it’s again that time of the year when both films and theatre festivals in Kolkata come alive to elicit the culture vultures within us. Apart from the 17th Kolkata Film Festival, predictably drawing droves of cinephiles and foreign delegates from around the globe, Bharti Airtel’s theatrical initiative “Lifestage” is opening up for the second time after 2010 successful debut show. The schedule of the festival, which started last Saturday, has an extended time-frame with week-long gaps in between.
The rest three scripts will hit the stage at Kolkata’s Vidya Mandir auditorium on the November 19, 26 and 27. The Lifestage organisers have logically avoided an otherwise clash with the film festival.
“Live, love, laugh” is the tagline for the four-day rangmanch extravaganza. Noticeably, in tandem with this central theme, the chosen plays also try to stimulate and reflect the same, either collectively or individually.
Indeed, the scale and scope of presentations seem enhanced in this year’s initiative.
Chasing My Mamet Duck by Evam, Chaos Theory — a stand-up comedy-act by Anuvab Pal — by Rage, Rafta Rafta by Akvarious and Topi by Storyteller are pinned-up as the primary attractions of this ongoing rendition-roster.
“Lifestage is an innovative format which combines both contemporary plays from other metro-cities plus backing and bolstering the home-grown talents per se. In this way, we pledge to offer a delightful ensemble to the culturally conscious and the astute audiences of Kolkata. We have inducted a couple of plays into our kitty with a judicious mix of languages in the content and dialogues, this time. We aim to expand our horizons and include more of Hindi as well as regional plays into our future editions. An emphasis will be put on the diverse tongues prevalent in other provinces of India along with the nationally acclaimed English theatre groups and the state-specific Bengali natya-goshthis (theatre-groups). The stage is only set and we are still taking baby steps to thrive into a broader canvas, growing from strength to strength, every year,” corroborates P.D. Sarma, CEO, Bharti Airtel (West Bengal and Orissa telecom circles).
Rage Productions’ Chaos Theory is an offbeat play directed by Rahul da Cunha and written by Anuvab Pal.
The cast comprises of an impressive pack with the likes of Anahita Uberoi, Shaana Levy, Sohrab Ardeshir and Zafar Karachiwala.
“It’s really great to be a part of this well-planned theatre festival that this ‘city of joy’ is hosting. To me, Kolkata has always been a happy house of a thickly populated rich English-speaking race. This segment can comfortably be paraded as a prospective circle of avid watchers and serious takers for the English theatre religiously. See, there’s a tangible presence of a vibrant English theatre scene in this part of the country. If we can tap into this market and sell our repertoire of productions, thus making it more commercially viable, then nothing like it,” shares ace theatre practitioner and Hindi film actor Rajit Kapoor.
To a proposal about Bengal’s theatre to be showcased upon the Marathi stage or to the Mumbai audience, Kapoor instantly quips, “Why not? We’ll be really elated to welcome all within our limited fold, because our vision is broader beyond the apparent physical capacity. Come and join us in this theatrical movement. We need more such applications and several play entries from the willing participants.”
Dabbling in the stand-up comedy genre, though as a producer in Case Theory, Kapoor comments, that “the choice lies in the audience-hands to choose the menu. It is upto them to decide if they’d want to taste a toilet humour or opt for some slapstick dose of comedy or harp upon the streaks of black humour or remain satisfied with bitter-sweet satirical jibes. Fact is, stand-up comedy is no alien to the viewers’ sphere as it has already invaded India’s common-homes installed with the cable TVs.”

I mean, a fusillade of reality shows churning out a circus of stand-up acts has long inundated the satellite channels on a daily basis. Look earlier, the cricket fields were kept less crowded and clean on the edges of boundaries. But now you have a clutch of hoardings, caught frequently on the camera, everytime a batsman hits a sixer or a boundary. So more is seen and much is exposed at present. The visual power has been magnified by many degrees. And we can’t ignore that but grab it with outstretched arms.”