Playwright: William Shakespeare
Dramaturgy: Vishala Ramachandra Mahale
Director: Susheel Kant Mishra
Group: NSD Students’ Diploma Production, New Delhi
Language: Hindi
Duration: 1 hr

The Play
Encryption is based on William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. It is an attempt to weave a parallel narrative which represents the present day. At the centre of this narrative is a person who is troubled by the ever increasing absurdity and contradictions of the society. Indecisive –‘To be or not to be’ (Hamlet) and the inference of a person from the present time, in varying situations are juxtaposed; do they match? Duration of the events in this play is one day. Two coffin makers/gravediggers are making another coffin. Along with the narrative of Hamlet, a coffin is being constructed. The coffin which is being constructed is waiting for a corpse. Completion of the coffin, hence awaiting death, is the circle that brings an end to the performance.

Director’s Note
My association with the characters of the play Hamlet goes back to my initial days in theatre. The conflict, not being able to decide, and drifting between being and non-being becomes the destiny of Hamlet. Even today, I observe similar situations around me. By introducing the character, I intend to address the links of such situations. As a student of Theatre Technique and Design I started to work with fellow performers, and our explorations began with sources from space, scale, texture and colour. During this process, performers experimented various ways of expressing, which in turn developed into a body of performers and designers, working in tandem. Along with this, through installations, we tried to explore sexuality, sense of loss etc.

The Director
Susheel belongs to Satna, Madhya Pradesh. As a member of Rang Vidushak, he participated in various national and international theatre festivals. He did a one-year certificate course from National School of Drama, Sikkim Theatre Training Centre. He has worked as a guest artist/designer/visiting faculty at Madhya Pradesh School of Drama, where he has conducted stage-craft classes. He has designed sets for plays directed by NSD Direction Students and Santanu Bose. Susheel has designed property and head-gears for the play Skandgupt directed by Alok Chatterjee. He has directed Pagla Ghoda, Bhasa’s Urubhangam and Panchhi Aise Aate Hain.

Dramaturgy
Vishala Ramachandra Mahale, graduated from NSD in 2014 with specialization in Theatre Techniques and Design. He has written many plays including ​Inquilaab Zindaabad, Pratiksha, MKD, Nidaan, Dot Dash Dream Delusion, Inertia.303, 01:12:58 (A play based on Lakshman Purbathe Massacre), Incision 66M, Mad Man’s Diary (based on a story by Lu Xun), Jehanara (A play based on a Novel by Lyane Guillaume) to name a few. He has translated and developed performance texts Roti (based on a Kannada story by P. Lankesh),​ Tarr Aaya/Tarr Arrives (based on a Kannada story by Devanuru Mahadeva); adapted Dr. Faustus, Titus Andronicus, Peer Gynt, A Vacant Lot (based on a play by Ota Shogo), Hamlet Machine (based on Heiner Muller’s play), A Doll’s House Story, ​Infinite (based on Proof by David Auburn). He has co-scripted short films February 29, Yeduretu; feature length films Spaces for Rent… and Kaggantu in Kannada. Currently Vishala is working as a freelance designer, playwright, dramaturge, and director.

Cast & Credits
On Stage: Sanjeev Gupta, Rachana Gupta, Sarfaraz Ali Mirza, ShalucYadav, Debashree Chakraborty, Indira Tiwari,
Bhagyashree Tarke, Bulkic Kalita, Melody Dorcus, Param Badhania, Jayanta Rabha, Guneet Singh, Parag Baruah, Punsilemba Meitei, Ravi Chahar, Rakesh Kumar, Rahul Kumar

Assistance in Light: Kiran Kumar
Assistance in Set: Shyam Kumar Sahni
Make-up: Parag Baruah, Rachna Gupta
Sound/Music: Santosh Kumar (Sandy)
Sound Operation: Melody Dorcas, Ajay Khatri
Video & Operation: Ujjwal Kumar
Video Execution: Pranshu Chowdhary, Nitin Kumar
Installation & Exhibition: Maneesh Pachairu, Dillip Majhi, Pooja Dange
Assistance in Installation & Exhibition: Ankur, Melody Dorcus, Tushar Karan, Shohaib Tyagi, Akki Kumar, Akash Srivastav, Hemant Raj Konwar, Kavita Yadav, Chaman, Ashish Kumar Nayak, Nirutpol Mohan, Kamal Anand, Shamsher Ahmed
Choreography: Vikram Mohan
Poster & Brochure: Ujjwal Kumar
Production Controller: Mahadev Singh Lakhawat

Playwright: William Shakespeare
Dramaturge: Vishala R. Mahale
Concept, Design & Direction: Susheel Kant Mishra

Playwright & Director: Jehan Aloysius

Group: CentreStage Productions, Sri Lanka

Language:  English

Duration: 1hr 10 mins

The Play

Stormy Weather is a murder mystery that keeps the audience guessing till the end. One morning, Noel, a man with many enemies, is discovered murdered in his bed with fifteen stab wounds. The prime suspects are summoned to the house by an unconventional inspector who interrogates each of them. Noel’s wife, sister and lover seem to have strong motives. The arrival of a storm complicates the investigation further, till the murderer is finally revealed.

Director’s Note

Stormy Weather is presented as a black & white murder thriller, in the film noir or ‘Dark

Cinema’ style of movie-making of the 1940’s and 50’s. The show also consciously uses melodramatic elements from ‘whodunit’ and horror genres. The show aims to take elements of the film noir genre and transplant those elements into the three dimensional space of live theatre. The characters may seem to reveal a desire to escape the characters they are forced to play while trapped within the silver screen. There are several layers to the performance that attempt to allow the characters to transcend their cinematic stereotypes. I wrote Stormy Weather in 1995, inspired by a nightmare. My script was first produced in 1999 by the University of Colombo and also included in my collection of plays which was shortlisted for the Gratiaen Prize for literature for the year 2000. I approached the script as a director rather than playwright, when I decided to include the movie element and add clichés from horror and thriller genres in the new production.

The Director /Playwright

Jehan Aloysius is a full-time theatre practitioner as well as a visiting lecturer at the University of

Visual and Performing Arts. Over the last two decades, he has been associated with The Royal Court Theatre of London, ART of Bangalore, Theatrum Botanicum of Edinburgh, Brave Theatre Festival of Poland, Rikskonsertene of Norway, The British Council, as well as the National School of Drama (by participating in the Bharat Rang Mahotsav Drama Festivals and also the 8th Theatre Olympics 2018). Jehan played lead roles at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in the multi-award winning productions of Children of the Sea and Finding Marina. He has produced theatre and workshops in Norway, Poland, Scotland, Qatar and India. In 2001, Jehan founded CentreStage Productions, an amateur theatre troupe which produces original theatre in Sri Lanka. As a playwright, Jehan has been shortlisted for The Gratiaen Prize for literature, for The Screaming Mind (2000) and The Ritual (2008), and was on the panel of judges of the 2014 Gratiaen Prize. Jehan’s humanitarian efforts, though his Stage Hands Project, include work with children affected by poverty, natural disaster and war, as well as physical theatre productions with those living with mental and physical challenges.

The Group

CentreStage Productions is an amateur theatre troupe founded in 2001 by Jehan Aloysius, in order to produce and promote original theatre in Sri Lanka. Its productions are regularly studied in local universities, and several scripts have been nominated for Sri Lanka’s highest literary award, The Gratiaen Prize. Its ground-breaking ‘mix-able’ productions of An Inspired Swan Lake and Nutcracker (which have been featured on CNN and the BBC), combined soldiers who had lost limbs in the recently concluded ethnic war, with hearing impaired and mentally challenged performers who were all trained and choreographed by Jehan Aloysius.

Cast & Credits

The Inspector: Jehan Aloysius

Noel Richards: Joshua Joseph

Therese: Michelle Herft

Avanti: Tanisha Wijesinghe

Charmaine: Trudy Herft

Rachel: Melmari Cruse

Lighting:  Thushan Dias

Sound: Stephan Wijesinghe

AV Screen: Dion Nanayakkara

Backstage:  Aadil Osman

Music Composed & Performed: Jehan Aloysius

Video Designed & Directed: Jehan Aloysius

Playwright & Director: Jehan Aloysius

Playwright: Samik Bindu
Director: Mayukh Dutta
Group: Chetla Krishti Sansad, Kolkata
Language: Bengali
Duration: 1 hr 30 mins

The Play
The play opens with two cats ushering in a retro-future backdrop. Three notorious business tycoons monopolize the ‘intangible cultural heritage’ through diplomatic support of the greedy state-minister, by luring the Master Chef King, an indifferent, careless food aficionado. ‘Nerdy’, a pseudo-human-robot designs surveillance gadgets to track hapless commoners, daring their basic rights of singing lullabies and cooking food, which have now become red-listed. Public life is jeopardized with hungry, sleepless children and a helplessking in self-proclaimed exile. Ultimately the cats come to rescue by finding a special little girl. Together, they find the king and make him cook a unique recipe with powers to instil humane sanity in ‘Nerdy’ by deleting his robot-mode.

Director’s Note
The story is set in a fairy-tale-like background. The play symbolically depicts how crony capitalism is denying the basic rights of the people via monopolizing the natural resources of a country. The greedy corporates use state-of the-art technology to accomplish their mission. In the play three notorious businessmen monopolize two intangible cultural heritage of the people; bed-time folk-tale lullabies, ritually sung by the people for their children to make them fall asleep at night, and traditional recipes. Red-listing and commercialization of these basic rights, along with severe surveillance, results in sleepless nights, hungry, imprisoned offenders, and choked public life. Two cats find a little-girl and the king, a Master chef, to cook an ancient recipe which destroys the ‘villains’ strategies, finally restoring the situation to some extent.

The Director
Mayukh Dutta has performed in more than 40 plays ofChetla Krishti Sansad.He has worked with renowned directors of Bengal like Pinaki Guha, Raja Bhattacharyya, Manish Mitra, Tulika Das, Debesh Roychowdhury and many others.He has attended workshops of many eminent personalities like Goutam Halder, Anjan Deb and Feisal Alkazi.Story of Lori is his first directorial work in theatre.

The Playwright
Dr. Samik Bindu is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Zoology at Panchanan Barma University (Coochbehar, West Bengal).He is a member of Chetla Krishti Sansad and is associated with children’s theatre for last 30 years. He has acted in 15 plays produced by the Sansad and written four plays staged by it.

The Group
Chetla Krishti Sansad was established in 1985 for the welfare of children, and with the dream of making a social change by giving expression to the thoughts of down-trodden children through theatre. Till date it has staged more than 40 productions and has received rave reviews. Now, the group has extended to a large family; the ones who started their journey as child artists in the group have now grown up to mature theatre workers. In addition to children’s welfare, the group is now equipped with productions by adults. Although the group is run only by donation and meager financial support from the common people, without any Government or non-Government sponsorship, the determination and discipline of our theatre workers give us the hope to change the mode of life through theatre.

Cast& Credits
Bhije Biral: Partha Debnath
Biral Tapaswsi: Piali Samanta
Mr. Baron: Aritra Dey
Mr.Tycoon: Tanmay Banerjee
Mr.Magnate: Abhishek Dey
Mantri Charmagaj: Swarnendu Das
Raja: Adrija Basu
Adabata & Man 1: Chiranjeet Haldar
Jeera Bata & Man 2: Ayan Debnath
Mr.Nerdy & Sena 2: Arkoranjan Bhattacharya
Miss Info: Shubhannita Guha / Monomita Chaudhury
Special Child: Mrittika Chakraborty

Children 1: Tanirika Das
Children 2: Dibyatanu Dutta
Children 3: Aman Ghosh
Senapati: Sundarraj Roy
Radhuni & Man 3: Anirban Saha
Women 1: Pritha Biswas
Woman 2: Sayantika Dey
Woman 3: Srabana Chattopadhyay
Sena 1: Mayukh Dutta

Music: Subhadeep Sarkar & Aritra Dey
Set Design: Swarnendu Das
Stage set-up: Surojit Dey
Make-up: Bhanu Mitra
Light: Kalyan Ghosh
Costume: Piali Samanta
Props: Adrija Basu
Choreography: Sreya Das

Special thanks to Pinaki Guha, Samarjeet Dey, Sayantani Dey, Rwitobroto Mukherjee, Pushan Dasgupta, Anwesh Bhattacharya, Kaushik Pal, Arka Chakraborty, Debajyoti Bhattacharya, Tunak Banerjee

Playwright: Samik Bindu
Director: Mayukh Dutta

Novel: Shri Manubhai Pancholi ‘Darshak’
Adaptation: Bharat Dave
Director: Rajoo Barot
Group: Ahmedabad Theatre Group, Ahmedabad
Language: Gujarati
Duration: 2 hrs

The Play
Socrates is a classic testimony of the most remarkable period of Greek history (Peloponnesian War period). The story dawns with the era of the staunchly democratic leader Pericles and his years of contribution towards the society of Athens, and culminates when Socrates, the brilliant thinker, is sentenced to death by a venom quaff. Greeks are known for their superior body built, and exquisite features. However, the story forms Socrates’ image as ‘protuberant lips, flat nose, huge and lost eyes’ which is quite different from typical Greek masculine features. Who can call such a differently looking and thinking human an enlightened personality? What was ‘true wisdom’ to Socrates?

Director’s Note
I have genuinely felt that the nation’s democracy is blemished through the deceitful acts of derision and shady deals. This instigated and inspired me to show the speculum of Socrates to the society that is governed by mockery and corruption. The apostle of Nirvana, Lord Buddha, has paid the utmost reverence to the tyranny of citizens, meagre and lavish alike. This has built within me, an acute conviction and faith in the autonomic form of government. My forthright rationale to stage this classic is to give the society an aspiration as its law systems and governance are undergoing a very delicate phase.

The Director
Rajoo Barot, an NSD Graduate (1977), is an actor, director, singer, documentary film-maker and light designer. He is the founder of the Ahmedabad Theatre Group, and the initiator of documentation and promotion of theatre songs of Gujarat through a group activity titled Tarz-e-Thatter. He has directed several commercial television serials and has travelled extensively with the NSD Repertory Company. He has received many awards such as the Sangeet Natak Akademi’s Gaurav Puraskar, Information Department of Gujarat’s Best Documentary Award, and the Best Playback Singer Award for the film Dikari Mari Vhalno Dario. One of his most appreciated works is Haiye Ham to Tarasnu Na Rahe Tham, which he made for the Pravah Drinking Water & Sanitation Campaign, and which was performed by 50 groups in their own dialects and traditions in more than a thousand villages in Gujarat.

The Playwright
Bharat Dave did Diploma in Direction from National School of Drama, Delhi in 1976. He retired as the Chief Producer, Video Production Group, Development & Educational Communication Unit (DECU) of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Ahmedabad after serving for 32 years. He was in USA for the Fulbright Internship programme in the field of communication technology in television programme productions and public broadcasting. He received the Gaurav Puraskar 1991 for the commendable contribution to Gujarati theatre.

The Group
Ahmedabad Theatre Group, was set up in 1992. It has produced and performed many plays reflecting its vision. ATG has been invited many times to participate in the international drama festival Bharat Rang Mahotsav organised by NSD, New Delhi and has also participated in the 8th Theatre Olympics with the production Paritraan at Mumbai.

Cast & Credits
Socrates: Praveen Hirpara
Xanthippe: Deepti Joshi
Crito: Priyank Upadhyay
Media: Garima Bharadwaj
Crishiyas: Kamal Joshi
Aspasia: Vaibhavi Bhatt
Pericles: Rajoo Barot
Apollodorus: Vaishakh Rathod
Judge: Chirag Parekh, Nitish Parekh
Meno: Harshdeep Jadeja
Harmippus: Gopal Barot
Anateus: Vishal Shah
Ajes: Praful Panchal
Meletus: Dhruv Pandit
Jailor: Harshdeep Jadeja
Soldiers: Harshdeep Jadeja, Jigar Shah
Chorus: Female Mausam Mehta, Malka Mehta, Nupoor Shah, Vaibhavi Bhatt, Neeta Pattani, Deepti Joshi,
Garima Bharadwaj
Chorus: Male Rajoo Barot, Jigar Shah, Harshdeep Jadeja, Priyank Upadhyay

Stage Manager: Chirag Parekh
Back Stage: Dhruv Pandit, Neeta Pattani, Anil Rathod, Vishal Chauhan, Shubham Balapure, Ravi Patil
Set & Lights: Kabir Thakor
Lights Operation: Kamal Joshi, Vaishakh Rathod, Dhruv Pandit
Costumes & Props: Arpita Dhagat
Assistant: Vaibhavi Bhatt
Chorus Text: Chirag Tripathi
Music: Nitish Parekh
Assistant: Priyank Upadhyay
Music Operator: Nitish Parekh, Dhruv Pandit
Make-up: Shabana

Novel: Shri Manubhai Pancholi ‘Darshak’
Adaptation: Bharat Dave
Direction: Rajoo Barot

Hindi Translation: Kashinath Trivedi
Director: Devendra Raj Ankur
Group: Sambhav, Delhi
Language: Hindi
Duration: 1 hr 20 mins

The Play
This play is based on some of the untouched aspects of the self-written autobiography of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Gandhiji divided his autobiography into five parts. The play has a few excerpts from Part one – Janm, High School Mein, Vilaayat ki Taiyari, Sabhya Poshak Main; Part two – Pehla Mukaddama , Netaal Pahuncha, Ko Jane Kal Ki?, Dharma Nirikshan, Ghar ki Vyavastha, Desh ki Ore, Hindustan Mein, Raj Nishtha and Shushrusha; Part three – Toofan ki Aagahi, Bachchon ki Shiksha, Saadagi, Desh- Gaman, Clerk Aur Beira, Dharma Sankat, Ek Punya Smaran aur Prayashchit, Patni ki Dridhta; and from the last Part- Pehla Anubhav, Gokhale Ke Saath Mein, Ashram ki Sthaapna, Neel ka Daag, Mazdooron Ke Sampark Main, Mrityu Shayya Par, and Purnaahuti. The play follows the simplicity of Gandhiji’s life. It portrays Gandhi as a common man, who is later established as a Mahatma.

Director’s Note
On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi we decided to prepare a play that had him in the centre. A number of different texts related to Gandhi were read. In the end it was decided to prepare a play on his own story, Satya ke Prayog. Many incidents related to his life have often been staged earlier. Our effort has been to select the sections that are less familiar or untouched. We have tried to stage the translation as it is. Yes, there has been an effort to give it a chronological sequence. The play is around one and a half hour in duration. We have tried to catch different aspects of Gandhi’s life from childhood till the end.

The Director
Devendra Raj Ankur did M.A. in Hindi Literature from Delhi University, and specialised in Direction from National School of Drama. He has directed many professional and amateur theatre groups all around the country. He is a founder member of the popular theatre group Sambhav, and the initiator of ‘Kahani ka Rangmanch’. He has participated as a director in theatre workshops and his plays have been staged in numerous cities. He has translated many plays from English and other languages, and is a regular columnist of theatre in many magazines and journals. More than seven of his books on theatre criticism have been published. He has been the director of National School of Drama. He was awarded with the Sangeet Natya Akademi award for special contribution in the field of theatre.

Cast & Credit
On Stage: Amit Saxena, Durgesh Kumar, Prakash Jha, Gauri Deval, Nidhi Mishra, Amitabh Srivastav

Music Compilation & Operation: Rajesh Singh
Light Design: Raghav Prakash Mishra

Concept & Direction: Devendra Raj Ankur

Director: Siddique Mohammad
Group: Pt. Ugamraj Khiladi Lok Kala Prashikshan Evam Shodh Sansthan, Rajasthan
Language: Rajasthani
Duration: 1 hr 15 mins

The Form
Khayal is an all-night recital of the historic and Pauranic love-stories sung and enacted in the villages. Kuchamani Khayal is the most popular form of Rajasthani folk art. Late Lachhi Ram Ji of Kuchaman was the father of this form, and had a strong voice. Around a hundred years ago he created this form for the village Kuchaman and thus it came to be known popularly as Kuchamani. Initially the performance was accompanied by Dholak, Nagara, Turri etc. but over the years Harmonium, Tabla Sitar and Sarangi also got incorporated. The costumes of the artists are often symbolic. For example, the king doesn’t wear expensive clothes but puts on a crown or a kalangi over his regular clothes. By wearing a lehnga, kurti and kaanchali, and drawing a goonghat a man represents a woman. Pt. Ugamraj ji has contributed immensely in this folk form for the past 65 years, staging the message of patriotism, bravery and truth, in every nook and corner of the country. He has created a world record by staging more than 20000 performances of Kuchamani form of Khayal from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.

The Play
Mahapurush Goga ji is popular as a secular god of the middle ages who was above caste, creed, Hindu, Muslim and Sikh. Goga ji of Rajasthan, as per a famous story, was born as a blessing given by Guru Gorakhnath. His mother could not bear children and went to meet Guru Gorakhnath who was then meditating on a hillock. He gave her a boon that she will bear a son and gave her a fruit called Gogal as a blessing. On eating the fruit she conceived and later Goga ji was born. He was called Goga ji after the fruit Gogal. Qayamkhani Muslim society calls him Jahar Pir. He became a disciple of Guru Gorakhnath. To commemorate Goga ji, in the month of Bhadra, a fair is organised and is visited by all communities including Hindus and Muslims. This production is based on the life and works of the aforesaid Goga Chauhan.

The Director
Born in 1958 in village Medhta, District Nagaur of Rajasthan, Dr. Siddique Mohammad is currently the chairman of Ugamraj Khiladi Lok Kala Prashikshan Evam Shodh Sansthan. After completing B.A. (Hons), M.A. and Ph.D., and gaining popularity in the universities, he served as an associate professor. He has been an avid translator, publisher and researcher. During his research he was given a grant by the Department of Hindi by Jai Narayan Vyas University, Jodhpur; and Ambedkar Fellowship by Bhartiya Dalit Sahitya Akademi, Delhi. He has also received many awards and honours.

Cast & Credits
Team: Kachruddin, Sardar Khan, Chaman Khan, Mehboob Ali, Sishupal, Iqbal Khan, Raju
Nagadhchi, Janwru Khan, Prakash Mand, Shaukhat Khan, Nema Ram Roisa, Mangilal Kanoonga, Sarwan Sardi, Ayub Khan, Bilada, Shriniwas Sharma, Naryan Singh Peethal, Satyanarayan Sharma, Ramgopal Sharma

Director: Siddique Mohammad

Playwright: Bhuvneshvar Prasad

Director and Dramaturge: Avijit Solanki

Group: N.S.D. Diploma Production, New Delhi

Language:  Hindustani

Duration: 1 hr

The Play

When Bhuvneshwar Prasad’s story ‘Bhediye’ was first published it created quite a stir in literary circles of 1933 India. The story begins by asking what is a bhediya? (a wolf).  Kharu says there’s none other as dangerous as them, appearing in packs, nothing satiates their hunger. Kharu recites a story in which he, his father and three Nataniyas were traversing from Gwalior to Punjab when they were attacked by a hungry pack of bhediyas. Chasing and compelling him to abandon all his belongings/possessions behind. Running to save his life he loses his father. It story ends after Kharu spits and tells that the very next year he killed a pack of sixty bhediye!

Director’s Note

Bhediye is a narrative of a progressing violent swarm, being run over by it, and losing all one has to it. A new light of meaning emanates from this story every single time I read it. Its approach to language, structure and characterizations are cold and brutal. Like a hammer thumping onto a nail penetrating your bleeding soul. It has an odor of fear and terror – a topical subject to reflect upon as our country’s crisis.  An evolving society, whose minorities – are people who belong nowhere – are chased, lynched.

Survivors though saved but scarred for life holding anger, betrayal, loss, revenge and guilt within. Feelings, which compel him to attack the swarm that swept everything he called mine. Attacker and attacked let loose a trail of disaster and stories of inhumane horror.

It was quite challenging for us as a team to create performance out of this text because of its narrative nature. To cull out its visual elements, through the physicality and material expression it offers. We are thankful to all friends who kept visiting us during rehearsals and contributed to make the work what it is.

The Director

Avijit Solanki is a Bhopali who debuted as a director with an adaptation of Tagore’s Daakghar in Gondi dialect. After completing his diploma from Madhya Pradesh School of Drama (2012), he founded Other Theatre. Some of his directorial ventures are- Daakghar, Antigone, Bade Bade Pankhon Wala Boodha, Kucch Vakya, Jaadui Macchi, Ismat ki Id. He has worked with children from different backgrounds and communities.

The Playwright

Bhubaneswar (1911 – 1957) born to a middle-class family in Shahjahanpur (U.P.). His periodic compositions exposed the boundaries drawn between the ideal and real so that they started spearheading beliefs, traditions and a new voice.

Bhubaneswar was an outspoken and distinct literary voice, which was hitherto unknown and unspoken then. He exposed classic irregularities in the form of bitter truths through his writings. His contribution to literature and language was an enrichment brought to life with his courage to experiment with new technical compositions. Some of his path-breaking works were published in Hans, ‘Shyama: A Marital Paradox’, 1933 and a collection of one-act plays in ‘Caravan’, 1935, established him as a monolith in literature. The play Tambe Ke Keede, he wrote in 1946, found its honour of place as first incompatible and incomprehensible absurd drama written in any language of the world. 

The Group

This is a diploma play 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 wider audience.

Cast & Credits

Actors: Sarfaraz Ali Mirza, Bhagyashree Tarke, Rachna Gupta, Susheel Kant Mishra, Meenakshi Thapa,Ravi Chahar, Paramanand.

Chasers: Mahadev Singh Lakhawat, Parag Barua, Pradeep Gautam, Akshay Wadera, Kamalpreet Singh, Jordan, Vishal, Ankit Ambavat, Tejendra, Suraj Kumar, Dhananjay Sharma, Tapan Kosh, Akshay Kumar,Ramjeet Yadav, Ashish Kumar Nayak, Tushar Karan, Deepak Pandey, Pankaj Verma, Sahil Khanna,Abhishek, Manjeet Kumar, Akash Shrivastav, Rajai Thakral, Abhay Kumar, Shivam Bansal, Nidhi Singh.

Cart Pullers: Akash Shrivastav, Akki, Rajat Thakral, Abhay Kumar

Sceneography:  Nitish Arora

Light Design:  Sarthak Narula

Costume Design:  Rachna Gupta

Video Projection:  Saras Kumar

Saxophone :Rahul Kumar

Drums:  Vikesh Bisht

Publicity Design:  Nitish Arora

Sound operation:  Ankit Gupta

Dramaturgical Advice:  Sandeep, Nitish Arora

Original story: Bhuvneshwar Prasad

Dramaturgy & Direction: Avijit Solanki

Playwright & Director: Buddhika Damayantha
Group: Red Wings Theatre Group, Sri Lanka
Language: English / Sri Lankan
Duration: 1 hr 30 mins

The Play
The Department is a play inspired by Harold Pinter’s The Hothouse. The director of the department, Roote is stressed to the point that he is losing his sanity. His subordinate Gibbs is so ambitious that he undercuts his authority; subordinate Lush is an alcoholic; and his mistress, Miss Cutts, is scheming and having an affair with Gibbs. One of the patients at the house is supposedly murdered, and another is raped and impregnated, so Roote assigns Gibbs to investigate the matter. However, all evidences point to Roote as the perpetrator, and Gibbs takes over, leading to further mayhem.

Director’s Note
The play is wrapped around a disoriented officer in a certain department of a powerful state where the rulers are all out to remain in power using unacceptable ways and means. The psychiatric unit run by this department calls patients by numbers and not by names. A retired dictatorial army officer by the name Roots is in charge of this unit and its officers are called by indicative short names such Gibbs, Labb, Kates, Tubb, Pate etc… Patient number 6457 passes away in a mysterious suspicious manner, and in a very short time an employee of the institute gives birth to a child. Murderers and rapists are freely moving in the society. At the end Gibbs who is meeting with the superior higher officers of the department complains that all the officers except him were murdered by the patients. This raises the suspicion that Gibbs himself did these….

The Director & Playwright
Buddhika Damayantha is one of the few theatre directors in Sri Lanka who is engaged full-time in this profession. He has directed 18 Sinhala plays, out of which 17 are adaptations of world renowned classics, such as the works of Beckett, Albee, Williams, Schisgal, Fugard, Pinter, Arbuzov, Tendulkar, Ibsen, Simon, Rivera and Shakespeare. During his illustrious career, Buddhika Damayantha and his plays have won many significant awards at the state drama festivals held annually in Sri Lanka. Buddhika Damayantha is a dedicated theatre enthusiast who strives to uphold his responsibility as an artiste and works for the betterment of his profession and the quality of Sri Lankan theatre. He dedicates a lot of his time conducting workshops and various other activities to enforce theatre education among youth in Sri Lanka and to invoke the enthusiasm for thought-provoking theatre in society.

The Group
Red Wings is a theatre group actively contributing in the field since last decade. It makes efforts to promote plays in the country by conducting workshops for beginners and introducing various new trends and significant changes in the field. Being a trainer as well as an ardent learner, the group has conducted many training sessions and workshops in the past. During the period when the country was severely affected by civil war, Red Wing made a tremendous effort to preserve Sinhala stage and attract the audience. One of the main objectives of the group is to inculcate love for the stage among the people.

Cast & Credits
Roote: Mahendra Weeraratne
Miss Cutts: Kithmini Hemachandra
Gibbs: Sumith Rathnayake
Lobb / Tubb: Nandun Alwis
Lush: Arunodh Wijesinghe
Lamb: Buddhika Damayantha

Make-up:  Shiran Lakshitha
Lighting: Kapila Kithsiri
Set /Costume Design: Buddhika Damayantha
Production Manager: Pamoda Wimalasiri
Sound Mixing: Pamoda Wimalasiri
Stage Management: Chandana Irugal Bandara
Assistant / Prompter: Dhanushka Chinthaka, Mihili Punsala
Publicity/Photography: Pamoda Wimalasiri

Director / Writer: Buddhika Damayantha

Watch Meet the Director segment for this play

Playwright & Director: M. K. Raina
Group: Peoples Television, NOIDA
Language: English
Duration: 2 hrs

The Play and Director’s Note
This is a dialogue between two great minds of the 20th century – Mahatama Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. A dialogue, which has direct bearing on the future of India and the rest of mankind. The quality of the dialogue is intense, philosophical, spiritual, aesthetic and highly political. Yet this dialogue of agreements and disagreements through letters and articles between the Mahatama and Gurudev, never lowers itself to the realm of anger, negativity or animosity. There is tremendous love, admiration, camaraderie and respect for the other’s point of view, which unfortunately is not a quality we find in the political class of today’s world. Hence, this dialogue between the Mahatama and The Poet is of great significance, an eye-opener and absolutely relevant to the present debate on the global world with neo-liberal modules of development and open market economy.

The Director & Playwright
Graduate of National School of Drama with Best Actor’s Award is an actor, director, writer and media person. He has been working in theatre, cinema, television and media for the last five decades. He has directed more than 200 plays in various Indian languages. These productions include the works of Bhasa, Shakespeare, Gorky, Chekov, Bertolt Brecht, Tagore, Premchand, Badal Sircar, Bhishm Sahani, Dhramvir Bharati, Hazari Prasad Dwivedi, Manto, Moti Lal Kemmu and many more. Terror and violence ridden Kashmir has been his working space for more than 15 years, where he has revived and revitalized the traditional Kashmiri theatre called “Bhand Pather” which was disappearing under the pressure of violence and fundamentalism. Raina has travelled widely across globe for his theatre work, as a guest director and as a guest teacher. He has been working with National School of Drama, Hyderabad Central University, Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad and Bhilai. He has been Fellow at University of Hawaii (U.S.A.) and at Stanford University (U.S.A.). He has been scholar in residence at Jamia Millia Islamia Central University. Raina is a trustee of Safdar Hashmi Trust and South Asia Foundation, India. He has been recipient of many national & regional awards like Sanskriti Award, JK Gold Medal, Sahitya Kala Parishad Samman, Shikhar Samman (Hindi Academy, Delhi), B.V. Karanth Lifetime Achievement Award and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.

The Group
Peoples Television’s journey started with the making of socially relevant documentaries, plays and cultural events. It has been a platform for the exchange of ideas on the burning issue of culture cutting across disciplines of arts. Our video films on the cultural heritage of Kashmir have been screened in many parts of India and in many countries of west and central Asia. People Television has also performed its theatre plays at major festivals in India like Kerala National Theatre Festival, Kashmir National Festival. Our work with children through workshops at various centres in India has earned Peoples Television a prestige position in the field of theatre in education.

Cast & Credits
On Stage: Avijit Dutt, Oorun Das, Preeti Agarwal Metha

Light: Govind Yadav

Videography: Anant Raina

Costume: Kriti V. Sharma

Stage Manager: Vipin Sharma

Performance Text & Direction: M.K. Raina

Playwright & Director: D. Sunil Kumar
Group: Department of Theatre, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kerala
Language: Malayalam
Duration: 1 hr 16 mins

The Play
Maze tries to establish the relationship between a servant and an old man who are connected inside the web of memories and realties. The servant takes care of the old man and even tries to pretend as the old man’s wife in order to make him eat food. The attire of the servant wearing his wife’s cloths makes the old man sexually attracted to him and he starts expressing his longing. The memory of his wife leads him to a dream but he recognizes the servant’s smell and comes back to reality. In that unreal space there are moments in which both of them find happiness and comfort. Finally it is revealed that the old man was only a memory of the servant.

Director’s Note
Maze portrays the repetitive aspect of human life that there is no beginning or end to what we call life. But we still consider death as the full stop to it. The dead continue to live within the minds of the living. Memory and reality can’t be separated and they always give rise to the question, what is real? This moment ends with the next. Every relationship creates a circle from which the process of ‘coming out’ or ‘leaving’ is impossible. Here the old man and the servant create a space within their relationship that questions the material existence of each other. This interlocked space makes it difficult to have an individual existence. The old man continues to live in the memory of the servant and it is the memory of the old man that makes the servant live in his solitude.

The Director & Playwright
Sunil Kumar S., born and brought up in Angamaly, is a graduate in Commerce and is now pursuing his Masters in Theatre and Performing arts at SSUS, Kalady, Kerala. In the past five years he has been an active figure in the realm of theatre with his contributions in direction, acting and other important aspects of theatre. It is his passion for theatre that made him choose theatre as his career. He has worked with many prominent theatre practitioners in Kerala including Kumara Varma, Ramesh Varma, Vinod Kumar, Gopan Chithambaran, Adrian Schvarzstein, etc. He has also acted in various student productions including Dhojoji, Riders to the Sea, Procession, Christmas Night, Chakka, Interview, Machine, Kudukka, Group Photo etc. Maze is his first production and has gained the attention of many theatre practitioners and critics. Currently he is conducting theatre camps and workshops for students and theatre-lovers all over Kerala.

The Group
Department of Theatre, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kerala has witnessed a number of inevitable changes. The department has introduced several changes in the graduate courses, admitted a number of research students, received substantial research and infrastructure grants, and brought new areas of research activity together, making it a vibrant and cohesive entity. Within a span of 17 years, we have become a prime department of theatre in India. Alumni of this department are showing their excellence in their respective fields and are now known all across India. Students are participating in all major international theatre festivals across the country. Moreover, many popular actors and directors of Malayalam film industry are former students of this department.

Cast & Credits
On Stage: Midhun M P, Rakesh P

Light design and Execution: Anoop K V
Light Assistant: Jamshid Jamal
Music Direction and Execution: Akshai K A, Abin Davis, Manu M K
Make-up: Vipin Kumar
Costume: Anooja Ravi, Neethu Velayudhan
Art-Design and Execution: Sarathkumar M R, Amal Deep P
Stage Managers: Prasob Prakash, Abhinav Prasad P
Technical support: Devendra Khattana, Febin Ummachan, Sharon Shaju, AkhilVijayan, Dinanad S R, Sherin Varghese, Sagar K B

Story, Design & Direction: Sunil Kumar S.