Theatrewala-about theatre & culture

Thespo 16 “Plug-In to the Tamasha” orientation meeting kickstarts! ~Actress Huma Qureshi attended the first orientation meet of Thespo 16~ Actress and Ex-Thespian  Huma Qureshi  attended the first orientation meeting of the 16th season of  Thespo  on  July 17, 2014  at the celebrated Prithvi Theatre, Mumbai. The orientation meeting was organized as the initial phase of Thespo 16’s journey to interact with budding and potential participants. The Orientation Meetings are a point of contact as well as a roadmap to the annual journey of the buzzing affair.   Titled  Thespo 16 “Plug-In to the Tamasha”,  the event started with the opening song followed by screening of the Thespo AV. A scene from the play The E.Q. was staged, which was also the part of last years Thespo 15 festival. Followed by this the plans for Thespo 16 were introduced to the attendees during the meeting. Huma took the centre-stage amidst the packed audience of...

Known as the Dr. Seuss of music, Leonard Solomon is the proud creator of the Majestic Bellowphone. While it looks like something that the Grinch might find underneath Whoville’s Christmas tree, don’t be fooled by its odd appearance. Handcrafted from the likes of train whistles, coat hangers, toasters, bike horns and bits of brass, the Bellowphone can hold a rather decent tune and has tackled everything from Mozart to Brahms. It doesn’t stop there for the cabinetmaker-turned-musician. Solomon has been building his crowning glory, the Oomphalapompatronium, for the last 15 years as a ‘sweeter’ sister to the Bellowphone. Solomon’s symphony of strange sounds has been heard around the world and the mad musician shows no signs of slowing down. As if that wasn’t exciting enough, he also juggles occasionally while playing.  See and listen of the beautiful Bellowphone in action: Hungarian Dance #5; Johannes Brahms Hungarian Dance #5; Johannes Brah...

Its June!! Vacation time is almost over and most kids will be looking forward to going back to school or college (Not really). So before the tantrums and early morning begin how about going to the theatre and the conclusion on what has been the biggest year for children’s theatre. Saloni Shukla’s directorial debut ‘Clue – Murder at Boddy Mansion’, T-Pots ‘Wolf’, Theatreact’s ‘Herose – Werose’ and Ranga Theatre’s ‘Sinbad The Sailor’ are some of the premieres for children and adults alike. In case your inner child craves for something a little more mature, worry not - NCPA will be having their annual Cheer! Festival with 8 different shows including Out of the Box’ ‘Two Adorable Losers’, 71mm Hyderabad’s ‘The Open Couple’ and Akvarious’ ‘Bombed’. Premieres keep on coming with Frontier Theatre’s ‘The Pad’ and popular theatre actor Jim Sarbh directs his first play ‘Bull’. There are also film screenings of staged productions of ‘King Lear’, ‘Between the Lines’ and ‘The Intervie...

PIERROT’S TROUPE   ( Delhi )  and  KIRDAAR ART ACADEMY  (Mumbai) are going to hold  “Class ‘n’ Comedy” Theatre Festival”  from  Feb 28  to  March 2 ,  2014; at  RANGSHARDA Auditorium,  K C Marg, Bandra Reclamation,  Bandra  (West), Mumbai.   The above-mentioned festival comprises  three highly popular plays  by  Pierrot’s Troupe  (all written and directed by  Dr M Sayeed Alam ): BIG B  (Hind-lish Comedy)  Feb 28, 8 pm K L SAIGAL  (Hindi- Urdu Musical)  March 1 , 7:30 pm GHALIB IN NEW DELHI  (Urdu – Hindi Comedy)  March 2, 7:30 pm "BIG B" -- , however, has nothing to do with Mr Amitabh Bachchan. It is, rather, concerned with Mr Premchan(d): For, the play is the first ever presentation of his celebrated  Hindi- Urdu  short story – "Bade Bhai Sahib"  in  'Broken English'  or what we call  Hind-lish  (Not Hinglish) K L SAIGA...

After an acclaimed premiere at the Pukaar festival in Pune, The Arshinagar Project presents ' This Side of the Truth - A Piece for a Flute and a Hat ' in Kolkata on February 22nd. This Side of the Truth - A Piece for a Flute and a Hat   is a landscape of sounds and images, based on fragments of Dylan Thomas' poetry. It is a sort of poem of and in space, reaching simultaneously out to the shadows of our own past and future selves. Drawing upon a process of rigorous research on the organic connections between breath, musicality, body and text, the piece excavates the surface of Thomas' wordscapes, to create a montage of fragmentary, non-linear images, where the shadows of the man crash into the ghosts of the father and the son, skittering off each other across time and memory.  The piece is devised and performed by Arka Mukhopadhyay and musician Pradip (Bula) Chaterji. Date: 22/02/2014   Time: 7:30 PM Contribution: 150/-   Call:  9836509386  ...

The Arshinagar Project is inviting proposals for the Ghosts of Shakespeare  Festival 2014, which will take place in the city of Kolkata, India, between April 23rd and 30th, 2014. Background : Ghosts of Shakespeare is an annual festival that is meant to confront the world of Shakespeare (primarily) from the vantage of Indian performance idioms and aesthetics, as well as contemporary subjectivities and lived experience. It is meant to exist, both physically and metaphorically, in marginal spaces. This means that it intends to explore non-traditional venues, including open and public spaces, as well  as reach out to genres other than traditional theatre, such as dance, performance art, street theatre and other forms of theatre activism, and genres which defy any easy categorization. It looks at Shakespeare as a talisman of protest and humanistic articulation, and hence embraces artistic actions that articulate disturbing and perhaps unpopular truths about the world and time...

KELI is a Mumbai based Charitable organization striving to preserve, develop and propagate the classical and traditional cultural heritage of India. Keli has been active in this field from the past several years and during this period, has successfully handled a number of important projects in furtherance of its objectives. The annual Keli festivals, structured thematically every year, are well known to artists and art lovers of the City and have earned the organization a significant place in the cultural life of Mumbai. On its 22 nd  anniversary, Keli continues its commitment to preserving, developing and propagating the enormously exciting cultural heritage of India with a theatre festival dedicated to  Chavittu Natakam . This is the first time this art form will be presented in Mumbai Keli Indigenous Theatre Festival 2014 (On Chavittu Natakam- India’s most ancient Maritime theatre Tradition) 9, 10, 11 January 2014 Human life is incomplete ...

Theatre-in-Motion ~Theatre festival bringing the best of theatre across Kolkata, New Delhi & Mumbai~ This winter, get ready to experience the best of Indian Theatre with Theatre in Motion; a festival that will provide theatre lovers a chance to experience plays across Kolkata, New Delhi, and Mumbai in Hindi, English and Bengali. Running for 3 months starting from  October 5  till  December 29 , the festival will bring together the best of theatre groups, personnel and art connoisseurs on a single platform. Presented by Utkal Rangmanch Trust in association with Sanket and steered by Anant Mahapatra, a legendary figure in theatre, Theatre-in-Motion revolves around his idea of making the best of theatre available for viewing to connoisseurs across the country. Theatre in Motion will feature famous theatre exponents like Dada Saheb Phalke awaredee Soumitra Chatterjee, Rajit Kapur, Nadira Zaheer Babbar, Mohan Agashe, Om Katare, Manoj Mitra, Rakesh Bedi, Ashish Vidyarthi...

Crossword hosts a Play Reading of Ashvin Gidwani’s ‘The Big Fat City’ Mumbai , 14 th June, 2013: Crossword – India’s leading lifestyle bookstore, hosted the play reading session of Ashvin Gidwani’s ‘The Big Fat City’ . Written & directed by  Mahesh Dattani , the reading starred Achint Kaur, Nasirr Khan, Pooja Ruparel, Ivan Rodrigues, Sonal Joshi, Aadar Malik, Gagan Singh Sethi, Sashi Bhushan.           About the ‘The Big Fat City’: A successful corporate couple with a new apartment in a fancy suburb of Mumbai… A TV star with a fan following and a troublesome marriage... An aspiring young actress from a small town with her possessive boyfriend… What’s behind their facades? What do they do when murder comes knocking at their door? The play is India’s first black comedy that offers you laughter, thrills and a little pill to chew on as you drive back home. About Crossword: Crossword is India’s leading bookstore chain, w...

In Praise of kiran Nagarkar- An event organised by Max Mueller Bhavan Goethe Institute to commend Author Kiran Nagarkar for his wonderful works of fiction that has been translated in several foreign languages and are bestsellers in those countries. The Panelists were Marla Stutenberg, of the Max Mueller Bhavan, Naresh Fernandes, Paromita Vohra and Kiran Nagarkar himself. There were book readings by the panelists from their favorite kiran Nagarkar work followed by an artistic dance drama adapted from his work.