Ji Saab Ji, Ibsen coming to Delhi stage

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IT SEEMS THAT Henrik Ibsen has become the trend of the season with the Dramatic Art and Design Academy (DADA) organising second festival on the master playwright within three months. In collaboration with the Norwegian embassy, DADA is exploring Ibsen in the context of folklores and various performing traditions during the Delhi Ibsen Festival opening on November 30.
The curtains rise with Ibsen’s unfinished opera The Mountain Bird’s adaptation Fjeldfuglen. The libretto, directed by Norwegian-based Lars Oyno, is a story of a young girl who survived plague and lived alone in the entire Valley.
Ila Arun’s directorial debut, Mareechika, an adaptation of Lady from the Sea, opens with the background of Rajasthani folk setting on December 1 and 2. Ila is using nat-nati style traditional storytellers who use phad, a painted scroll, to showcase her narrative. “I chose Lady from the Sea because she had a potential to be a ‘lady from the desert’. I want to transport the work of the legend playwright to the local folks of Rajasthan. At the same time, I wanted to introduce a new dialect to other audiences,” says Ila. Mareechika begins with balladeers Bhopa and Bhopi discovering new phad called Ibsenji ki phad.
Director Deepan Sivaraman, whose play Peer Gynt is scheduled for December 3, is experimenting with space and style. The loosely adapted Indian version of Peer Gynt takes place in a setting of a mental asylum where God gives second chance to an inmate and becomes curious to see a better version of his troubled life. “I am exploring Ibsen for the first time. He sets a platform for a new dialogue. In my play audience is sitting around the stage and will be part of the show,” says Sivaraman.
Director B. Jayashree has picked up the “Veera Ghaase” folk format to showcase the adaptation of The Master Builder, Balura Gudikara, on December 5. The “Veera Ghaase” style has originated form folklore based on Lord Shiva. In this format, dancers perform with swords in their hands. Tickets of the festival are available at Kamani Auditorium.
When We Dead Awaken by Saulius Antanas Varnas of Lituania and teleplay Mabaou Mines Dollhouse by Lee Breuer of the US are scheduled for December 4 and 6 respectively.
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JI SAAB JI is a play talking about the insensitive era we live in. The play, directed by Lushin Dubey, describes a city immediately after a bomb blast. In the time, when we are living with fear and repercussions of terrorism and violence, Dubey is set to shed light on the set-patterns of systems and our reactions.
A policeman is convinced that a dying old man holds the key to finding the terrorist who has been identified as the mastermind of the blast. The police also summons a young boy who shares a special bond with the old man. But what actually is the young boy supposed to elicit from the old man, when the police itself has no clue what clues the old man holds?
Ultimately, Dubey is planning to highlight the soul of humanity. She wants to take her audiences above the subject of terrorism and explore the enduring bonds of love and friendship, not between similar people, but between seemingly incompatible people.
The music by the members of the Indian Ocean band and choreography of Ashley Lobo Danceworx will definitely set some new stage dynamics with the creative elements of Dubey.