The magic of womanhood is set to have the Delhi audiences spellbound with director Amal Allana showcasing her productions, Nati Binodini and Erendira. Sponsored by the department of art, culture and language of Delhi government, the productions are scheduled to be staged on October 5 and 10 at the LTG auditorium at 7 pm. Erendira is an intercultural encounter between Latin America and India. It narrates the journey of a grandmother and her exploited granddaughter across the deserts of Rajasthan. Allana tries to reinvent Spanish writer Gabriel García Márquez in Rajasthani and Hindi dialect. With dance, music, masks and storytelling traditions of India, Erendira appears as a carnival that celebrates the act of freedom. Nati Binodini is based on the autobiography of Binodini, one of the earliest documents by an Indian woman, that describes her coming into public life and having the courage to assert her independence. A prostitute by birth, Binodini was one of the first women actors to walk the boards of the public stage in Kolkata, rising to become one its most successful stars. The role of Binodini has been played by five actresses simultaneously. It draws its visual imagery from the naive Kalighat Bazaar paintings of the period and the popular stage music of that time has been especially recreated as the score.
Prerna, a Patna-based theatre group, organised a theatre festival to mark the birth anniversary of Bhagat Singh. The four-day festival showcased both nukkad and stage plays. The event started with Khojat Bhaye Adhed, a play written and directed by Hasan Imam, focusing on the lack of religious sensibility. Imam’s another play, Mr Bulldozer, was based on the plight of displaced slum residents. Other two nukkad plays, Gaddhe and Machine, were presented by Abhiyan, also a Patna-based theatre group. Gaddhe is a satirical presentation of the indifferent attitude humans live with. Safdar Hashmi’s Machine and Sharad Joshi’s Ik tha Gadha were also part of the celebration.
Ms Meena, an English language play directed by Rajiv Krishnan of Chennai-based Perch, will be showcased at Bengaluru’s Rangshankara on October, 1, 2 and 3. Ms Meena is a story of an iconic film start who returns to her village to make her final film. Her arrival is greeted with immense excitement and hope by the villagers living in a dire state of poverty. Meena, as expec-ted by her natives, get ready to make her village a better place to live, but she dema-nds something in return. Her demand raises questions of the human and social values.
vatsala Shrivastava