Theatrical Production

It is a celebration of theatre and everything it represents. With a wide array of theatrical productions from all over the country, it is the main section of the festival programme.

Margazhi

18 December 2022
9:00 pm

Script, Design and Direction: V Balakrishnan

The play traces the life of a Bharatanatyam dancer and the turmoil of the exploitative culture that dictates the quest for dancers to achieve awards, accolades, scholarships and worthy stages to perform on. Vaidehi, an accomplished dancer, realises that her accomplishments and hard work are not enough to enter the big league, where foreign junkets, major festivals and awards are all for sale. She faces the conundrum of striking a deal for what she rightly deserves against being relegated to oblivion like many other dancers like her in the past.

Cast : Preethi Bharadwaj, Shakthi, Karthik Gowrishankar, Shivangi Singh, Aparna Kumar, Niveditha V, Sai Swasthika, Farha Sultana and Meera Sitaraman.

Crew : M Sivanesan and HariHaran

Dararen

18 December 2022
4:00 pm

Directed by Vikas Bahari Prism Theatre Society, Delh

Synopsis:
Many a times you have to cut a finger to save the hand.
But the real chaos starts when one cannot decide which
finger to sacrifice. Crisis brings out the best and worst
within all of us. We either succumb to circumstantial
crisis or we make crisis a ladder.
A typical Indian family is struggling to make ends meet.
Everyday arguments and taunts to each other turns
into a mysterious drama when there is a robbery in the
house. While there are many suspects from outside the
family. But there is more to this than what meets the
eye. Do you have the sherlocks instinct in you to figure
out, who created the mess? Is there anyone inside the
house who could be involved?

Cast & Credits:
On-stage:
Vijay Rajoria, Manisha, Ginny Babbar, Kapil Pal,
Tanu Suneja, Enab Khizra, Jatin Sharma,
Raj Tanwar, Anoop Gosian, Sudhir Kumar

Off StageMusic operation – Sidharth Verma
Lights operation – Vikas Bahari / Md. Azhar Khan
Props – Amandeep
Set – Adnan Kohli

When Things Fall Apart : A tale of lost souls from the Mahabharata

18th December 2021, Saturday
7:00 PM

Play, Design, Direction : Gowri Ramnarayan

A reluctant wife and mother. An exacting husband and father. A wayward child. And a war to end all wars.

We all know the story of Drona–veteran of the military arts, guru to the royal Kuru clan–in the Mahabharata. His rage against faithless friend King Drupada, his adoration of prize student Arjuna, his silence during Pandava queen Draupadi’s public disrobing after her royal husband loses a fateful game of dice, his decision to stay with the unrighteous Kauravas when the noble Pandavas are exiled, his ignominious role on the battlefield – these are all the stuff of epic.

But who exactly is this Drona? What drives a self-made warrior, teacher, and statesman to do great and terrible things by turn? What about Drona’s wife Kripi? His son Ashwatthama? How do they handle Drona’s rise to fame and power in a treacherous, terrifying world in which they do not belong?

These questions haunt JustUs Repertory’s When Things Fall Apart, an original play in English written by Gowri Ramnarayan about a triumvirate of lost souls in a crumbling cosmos. Drona, Kripi, and Aswatthama are torn apart, and within, by the same forces that shatter their world and ours: jealousy, greed, intolerance and lust for power.

CAST & CREW :-

Actors: V Balakrishnan, Akhila Ramnarayan, Uma Satyanarayanan

Music Composed and played by Praveen Sparsh & Shreya Devnath

Lights : B Charles

Soul

18th December 2021, Saturday
9:00 PM

Directed by Sunil Shanbag

An evening of music that provokes, challenges and elevates. Mumbai’smost talented theatre actors and musicians explore contemporaryrendering of music from the Bhakti and Sufi traditions in live performance

Cast & Crew : Ketaki Thatte, Jahnvi Shrimanka, Avantika Ganguly,Kailash Waghmare, Rohit Das, Tushar Kadam, Yashashree Uchil

Railgaadi Kaison Sundar

19th December 2021, Sunday
6:00 PM

Directed and written by Ajitesh Gupta

When does a home become a cage? What is the point of desperation at which a little girl born in this cage is driven to bolt away from it? And is there a guarantee that she will not land up in another cage?This is the story of a little girl Bina whose spirit claws at the conventions that permit her brothers a free open reign across the fields of the Earth and her only that much soil that makes up her home.This play is set against the British run tea plantations of the 19th century, and the intricate network of railways that would ferry the labourers to these plantations making them bonded slaves of the empire. The production weaves in folk songs of eastern India into Bina’s story performed in the form of Qissa Goi.

Performed by Ajitesh Gupta, Shimlli Basu, Aishwarya Pagare

RAM

19th December 2021, Sunday
8:00 PM

Writer & Director : Makarand Deshpande

A mad man is thrown out of the temple, in rage he proclaims RAM has come out of the temple to meet him. A hawaldar ( policeman ) confronts the madman and his beliefs of Ram’s existence. Madman’s answers shock even the Ramleela actors who witness the finale

CAST : Makarand Deshpande, Nagesh Bhosale, Aakanksha Gade, Ajay Kamble, Ankit Mhatre, Anvay Ashtivkar, Ajinkya parkar, Aniket Bhoir, Bharat More, Purva Phadake, Madhuri Gawli, Ankit Mishra.

MUSIC : Shailendra Barve & Yash Khade

Lights : Amogh Phadake

Writer & Director : Makarand Deshpande

Assistant Director : Ninad Limaye

Backstage : Devashish Bharvade, Milloni Kapadia, Rajiv Deshpande.