Play Talk
Thanks to the metro and Ma, I have been watching quite a few plays lately. The first one was part of the "Jashnebachpan'' (celebrating childhood) series a Bengali play - Paakhi (The bird) followed by another play by the same group - Duli. Though the plays were by Nandikar - a much celebrated Bengali theatre group - the first one was quite bah. Maybe it did its job well and entertained all under the age of 5 and I was too old to be enchanted by 30 year olds in pigtails pretending to be kids, or maybe the play WAS bad. The sets were "cute", the lil birdy puppets equally cute, but this concept of over acting just cos your audience is primarily pre-teen seems really misplaced and unfair to me. Why not give their intelligence a fair chance. I am sure kids can fully grasp subtler emotions and don't need to be subjected to hysterical weeping and giggles...
Duli, however, more than made up for Pakhi. It was a simple narration by a woman traveling by train, carrying three matkas of milk for her relatives. But the message (we are all part of one big family!) was conveyed so beautifully by the only actor on stage - Sohini Haldar that it made me want to jump on stage and start acting! I've seen Haldar in Aparna Sen's Paromitar Ek Din (intrenationally released as "House of memories") where she played the role of a schizophrenic. Her acting and her voice are so amazingly powerful that you wish she had done more than a few movies.
The other play I watched "Cotton 56 Polyester 84" was at the Prithvi Festival is a hard hitting, and poignantly funny play centred around Girangaon, Mumbai's historical textile mill district. The drama is played out by Kaka and Bhausahab, two mill workers, who spend their days at the local newspaper stand, recounting the past. As they speak a fascinating stream of characters flow past, each adding a new dimension to the story.
Apparently, the script has been arrived at after months of research which involved meeting mill workers, their families, mill land activists, union leaders, attending meetings of committees , presentations by activists before the courts.
The play does much more than giving a real portrayal of fun and banter in relationships, it very play cleverly encapsulates the entire political history of Mumbai - perspective of communists, Shiv Sena, Datta Samant, Congress Party, the arrival of the mafia, and finally, globalisation. Cotton 56 was undoubtedly one of the best plays I ve seen for a while - my first experience of Maratha theatre was really worth it.
But as striking was a simple poetry recitation by Zohra Sehgal, again at the Prithvi fest yesterday. Sehgal recited poetry by Faiz, Kaifi Azmi, Gulzar among others. Actually calling it poetry recitation would be an insult. It was so so much more. Sehgal is a 94 year old theatre and movie actress - who has acted with Prithvi theatre and also with play groups in london. Her eyes and voice is full of such enthusiasm and drama that a simple recitation becomes better than a play. her recitation/enacting of a poem by faiz where a little girl has been forced to go to a temple but her mind is still with her dolls and her doll house was more than amazing...
Incidently I was sitting between Sehgal and Shashi Kapoor for some time and felt thrilled! Two celebrities who have aged so differently...but that's for another day!
Duli, however, more than made up for Pakhi. It was a simple narration by a woman traveling by train, carrying three matkas of milk for her relatives. But the message (we are all part of one big family!) was conveyed so beautifully by the only actor on stage - Sohini Haldar that it made me want to jump on stage and start acting! I've seen Haldar in Aparna Sen's Paromitar Ek Din (intrenationally released as "House of memories") where she played the role of a schizophrenic. Her acting and her voice are so amazingly powerful that you wish she had done more than a few movies.
The other play I watched "Cotton 56 Polyester 84" was at the Prithvi Festival is a hard hitting, and poignantly funny play centred around Girangaon, Mumbai's historical textile mill district. The drama is played out by Kaka and Bhausahab, two mill workers, who spend their days at the local newspaper stand, recounting the past. As they speak a fascinating stream of characters flow past, each adding a new dimension to the story.
Apparently, the script has been arrived at after months of research which involved meeting mill workers, their families, mill land activists, union leaders, attending meetings of committees , presentations by activists before the courts.
The play does much more than giving a real portrayal of fun and banter in relationships, it very play cleverly encapsulates the entire political history of Mumbai - perspective of communists, Shiv Sena, Datta Samant, Congress Party, the arrival of the mafia, and finally, globalisation. Cotton 56 was undoubtedly one of the best plays I ve seen for a while - my first experience of Maratha theatre was really worth it.
But as striking was a simple poetry recitation by Zohra Sehgal, again at the Prithvi fest yesterday. Sehgal recited poetry by Faiz, Kaifi Azmi, Gulzar among others. Actually calling it poetry recitation would be an insult. It was so so much more. Sehgal is a 94 year old theatre and movie actress - who has acted with Prithvi theatre and also with play groups in london. Her eyes and voice is full of such enthusiasm and drama that a simple recitation becomes better than a play. her recitation/enacting of a poem by faiz where a little girl has been forced to go to a temple but her mind is still with her dolls and her doll house was more than amazing...
Incidently I was sitting between Sehgal and Shashi Kapoor for some time and felt thrilled! Two celebrities who have aged so differently...but that's for another day!
posted by Amrita Pande at 4:05 AM
1 Comments:
ooh lucky you!
aged differently eh? that sounds like an interesting post in embryo :)
Post a Comment
<< Home