Performance

Venue: Museum Theatre, Egmore, Chennai, 7 p.m.

23rd February 2007

"Romeo and Juliet" in Malayalam by School of Drama, Calicut
Designed and Directed by Thulaseedhara Kurup


24th February

Awishkar, Mumbai's presentation of "Jungle Me Mangal" - Marathi adaptation in Tamasha form of Shakespeare's "Mid Summer Night's dream
Marathi adaptation by Alok Paranjape
Directed by Chetan Datar
Produced by Arun Kadade
With a cast of twenty seven artists.

Jungle me mangal is a creative adaptation of Shakespeare's famous comedy "Mid Summer Night's Dream". It has been adapted in Tamasha folk form of Maharashtra and to add a zing, there is a surprise element of cross casting which underlines the fantasy aspect of the play.
   One fine morning "Saguna" elopes with her lover "Sarjerao" to avoid a forced marriage arranged by her father. Bajirao her another suitor follows her and to add to confusion a fairy and her jing bang joins them in a jungle and there unfolds, a humorous drama of errors.


25th February 2007

The Magic Hour in Khelkali
By Arjun Raina and Monica Singh

A performance in magic realism through dance theatre combining two stories of William Shakespeare - 'Othello' and 'A Mid Summer Night's Dream' with scenes from Kathakali stories, the classical dance drama from Kerala, India, KhelKali uses the elaborate costume, music, songs, dance and theatricality of Kathakali, a 16th century dance theatre form and combines it with spoken and enacted texts and scenes from Shakespeare.
   Through innovative theatrical devices, KhelKali helps the audience enter into a spectacular world of medieval Indian Theatre. It uses the story of Oberon and Titania's fight over a little Indian boy in Shakespeare's 'A Mid Summer Night's Dream' as a basis to talk about the post colonial experience.
   50 years after India's independence from 200 years of British rule, the performing of Shakespeare by an Indian actor is full of potential for both personal as well as political comment. KhelKali is an exploration of these two different spaces, an attempt to combine old beauty with contemporary reality.