth externally as a historical record; but rather as a re- creation of the event as mirrored in the minds of the weird sisters. It is seen as a phenomenon transcending time and space: the incantations and rituals of the dark aspect of the Tantric cult used throughout the presentation represent this pervasive evil embodied in Shakespeare’s play. Evil is here invoked by, and its outcome experienced by, the three weird sisters. To concentrate on this emergence of evil, the original text has been edited so as to focus on the two central victims of the historical event who succumb to this evil due to their lust for power.
The text followed is the only Bengali translation which is faithful both to the rich poetry and the metric structure of Shakespeare’s original text, and runs in harmony with the Sanskrit incantations used in the production.

Director’s Note
In Hinduism, goddess Kali has two different powers; one positive and the other negative. Generally we worship the positive power. But some people worship the negative power to practice hypnotism, basikaran, maron etc. They start wearing all sorts of things in their hands, waist, neck etc. In our production three women worship the negative power of Goddess Kali. They start worshiping the negative power. As a result they turn into witches. We believe that witches exist only in the mind. Therefore in our production all the characters like Macbeth, Banquo, Lady Macbeth etc. continuously switch between witches and the original character. In this production three actresses perform all the characters.

Director
Santanu Das took the Diploma in Dramatics from National School of Drama, New Delhi. Presently he is working at Rabindra Bharati University as Assistant Professor in the Department of Drama. He started his career as director & designer in 1990 with the play Atha Dar Pal Katha. He has directed Power of Darkness, Ebom Indrajit, Romeo Jeannette, Raisin in the Sun, Manushi, Oedipus Turranus, Ghare Baire, and many more. In 2015 he jointly directed a production named ‘Crossing’ with Aude Marehsal, at Mondvil, France. He has presented papers at Rhodes University, South Africa & Elsinore Conference 2016, at Helsingor, Denmark. Recently his production Macbeth Mirror was invited to the Summer Shakespeare Festival, Ostrava, Czech Republic, and 21 st Gdansk International Shakespeare Festival, Gdansk, Poland.

Translator
Prof. Dutt was awarded D.Lit. in Drama for his pioneering multi-disciplinary work on the extra-rational roots of the Tragic Experience. He has written and directed children’s plays, translated and produced Shakespeare in Bengali, and also directed Tagore plays as well as improvised play-texts. In the international arena, he has collaborated with Gunter Grass, Hansgunther Heyme and Peter von Becker. He has also been invited to Italy and Poland, to deliver lectures.

The Group

Kalyani Kalamandalam was established in 1995 and in the last twenty-two years the group has produced fourteen major productions. Some of its previous productions are Ebong Indrajit, Romeo Jeannette, Manushi, Oedipus Turranus, Ghare Baire, Gollachut and Shakespeare’s Macbeth as ‘Macbeth Mirror’ directed by Sri Santanu Das. It has performed in countries like France, Poland, Czech Republic, Nepal and Bangladesh.

Cast & Credits
Actors Monalisa Chatterjee, Ananya Das, Jayeeta Das
Drums Chakra Pani Dev, Shovan Chakraborty, Prasenjit Halder
Set & Costume Santanu Das
Asst. Set Dipankar Halder
Asst. Costume Shipra Dey
Lettering Neelavo Chottpadhyay
Choreographer Deb Kumar Paul
Music Subhadeep Guha
Lights Arnab Kumar Ray
Properties Prasenjit Halder & Jayeeta Das
Subtitle Controller Anirban De
Production Manager Mahabub Biswas / Haradhan Ankureh
Playwright William Shakespeare
Translator Dattatreya Dutt
Design & Direction Santanu Das

The Play
Shri Debabrata Biswas was a popular Rabindra Sangeet singer of Bengal. The artist’s involvement with, and severance from, Gananatya Sangha, his renunciation of the communist party, his differences with the music board of Biswabharati University and his inexorable rise to fame, his opposition against socially renowned institutions, all echoed through the many associations he shared, are some of the notable areas of focus within the many levels of this play. Apart from Debabrata Biswas, the other celebrated characters in the play are Hemanga Biswas, Salil
Chowdhury, Ritwik Ghatak, Shambhu Mitra, Bijon Bhattacharya, Tripti Mitra, Jyoti Basu, Pramod Dasgupta, Suchitra Mitra, Manjushree Chaki Sarkar, Santosh Kumar Ghosh. Ruddhasangeet bears a historic testimony to the lives of Bengalis in East India, to their social, economical and political ups and downs through almost half a century.

Director’s Note
Ruddhasangeet is a chronical, a saga, the flavour of mass music, the fashion – Ruddhasangeet, the spread of popular music, and the liaison with both, the singer and the person Debabrata Biswas, are all represented in this play. A journey of thirty years through the thick and thin of the artist’s life and limelight, are given the freedom of voice, the liberty of stage and a course of light. Providing and extra edge to the play is an original and rare treat involving both verbal and physical expertise.

The Director & Playwright
Bratya Basu, is an accomplished theatre artist, a playwright and director. Basu launched his career as a dramatist and director with the play Ashaleen (1996), described by theatre critics as the first post- modernist Bengali play. His noted plays (playwright, acting, direction) thereafter include Aranyadeb, Shahar Yaar, Virus-M, Winkle-Twinkle, 17th July, Chatushkon and many more. Basu has baggedmany awards and recognitions both in Theatre and Film. Some of them include Hyderabad Bengali Film Festival Award, Ritwik Ghatak Honorary Award, Kalakar Award, Shyamal Sen Memorial Award, Dishari Award, Satyen Mitra Award, Shilpayan Samman, Srestho Natya Nirman etc. Bratya
Basu, is currently Hon’ble Cabinet Minister and in charge of the Ministry of Information Technology & Electronics for the state of West Bengal. He has created his own space in contemporary theatre by moving beyond its existing boundaries. He formed his own theatre group Bratyajon in 2008.

The Group
Bratyajon was established by Bratya Basu in 2008. Apart from theatrical productions, the group is active in many associated fields. An important activity of the group is to organize an annual theatre festival. Bratyajon confers Bishnu Basu Smriti Puroskar in the loving memory of late Bishnu Basu and also organizes Bishnu Basu Memorial Lectures & Nitika Basu Memorial Lectures. Other activities include theatre publications comprising of a theatre journal and participation in the book fair. Bratyajon conducts theatre workshops for children that culminate in a stage performance.

Cast & Credits
Debabrata Biswas Debsankar Halder
Arun Debasish Roy
Bijan Bhattacharya Raktim Datta
Jyoti Basu Bishmoy Roy
Promod Dasgupta Prantik Choudhury
Nirmal Gosh Nabarun Barik
Binay Roy Prasenjit Chattopadhyay
Chorus Ranjan Dutta
Chorus Moloy Bera

Hemanga Biswas Samrat Ghatak
Rittwik Ghatak Krishnendu Dewanji
Salil Chowdhury Subrata Pathak
Subhas Mukhopadhyay Tanmay Sur
Police/Purnendu Chandranath Roy
Khokon Surojit Paul
Shambhu Mitra Billwatosh Chattopadhyay
Police/Angshu Abhijit Ghatak
Srikanta Prabir Basu
Gopesh Pradip Roy
Tushar Arindom Ghosh
Tripti Mitra Rumpi Paul
Lalita Ananya Roy
Manjusree Chaki Antara Bandopadhyay
Suchitra Mitra Sushmita Bandopadhyay
Dancer Sayeri Bhattacharya
Dancer Priyanka Chatterjee
Shila Poulami Basu
Santosh Kumar Ghosh Bratya Basu
Light Design Sudip Sanyal
Light Operation Prithiwis Rana
Set Design Soumik-Piyali
Set Making Tinku-Modon
Music Tapan Sinha
Make-up Alok Debnath
Background Score Swapan Bandopadhyay
Costume Amit Roy
Co-ordination Prithiwis Rana
Playwright & Director Shri Bratya Basu