Spirit of theatre; from North to South

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THOUGH A FILM within a film, a play within a play, or an actress playing an actress on stage or screen is not a unique concept, but it extends a good amount of space for experiments and creativity in the team. Writer and director Sachin Gupta is playing with the “concept of circle within circles” in his show The Play Begins @8pm, based on the story of a passionate theatre artiste and her relationship. The show opens for Mumbai audience at Ravindra Natya Mandir on April 10. TV actress Nausheen Ali Sardar is in a lead role playing theatre artiste Sophia. The play, dedicated to all theatre artistes and appreciates and revolves around Sophia and her friendship with Raymen. Sophia’s dream to promote theatre in a pure form and to get back the lost colours of theatre sets, the backdrop of the show. Gupta, who is a qualified software engineer, wanted the World’s Theatre Day to be an occasion to open his play and pay his tribute to the world of stage. He has written and directed 13 plays, addressing various sensitive and important social issues, even through musicals and comedy productions.

ASMITA IS spreading its wings and flying South in April to unleash its creativity. Director Arvind Gaur’s group is showcasing five plays in a four-day festival for Hyderabad audiences at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Auditorium from April 1. All the plays have been directed by Gaur. Ashok Lal’s Ek Mamooli Aadmi has been scheduled for Day 1. The play highlights features of an urban middle class setting which make the yearning for real happiness. The play also accentuates the contours of a system in which even biological relations are bound to breed loneliness and family becomes fatal to an individual.
Day two shows Operation Three Star is a Hindi adaptation of Dario Fo’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist.
Rajesh Kumar’s Ambedkar aur Gandhi and Mahesh Dattani’s Final Solutions will be showcased on April 3.
Gaur’s adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s Good Person of Schetzuan, Ramkali, will bring down the curtains of the festival.

PLAYWRIGHT, DIRECTOR and actress Vibha Rani opened her new solo Ek Nayi Maneka at Sahitya Akademi in New Delhi on Sunday. The play, based on the story of Ramnika Gupta, was scripted by Rani, who has been felicitated with Mohan Rakesh Samman (2005) and Ladli Media Award (2009).
The production takes audiences to the time when Maneka, the courtesan of Lord Indra, was sent to destroy the meditation of Vishvamitra. In the play, Maneka plans to take a glance of earth before she starts her “Operation Vishvamitra”. In her research, she finds that the earth is full of characters like “Manekas” at hotels, bars, cinemas, TVs and are victims exploitation, torture and biased behaviour.
At the same time she finds women organisations raising voice for their rights and awareness. This sensitises Maneka about the agony of women on earth and she refuses to go to Vishwamitra and even back to Indralok. This new Maneka stays on earth and represents the voice of woman struggling to make space for themselves. Rani is planning to take Ek Nayi Maneka to other cities soon. Her another solo Main Krishna Krishn Ki, which has been received well by the audience, is going to be staged in Chennai in April.