Play Review: Kathgodam Express by Behroopiya Entertainers

A guy on the run from the law for a crime he did not commit. This sounds like a very common plot. This is the theme of the play “Kathogodam Express” which is based on “39 Steps” and English classical movies hailed as one of the best Hollywood has ever produced. Theatre is just not about the story, it’s about how it is presented. The play is about Hari, an event manager, accidentally framed for murder, becomes a fugitive running from the long arm of the law. As he unravels, global conspiracies are exposed, and hidden truths of modern existence revealed. What differentiates this play from others is the fast pace, the multiple roles played by a single actor. Karan Mann did a brilliant job playing very different characters which were different not just in the role they were playing but the body language, dialect and personality. He switched between the various characters brilliantly keeping the audiences in splits in all his roles. Ritu Mago as the ‘spy who gets killed’ plays her role as spy-seductress with aplomb. Udit Ohri, playing the protagonist did a good job but the fast pace and quick changes between scenes did not allow for long scenes which really bring out the best in an actor. The entire team did a good job in switching between the scenes and sets though I wish they could’ve reduced the number of acts by combining them. It gets a little overwhelming. You will be laughing through several scenes but some acts could’ve been better script wise.  One message we get at the end of the play is that it is made from the heart to bring awareness for autism.

Written and Directed By : Shivani Singh

Produced By: Mudita Sharma Mehta, Rishi Mehta for Behroopiya Entertainers.

Cast : Nancy Arora, Ritu Mago, Gurinder Singh, Udit Ohri, Sonu Sonkar, Karan Maan, Deepak Yadav, Ritesh Kumar Vdy, Amit Verma

Play Review: SHE by Curtail Call Productions & Events and Behroopiya Entertainers

Plight of women in our society is well known. Some are the cause of it, some accept it exists, many have accepted it and very few want to change it.

 “She” is an original play which is a compilation of monologues surrounding current women’s issues. The script is fresh and written by Debontika Das. The script is the strength of the play. The monologues create a surreal experience about real problems women face these days – rapes, domestic violence and honor killings. With classical and contemporary symphonies, the audiences are taken through the journey of pain a woman goes through when she becomes target of crimes. I had goose bumps as soon as the play started with three figures – dressed what seemed like angels of death came on stage. Wounded angels, wounded as much by an indifferent, judgmental society as by the criminals who changed their entire life. Sonamm Sharma, whom I have seen in “Medea” proves her mettle as an actress portraying a strong character with strong dialogue delivery and loud body gestures. You can feel the anger deep within the character. Then comes Shibani Bedi, whom I have seen in “No experience in theatre required”, as a helpless victim of domestic violence. She creates real scenes with just her dialogues and you can feel the scenes of injustice happening in front of your eyes created by her monologue and dramatic actions performed in the background by the other two actresses. One could see the helplessness in her eyes and her body. Then comes Aarti Nayar, victim of another evil of our society – “Honor killings” – where hate overpowers love and society’s obsession with their idea of right clouds all logic. She did a great job but I wish the role was given a little bit more time for the character to develop and the problem to be highlighted. Overall, the three main elements, which make for a great play, come together –  direction, script and the acting.

I personally feel that while lots of people are talking about the problem faced by women, very few offer a solution. Neither does this play. I wish the characters, could talk about what changes need to be brought into the society to reduce such incidents of crime against women. It is a pretty intense play. Not for your light hearted evening out with family.

Presented by: CurtainCall Productions and Events. and Behroopiya Entertainers

Conceptualised by: White Noise Productions

Written & Directed by: Pallav S Chander & Debontika Das

Production: Vishesh Arora 

Cast
Aarti Nayar
Sonamm Sharma
Shibani Bedi

Play Review: OOPS! by Kailvalya Plays

I had two special reasons to watch this play and boy, was I happy I saw it. First reason, in the past I have seen a play by Asmita based on the same story "Death of an Anarchist", so I wanted to see how different directors adapt the same play, differently. Seconds reason was the protagonist of the play. I and Aakash were batchmates during our TCTS (Theatre for change, Theatre for society) by Asmita theatre group in 2011. Since then he has been actively involved with his college's theatre group and I wanted to see his work having attended theatre classes with him

Nobel Laureate Dario Fo wrote "Accidental death of an Anarchist" back in 1970 and since then it has been adapted and performed all over the world. The play was inspired by the death of Giuseppe Pinelli, a railroad worker who died after falling from fourth floor of a Milan police station.

It not only takes a good writer but great actors to send people into splits while bringing to notice a serious and important issue of police atrocities. All characters have been adapted well to an Indian situation by giving them certain amount of quirkiness Indians would relate with - be it SP Subhramanian Vallapattu (played by Ashish Dha) with a strong and beautifully executed South Indian accent or hawaldar Harpal Singh Cheema (played by Ratana Sambhav) who has more enthusiasm than brains or control on his tongue or SP's chamcha Insp. Rohtas Choudhary (played by Rupseh Sharma). The play however belongs to "The mad man", the central character played with aplomb by Aakash Gupta. While it might seem I am a little biased while looking at his work, but the rest of the audience who went into applause and splitting laughter were not. Right from the brief pauses in dialogue delivery to the energetic body language and the eye expression, he has delivered an incredible performance. The character is a clinically insane but decides to "investigate" the death of the social worker by posing as a judge. Curtain raiser is "the mad man" interacting with the audience like a stand up comedian. Each actor has given their heart and soul to their characters. I wish though that  character of the reporter, Meenakshi Dutta (played by Riya Singh) was given a little bit more stage time to develop the character and to give it some depth.  The ending is different in this adaptation compared to two alternative endings in the original writing. Watch it to know it. No spoilers here.

The play is fast paced and energetic through out, with both verbal and physical humour without getting slapstick. Kaivalya Plays have adapted it very differently than Asmita. Both are enjoyable but you walk away feeling differently. In this one, you would be carrying back a big smile on your face. 

I would highly recommend this play to anyone who wishes to see a left vs right debate laced with humour or anyone looking for a classic comedy.

Play By: Kaivalya Plays

Cast of the play:

Madman: Aakash Gupta

SP Subhramanian Vallapattu: Ashish Dha

Inspector Rohtas Choudhary: Rupesh Sharma

Inspector Sunil Yadav: Piyush Kumar

Constable Harpal Singh Cheema: Ratana Sambhav

Meenakshi Dutta: Riya Singh

Play Directed and adapted by: Shrishti Gupta and Karanjot Singh

Play Review: No Experience of theatre required by Turquoise Palette

A motivational speaker once said “Never let inexperience get in way of your ambition”. While it makes a lot of sense and is motivating but it can spell disaster in wrong hands. The play depicts such a disaster perfectly.  The result of having an inexperienced, overconfident director putting up a play with self absorbed and eccentric nincompoop of a cast will drive audiences to the limit of their patience and have them demand refund. Do not worry, I am not talking about this play but about the play within this play. Confused? I did not demand my money back because I could barely stop laughing through the entire play. The play takes you through the process and the end result of couple of crazy people, with IQ as low as our economic growth rate, coming together and trying and create a theatrical masterpiece. The play begins with the said play being performed in front of the audience but then suddenly everyone starts to improvise resulting in a classical greek tragedy looking like comedy of errors. The entire cast has fit to their role like a well fitted glove but the play belongs to Shibani Bedi – the recovered (or has she) mentally unstable Punjabi girl who brings her Punjabi flavor to Medea’s role. There were moments when she sent the audience in splits even with her mere body language without even saying a word.

The Akshara theatre was a perfect setting for the play as there is no dead spot in the stage at anytime. Actors keep performing their acts in the background with as much zest as the performer in focus. The small stage helped audience capture all that is going on the stage. Not only was the script hilarious, the delivery by every actor was spot on. Adhiraj Sharma needs a special mention too playing an over-confident, self absorbed, inexperienced, talentless actor. All characters get into character to get out of it. Arun Prakash delivers a phenomenal performance as the inexperienced Director, whose English would make the Queen laugh rather than feel offended.

What makes the play ironic is the fact that it is actually the first play written, directed and music composed by Pallav Chander and newly formed Turquoise Palette. Let’s see what other colors this palette has. However, while this might be the first time he wore director’s shoes, he is no newbie to the theatre scene and it shows with the attention to detail and the engaging screenplay.

I highly recommend this play. It was by close friend’s birthday and I took him there and he said it is the best birthday he could’ve had. So, do catch it the next time. Don’t miss it. I won’t.

Production By: Turquoise Palette

Written, Directed and Music By: Pallav Chander

Lights by: Vinimay

Cast:

Director: Arun Prakash

Hades: Adhiraj Sharma

Aphrodite: Shibani Bedi

Zeus: Shekhar Murugan

Psoidon: Nand Chopra

Dancer: Shivani Nagar

Let Zip: Varoon P Anand

Choreographer: Dimple Kaur

Guruji: Harish

Veteran Guest: Sarthak Mattoo

Assistant: Subhashani/ Debontika

MEDEA by Saanjha Sapna

When was the last play you saw, written? 10 years ago? 20 years ago? 100 years ago? How about 2400 years ago? Medea is a classic ancient Greek Tragedy written by Euripides in 431 BC.

“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” can describe this play in one line. The play tells the story of Medea who has been betrayed by her husband, Jason who has taken fancy of the king Creon’s daughter, Glauce. Fearing his daughter’s safety and disruption of her marriage to Jason, king orders Medea to be sent into exile. However, she pleads for one day’s delay and she uses it to extract her revenge on everyone involved.

                                Pic Source: Saanjha Sapna FB Page

Directed by Kanchan Ujjal Singh, this play might not appeal to all. Sonamm Sharma, playing the role of Medea, gets to depth of character’s grief and brings out the deepest emotions of her grief, vengeance and anger. This play is true drama with script being expressed with just not the mouth but with hands, eyes and the whole body. There is no place for satire, humor or even a mild joke in a greek tragedy. Only emotions the characters know are anger and envy. Performances are done with conviction and energy. I think however, a little bit of more practice and coordination could improve the presentation. The one I saw was their very first performance and having met the cast, I know they are working on it. While the story is told in many forms several times, the emotions explored are very complex.

                                Pic Source: Saanjha Sapna FB Page

Cast:

Sonamm Sharma

Adhiraj Sharma

Tushar Dhaundiyal

Pallav Chander

Varoon P.Anand

Dimple kaur

Nitika Arora

Devyani sharma

Directed by Kanchan Ujjal Singh

Play Review: "Between the Lines" by Nandita Das

About the play:

Language: Hinglish

Directed by: Nandita Das

Written by: Nandita Das and Divya Jagdale

Cast:

Maya: Nandita Das

Shekhar: Subodh Maskara

Kavita: Nandita Das

Mukesh: Subodh Maskara

Due to busy few weekends, I had not been able to see a play. When I was casually checking the play listings for the weekend, I saw “Between the lines” Written, Directed and Acted by Nandita Das, I had to see it. Venue was FICCI Auditorium - venue I like. Thanks to some ‘auspicious day’ there were like a million weddings in Delhi on that day and it took me about 75 mins instead of usual 40-45 mins and hence I missed the first 5 mins of the play but atleast I got the tickets.

“Between the lines” primarily is a play in form of conversations between an urban, well-educated, upper middle class couple. It talks about the issue of gender inequality – the obvious and the subtle forms of it. Shekhar (played by Subodh Maskara – Nandita Das’ husband) is a successful and famous lawyer and Maya (Nandita Das), a college gold medalist who is getting back to her professional life after a 14 year gap. They have recently sent their son to boarding school, giving her a chance to pursue her career. The first case she takes up is defense counsel for Kavita, a woman who has shot her husband - who survives. Coincidentally, Mukesh accepts the case representing the husband as a favor to an influential person who has helped him in the past. Now starts the war of the genders. Maya develops compassion for Kavita, the accused who has actually shot her husband. The reasons for the shooting unfold but looking at Kavita and her situation, Maya starts to question her own identity as an independent woman and the subtle inequalities between a man and woman start to bother her. This becomes a reason for debate between her and her husband. These debates are thought provoking without being loud or aggressive. While at one end they talk about couples like Mukesh and Kavita where there is domestic violence – a clear case of women rights and inequality at the other end are Mukesh and Maya – an urban well educated couple where the husband fell in love with his wife because of her intellect and strong personality and supports her decision to start working. Nandita Das fits the strong personality of Maya perfectly and for few scenes plays the role of Kavita – the timid and scared lady for whom domestic violence is part and parcel of a marriage. Talking to the audience after the play, Nandita said that half of the play came from their own conversations at home. It is easy to talk about inequality when it is very evident – cases of domestic violence, women not being allowed access to education or opportunity to work. But the society which has been patriarchal for several centuries has infused subtle sexist behavior in both men and women. Maya questions her own habit of selecting the smaller piece of cake between her and husband. “Why are you blaming me for taking the bigger piece if you were to select the smaller piece anyways?”. But why does she always pick the smaller piece? These are the kind of questions this play raises.

This play works well primarily because of the chemistry between the two actors. It is like they have placed seats around their real life living room and charging you to watch them debate. There are productions which take up serious social evils related to child abuse, domestic violence, dowry deaths and others. After seeing those, you become a little sad. But you feel helpless that you are not able to do anything about it. Best we can think of is go for a candle march or donate to an NGO. “Between the lines” addresses an issue which is not as evil as those but people (readers of this blog) would be able to relate to personally and can actually take steps to change (if they want to). Is a liberal and modern man as modern as he thinks he is? To know the answer go and catch this play when it’s up next in your city. 

In conclusion, “Between the lines” is a well written, beautifully performed engaging debate without being overbearing or loud. Must watch for Nandita Das fans. 

Play Review: Candida

·         Director : Vishesh Arora

·         Writer : George Bernard Shaw

·         Duration : 1 hr 15 mins

·         Genre : Drama ( Romantic Comedy)

Miss Proserpine Garnett played by Lovelinna Sharma
The Reverend James Mavor Morell played by Sarthak Mattoo
The Reverend Alexander (Lexy) Mill played by Nihaal Parashar
Mr Burgess played by Adhiraja
Candida played by Shivani Nagar,
Eugene Marchbanks played by Shivam Khanna

Written by the Irish Playwright George Bernard Shaw (Also the Co-founder of London School of Economics), the story involves Candida, wife of a Clergyman (Reverend James). Candida (falls in love with a youthful poet, Eugene March banks, who try to win Candida.  The story gets complicated when Candida has to choose between her husband and the Poet. The play questions Love, marriage, desires and the sacrifices a women makes. The script is crisp and has the flavor of Bernard’s writing rich with sarcastic humor on society, people behavior, relationships. There has been numerous adaptation of the play worldwide, attaining the claim of ‘Romantic-Comedy’ or Rom-coms

But what happens when a Indian Actors try to do a Classic English play (with Indian Accent) set in Early 1980. Yes you got it right utter chaos.

Lesser known Curtain Call Productions performed this Play in Delhi In Alliance Francaise In July 2013).

The director of the play took the script as-is from Bernard Shaw writing. There are a number of instances James makes his socialist remarks about the state of affairs (which unfortunately go over the head for most Non-Economic People unrelated to the economic scenario of 1890 British Era). There is an intense scene between the poet Eugene and James where the poet confesses his love for his wife. The overall plot when portrayed looks similar to a Bollywood masala having a love triangle.  The actors transition from a perfect brit to Indian accent which looks ridiculous.

Candida played by Shivani Nagar was the saving grace as she kept her character throughout the play. The others were too fast in their delivery of dialogues and wanted to leave the stage.Overall the play was average, with the humor element scattered in bits.