The Ranga Shankara Theatre Festival is an annual event every October that theatregoers look forward to. This year they have narrowed down to staging plays that are based on real incidents or in real life sketches. “Theatre is said to hold a mirror to nature. It imitates life. Theatre does more than just document, it questions, re-narrates and re-visits incidents in a contemporary setting. Thus bringing another dimension to the incident,” says S Surendranath, the artistic director.
Plays from all over the country are being featured in the festival. For instance, Gajab Kahani, a Hindi play from Pune, is based on an elephant’s journey from Lisbon to Vienna in 1551. Outcaste, from Patna, is the autobiography of author Sharankumar Limbale. Bloody Bombay is a black comedy about the lives of junior artistes in the movie industry, whereas Nomads of Water is about the Chennai floods.
Apart from the plays, they are also hosting a Theatre and Art Appreciation Course with big names such as Sadanand Menon, Rajiv Menon, Atul Dodiya and Bahauddin Dagar. There will also be a Directors' Round Table Discussion featuring directors such as Quasar Thakore Padamsee, Anurupa Roy, Mangala Rao and more. Till November 4. At JP Nagar. Tickets (rs 200 each play) on bookmyshow.com
The theatre group Ventures brings to stage the play, The Flame. The play, by director Susanto Banerjee, is based on Somerset Maugham’s play, The Sacred Flame (1928). The production was originally adapted into Bengali by writer Tirthankar Chanda and then translated into English. The plot revolves around Mrinmoy, who met with an accident soon after his marriage and hence is confined to a wheelchair. The drama soon turns into a mystery as a horrifying discovery is made during the course of the play. Susanto says he chose the play because relationships and their dynamics interest him a lot.
“This story takes the chemistry of intimate relationships to a different level altogether and unveils them through a mystery which makes it all the more interesting. It is extremely well written, grips the audience and involves them easily but intensely.” This show is till October 29, 8 pm and 3 pm at Jagriti Theatre, Whitefield. Tickets
Salaam, Noni Appa, Twinkle Khanna’s novel 'The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad', won many accolades and hearts last year with its feminist tales. One of the stories, Salam, Noni Appa, is now being adapted to stage by director Lillette Dubey. The cast includes Darshan Jariwala, Jayati Bhatia, Meher Dar, and Rishi Khurana. Lillette says the reason she chose The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad is purely because she loves the book,
“Salaam, Noni Appa is written in prose form which is what made it all the more better. I fell in Love with the story after having read it and that is when I decided to ask Twinkle if we could do a play around it. It has a special place in my heart and I am super excited that Bengaluru is the first city where it is going to be presented," she said.
