February 23, 24,
25
"Hamara Shakespeare Festival"
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.
Marathi adaptation by Alok Paranjape
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")
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.
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23rd February 2007
