The Play
The play is set in Berlin, Germany, in early thirties of the past century. Dr. Mamlok, an eminent Jewish surgeon, a patriot who had served in the national army, gets upset on finding the jeopardy of national unity in the name of caste-creed-religion and political beliefs, under the rising of Nazi regime. He and his daughter are molested by Nazi-hooligans, and he is barred from working in his own hospital. He is threatened by his subordinate Dr. Helpach, now a Nazi official, to be publicly molested with his whole family. Mamlok’s pride cannot take it anymore. He commits suicide in order to escape the life of endless torture.

Director’s Note
The play Professor Mamlok written by German playwright Friedrich Wolf, and translated in Bengali by Utpal Dutta inspired me to write and direct this new play Deyal-Likhon (The WallPost). I found this a challenging offer to handle such intricate shades of human emotions and relationships in the whirlpool of socio-political unrest. Its original realistic pattern doesn’t suit my current text, rather demands nearly an expressionistic Epic-Theatre style, with input of a lot of modern theatrical imaginations and innovations. With a great challenge I enjoyed it thoroughly as a director.

The Director & Playwright
The career of Asit Basu as a playwright and director spans over more than half a century in the field of performing arts in West Bengal. Being a close associate, assistant director, and leading actor of the late maestro Utpal Dutta, he established himself with a keen sense of socio-political awareness in his works. He presented legendary stage productions like Kolkatar Hamlet, Raangtar-Mukut, Mrtyuheen Praan, E-Maha Jagaran, Charandas Mla Evam Nautankilal, etc. in the group Theatre Movement. His directorial works like Kirat-Parva and Kusha-Puttalika and his designed production Jaan-E-Kalkatta enjoyed the honour of being showcased in BRM with great appreciation. He has also excelled in the field of Jatra (Traditional Theatre of Bengal), TV and Film, and as a documentary film maker.

The Group
Paikpara Akhor was formed in 2007 under the guidance of Guru Asit Basu. The group endeavours to practice theatre with national and regional cultural identity that is facing a fatal threat due to the world-wide invasion of ‘Global Culture’ in present times. Sri Basu has trained new directors, actors and playwright under his esteemed guidance. As a result Ms. Bhadra Basu has emerged as an eminent playwright-director since 2009 with productions like Jaan-E-Kalkatta, Preetilata, Mala-Chandan etc. This group is trying to bring theatrical awareness amongst children with proper training and practice. Since its inception this group has successfully staged Shiber Gajon, Pratirodh (a Street Play), Jaan-E-Kalkatta, Kathtaamrita, Preetilata, MalaChandan, Dukhiram, Meni(Binodini)-o-Kolkatar Theatre, Dukhiram, Manik, Rupmoti-Gatha, and recent production Deyal-Likhon. The group has performed hundreds of shows altogether, winning the hearts of the audience, all over the country.

Cast & Credits

The Play

Ab aur Nahi has been inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The play begins with a fight between Wi-fi and Hi-fi gangs. They are always fighting for their land, their existence and their identity with each other. Finally, Blue Ray explains to both the gangs that what they have been doing all these years is futile. The gangs realize that fights, hatred, ego is all meaningless and worthless. At last, in this play, Time unites everyone.

Director’s Note

In the 21st century, which celebrates Globalization, people have been given the choice to live in a boundary-less world. Yet they are divided by insignificant aspects of religion, culture and community. The futile argument over the superiority of a certain community or caste over the other, has led to a huge setback on the overall development of the nations and humans. It has been the most detrimental to the youth of this world. The youth is equipped with a lot of potential to achieve greater goals, but is held back due to the myopic mind-set and cultural barriers instilled since childhood. It is hoped that it would eventually realise the impediments caused by these petty issues, and approach it in a more radical manner to achieve higher goals.

The Director

The Group

Sikkim Theatre Training Centre is the first centre of the National School of Drama outside Delhi. Situated in the lush green picturesque valley of Gangtok, the centre offers one –year of extensive training in theatre. The first phase of the course is devoted to training and grooming of the participants. The second phase focuses on technical training, Set design, Lighting, Make-up and other aspects of theatre. In the third phase, the participants experience a series of professional tours in and around Sikkim and other places of India.

Orkut  Lapchen Lepcha Hacker  Bikram Lepcha Format  Hasta Chettri Blue Ray  Ranjana Manger Julie  Tila Rupa Sapkota/Chandrika Chettri Search Engine  Nitlesh Chhetri Torrent  Prem Kumar Pradhan Dongle  Uttam Gurung LCD  Tashi Lepcha Floppy  Birbal Subba

Xender	Buddhiman Rai
Instagram	Anil Kumar Manger
Pintrest	Satyam Gurung
Linkdin	Suman Rai
Samay	Deepjyoti Kalita, Ripam Bhardwaj
Mannequin	Balsrame A. Sagma, Indira Devi
Aerial Dancers	Buddhiman Rai, Prem Kumar Pradhan, Satyam Gurung
Costume Design	Dipankar Paul
Assistant	Anil Kr. Manger
Light re-design	Himanshu B. Joshi

Assistant	Chakra Bdr. Chettri
Lyrics	Kajol Ghosh
Background Music	Nilotpal Bora
Music Operator	Umesh Thapa
Assistant	Uttam Gurung
Singers	Uttam Gurung, Birbal Subba, Remanti Rai, Nikita Century
Set Design	Dipankar Paul
Assistant	Chakra Bdr. Chettri, Nitlesh Chhetri, Tashi Lepcha
Set (Art Work)	Dhiraj Pradhan
Sisir Thapa

Nepali Translation	Hasta Chettri
Hasta Chettri, Bikram Lepcha
Translation English	Gyurmila Bhutia, Dorjee Ghumpu Bhutia.
Props Making	Jeewan Limboo
Assistant	Prem Kumar Pradhan, Buddhiman Rai, Satyam Gurung
Choreography	Kishore Sharma
Assistant	Chandrika Chettri
Aerial	Deb Kumar Paul
Make-up	Sanjoy Samanta
Assistant	Ranjana Manger, Hasta Chettri

Assistant Director	Pabitra Kumari Gautam
Writer	Asif Ali Haider Khan
Bipin Kumar

The Play
This is a non-verbal musical puppet performance for children aged 4 +. Across the Sea, as the title suggests, is about an adventure that takes a baby penguin from Antarctica across the sea to Africa. In this journey the baby penguin meets many new & strange creatures, and makes friends fearlessly and without judgment. This is a story of friendship between diverse people in today’s global world. This play addresses issues like being separated from family, adjustments and being free of prejudice and judgment. It celebrates diversity, differences and the spirit of childhood.

Director’s Note
This piece was created over a month of devising with the actors of TIE (Theatre-in-Education) Company. The story of a little lost creature emerged and became the story of a lost penguin baby, separated from his family but determined to survive and make new friends. The story emerged in pieces as the actors responded to stimuli like story-telling without words, playing with material and with different forms of puppetry. The little penguin has all the qualities of little children, and lives their fantasies of travel and adventure while learning about Africa and Antarctica. We hope that with this play would make the children in the audience fall a bit in love with theatre and puppets.

The Director
Anurupa Roy is a Puppeteer, Puppet Designer & Director. She has trained at the Marionette Teatern, Dramatiska Institute, University of Stockholm, and at the Scoula De La Marionette. In 1998 she started Katkatha Puppet group which was registered as the Katkatha Puppet Acts Trust in 2006. Anurupa has been an artist-in-residence at Rote Fabrik, Zurich; APPEX, Bali, Indonesia; University of California, Los Angeles; Deutches Forum for Figunrenteater, Germany; and Charleville Mezeires, France. She is a recipient of the Bismilla Khan Yuva Puraskar (SNA) 2006.

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. also participated in the International Theatre Festival at Warsaw (Poland). Participated in International Symposium on Actor’s Training Theatre Showcase at Beijing (China), Manila (Philippines) and also performed in International Theatre Festival at Shinzouka (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. Bal Sangam is a festival of Indian performing folk and traditional arts presented by children practicing these arts from different regions of the country.

Cast & Credits

The Play

Four performers represent the facets of Lady Macbeth, in constant conflict, to create a fluid performance, bringing together elements of Indian classical dance, movement, the original text of Macbeth, Hindustani classical, folk and tribal music.
Crossings mirrors the journey of Lady Macbeth through Shakespeare’s original play. She receives a letter from Macbeth telling her of his encounter with three witches who foretell that he will be King. This plants the idea of killing King Duncan in Lady Macbeth’s mind to further her husband’s ambition. Battling her own conscience and femininity, she plans and executes a gruesome murder. She is consequently haunted by the images of blood even as she plays a gracious hostess at the coronation banquet where the guests become suspicious of the truth. Bereft of support and company from her equally guilt-ridden husband, her world crumbles towards a lingering death.

Director’s Note
Poetry, lyricism, allegory, metaphor, repetition, imagery, rhythm, representation, symbolism – all imbue both Shakespeare and classical dance. Lady Macbeth is arguably Shakespeare’s most complex and layered female character. When I watched a Schezuan Opera actress in a riveting solo rendition of the character, I asked – could one interpret Lady Macbeth through Indian classical dance?
We embarked on this remarkable journey in December 2003, with text, music, movement and design responding to each another in a myriad different ways, encountering parallels in Indian mythology and iconography, finding fresh possibilities in rendering both text and dance. The performance, as it stands today, has been distilled through several versions since the first workshop production in April 2004, and presents Lady Macbeth in all her magnificent complexity.

The Director
Vikram Iyengar is a dancer, choreographer, theatre director, performing arts researcher, writer and curator based in Calcutta. He is the co-founder and artistic director of Ranan and project initiator of The Pickle Factory – a hub for dance and movement work. Noted for the conscious bringing together of kathak dance, movement, spoken drama and design, his production work spans choreography for stage and film, dance and theatre explorations, and performance collaborations. His international credits include co-choreography with Helena Waldmann for the Faust Prize nominated Made in Bangladesh. He also works regularly with contemporary choreographer Preethi Athreya. He was the co-editor of India Theatre Forum’s web-based e-Rang from 2009 to 2015, and is a guest lecturer/ presenter at several universities in India and abroad. He is an ARThink South Asia Arts Management Fellow (2013-2014) and Global Fellow of the International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA), 2017. A member of Kick Start – an international platform for arts entrepreneurs, Vikram is currently one of the four Asian participants in the International Arts Leaders programme of the Australia Arts Council. He was awarded the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for contemporary dance by the Sangeet Natak Akademi in December 2015.

The Group
Ranan is a kathak-based performance company with the express desire to demystify classical dance and make it accessible and enjoyable for a range of audiences. Its work is committed to sharing the magic of the arts, and spans three areas: practice, production, promotion. The group works with kathak dancers, actors, and designers, creating connections between different performance languages, and keeping kathak at the centre of our experiments.

Cast & Credits
Created With / Performers Anubha Fatehpuria
Dana Roy
Debashree Bhattacharya
Jayati Chakraborty

Original Music and Vocal Nageen Tanvir
Percussion Siddhartha Bhattacharyya
Stage and Costume Design Vikram Iyengar
Lighting Design Sudip Sanyal
Production Amlan Chaudhuri

Concept, Design, Direction Vikram Iyengar