February 23, 24, 25
"Hamara Shakespeare Festival"
www.hamarashakespeare.com
| 23rd |
"Romeo and Juliet" in Malayalam by School of Drama, Calicut, Kerala
Details ; Photos |
| 24th |
"Jungle mein Mangal" Mid Summer Night's dream in Hindi/Marathi by Awishkar,
Mumbai
Details |
| 25th |
"The Magic Hour" Shakespeare in Khelkali (Hindi/English) by Arjun Raina
and Monica Singh, Delhi
Details ; Photos |
23rd
February 2007
"Romeo and Juliet" in Malayalam by School of Drama, Calicut
Designed and Directed by Thulaseedhara Kurup
Kurup graduated from the National School of Drama in 1998. He has worked
as a resource person for the National School of Drama and Regional Resources
Centre, Bangalore. He has worked with eminent theatre personalities like
Marius Orski, John Russel brown, Sure Weston, Betty Bernard, B.V.Karanth,
Bansi Kaul, Mohan Maharshi, Ramgopal Bajaj, Anuradha Kapoor, D.R.Ankur,
M.K.Raina, Prasanna, Maya Rao, Anamika Haksar and directed plays like Macbeth,
Riders of the Sea, Sakharam Binder, The Walls, Kadhabeejam. Awarded two
times, individual production grant from Department of Culture for directing
Euripedes's "Medea" and G.Sankaran Pillai's "Bharathavakyam." Directed
teleplays Vijay Tendulkar's "Papa Kho Gaya" (DD National), Cyclewala (DD
Delhi), Poochasanyasi (DD Kerala). Was associate director for Sanjay Khan's
serial "1857 Kranti" and "Aladin".
School of Drama established in 1977 under the direction of Prof. G.Sankaran
Pillai offers BTA (Bachelor of Theatre Arts), MTA (Master of Theatre Arts),
M.A. (Music) and M.Phil and PhD integrated in Theatre Arts. The school
conducts student placement programmes, seminars and workshops in collaboration
with international universities. Alumni of the school are working in theatre
groups around India, in films, Television and in government cultural bodies.
Photos
24th
February
Awishkar, Mumbai's presentation of "Jungle Me Mangal" - Marathi
adaptation in Tamasha form of Shakespeare's "Mid Summer Night's dream
Marathi adaptation by Alok Paranjape
Directed by Chetan Datar
Produced by Arun Kadade
With a cast of twenty seven artists.
Time two house fifteen minutes with one interval
Jungle me mangal is a creative adaptation of Shakespeare's famous comedy
"Mid Summer Night's Dream". It has been adapted in Tamasha folk form of
Maharashtra and to add a zing, there is a surprise element of cross casting
which underlines the fantasy aspect of the play.
One fine morning "Saguna" elopes with her lover "Sarjerao" to avoid
a forced marriage arranged by her father. Bajirao her another suitor follows
her and to add to confusion a fairy and her jing bang joins them in a jungle
and there unfolds, a humorous drama of errors.
Chetan Datar, a commerce graduate from Mumbai University wrote a script
for his own life to get into theatre. Over the years, he has become a writer,
actor and director of enviable repute, He trained for twelve years under
Pt.Satyadev Dubey and next twelve years worked with the National Centre
for Performing Arts, Mumbai as research assistant. Later he took to theatre
full time and gradually became a part of Awishkar founded by Arvind and
Sulabha Deshpande, Arun Kakade and Vijay Tendulkar. He has written many
plays in Marathi and Hindi and has directed over 25 plays.
Awishkar founded in 1971 is a group of serious theatre minded people
formed to give free expression to the ideas and thoughts, which are sacred
to us in theatre. Awishkar has produced and staged around 3500 performances
and 142 plays and has organized 19 theatre festivals. Over the years Awishkar
has become the mother theatre institution and has remained in the forefront
of parallel theatre movement. Has also organized 15 children's film festivals
and has published the books "Rang Nayak", "Te ani amhi" and "Awishkar Tishi"
(thirty years of Awishkar")
25th
February 2007
The Magic Hour in Khelkali
By Arjun Raina and Monica Singh
A performance in magic realism through dance theatre combining two stories
of William Shakespeare - 'Othello' and 'A Mid Summer Night's Dream' with
scenes from Kathakali stories, the classical dance drama from Kerala, India,
KhelKali uses the elaborate costume, music, songs, dance and theatricality
of Kathakali, a 16th century dance theatre form and combines it with spoken
and enacted texts and scenes from Shakespeare.
Through innovative theatrical devices, KhelKali helps the audience enter
into a spectacular world of medieval Indian Theatre. It uses the story
of Oberon and Titania's fight over a little Indian boy in Shakespeare's
'A Mid Summer Night's Dream' as a basis to talk about the post colonial
experience.
50 years after India's independence from 200 years of British rule,
the performing of Shakespeare by an Indian actor is full of potential for
both personal as well as political comment. KhelKali is an exploration
of these two different spaces, an attempt to combine old beauty with contemporary
reality.
Photos