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It’s the last two shows of BLANK!
Nassim Suleimanpour’s masterpiece ends its run in India with two shows at Prithvi Theatre. On Saturday 10 June, 9:00pm Jerry Pinto performs the show and on Sunday 11 June, 8:00pm, Freishia Bomanbehram joins the story machine.
After the successful start to the season, two new Aadyam plays come to the city this month. The first is Purva Naresh’s Bandish 20-20000 Hz which opened in Delhi last month. It plays at the NCPA: JBT on Saturday 17 June and Sunday 18 June. The second big premiere is Nadir Khan’s Anand Express with a fresh cast and lingo. Catch the opening run at the St. Andrews Auditorium on Saturday 24 June and Sunday 25 June.
Naseeruddin Shah’s Riding Madly Off In All Directions plays at NCPA: JBT at 7:00pm on Saturday 17 June. The play that opened at Tata Lit Live is based on the writings of Stephen Smorgasbord and famously stars the five Shahs.
Also returning this month is NCPA’s popular magnum opus - Mughal-E-Azam. The show boasts of technical expertise from Broadway and a magical (and also original) score. Their run run this month starts Saturday 24 June and has a show everyday till the Sunday 2 July.
Among other shows to watch out for is Saat Teri Ekvees, a collection of Gujarati monologues all written by journalists and performed by women on June 17 and 18 at NCPA: Experimental. This is the second round of an experiment that first happened in 2008.
Prithvi plays Nagn Nagin Aur Shrota Tota, a satirical courtroom comedy on Thursday 8 June. A girl looses her hand on the third day of her first job. The lost hand - that can not speak, is fighting a case against people who have learnt the art of manipulation for centuries.
Na Aagey Naath, Na Pichey Pagaah at Studio Tamasha on Friday 30 June features young actors bringing Hindi literature to life. The actors are all alumni of The Drama School, Mumbai and the writings are by Vinod Kumar Shukla, Kedarnath Singh, Chandrakant Devtale, Manohar Chamoli, Vimal Chandra Pandey etc
Tell us which ones you catch!
May is here! And you all know what that means right? Young ones will be flocking to theatre spaces around the city for some theatre fun. To know what's in store for the little folk this summer, you can head here.
But don't for a second think that this means there's nothing for the elders! Some exciting premieres, classics, experiments - it's all here!
The favorite from last year's Thespo - Bhanvar - is back and this time at NCPA Experimental! If you haven't caught it yet, don't miss it now. And if you have, we're sure you wouldn't want to pass on another watch! 6:30pm on Tuesday, May 9.
Aadyam kicks for yet another season, and this time the line-up isn't just proscenium plays. The two opening plays for the season are both black box plays and they open at the G5A Foundation.
The first, Guards At The Taj is set in 1648 and is a fictional take on a conversation of the title characters, the first morning after the monument has been completely built. It stars Vrajesh Hirjee and Joy Fernandes.
The shows are scheduled at 7:30pm on May 3, May 4, May 5 and at 4:00pm and 7:30pm on May 6, May 7.
The next, Gajab Kahani is the story of the first elephant that was taken to Europe in 1551, where nobody had seen an elephant before! The play has been directed by Mohit Takalkar, and has an ensemble cast led by Geetanjali Kulkarni.
The shows are scheduled at 7:30pm on May 24, May 25, May 26 and at 4:00pm and 7:30pm on May 21, May 27 and May 28.
NCPA: Tata Theatre plays host to the return of A Walk In The Woods directed by Ratna Pathak Shah and starring the legends Naseeruddin Shah and Rajit Kapur. Catch it at 7:00pm on Saturday, May 6.
As a part of Zee's newest theatre initiative, Mita Vashisht dons the role of Bai Saheb in P. L. Mayekar's Agnipankh, set in a Brahmin household against the backdrop of the Gandhi assassination. You can watch it at 7:30pm on Sunday, May 7.
Prithvi Theatre has a great start to the month with eleven plays by IPTA in seven days!
Here's the list:
Welcome to April!
We have a busy beginning to the month.
Arghya Lahiri’s masterpiece Wildtrack is back, this time at Sitara Studios on Sat 08 Apr. Nassim Suleimanpore’s work of art, Blank will be performed at the same venue on Sun 09 Apr by Tushar Pandey and Ramona Arena at 05:00 PM and 8:00 PM respectively.
The month may start on fool’s day, but theatrewaalas in the city are running no fool’s errand! On the very first day of the month, we are spoilt for choice with no less than four exciting plays happening across the city!
A brand new play about unravelling relationships, and the efforts to save them!
Directed by Divya Jagdale and written by Shiv Subrahmanyum, Toxic also explores the idea of fresh beginnings and ‘how attraction and love square off against fidelity and guilt.’
Where? Theatre’s new favourite haunt, Harkat Studios
When? Sat 01 Apr, 07:30 PM
A tale in Hindi about love, longing, gossip and a village where nothing makes sense!
While primarily a student production by the Drama School, Mumbai, The Mule’s Foal has been helmed by Puja Sarup and Sheena Khalid. It is a hilarious adaptation of a novel by Fontini Epanomitis and promises two acts full of laughter, entertainment and some food for thought!
Where? The Black Box at Mumbai Marathi Sahitya Sangh
When? Sat 01 Apr, 07:00 PM
Sat 08 Apr, 07:00 PM
Sat 15 Apr, 07:00 PM
Sun 16 Apr, 07:00 PM
The Vagina Monologues, and with Guest Stars.
The legendary production completes 15 years of shows with its evergreen cast and a few special guests. Apart from its usual run at the Canvas Club, it will kick off the month at Prithvi Theatre as a part of the ONE BILLION RISING movement to end violence against women.
The shows are scheduled as follows:
Sat 01 Apr, 05:00 PM - Swara Bhaskar
Sat 01 Apr, 07:00 PM - Manasi Scott
Sat 01 Apr, 09:00 PM - Sid Makkar
Sun 02 Apr, 03:00 PM - Alankrita Shrivastava
Sun 02 Apr, 05:00 PM - Kamalika Guha-Thakurta
Sun 02 Apr, 07:00 PM - Naseeruddin Shah
Sun 02 Apr, 09:00 PM - Malishka Mendonsa (in Hindi)
A Musical about Mahatma Gandhi
“The musical extravaganza boasts of over 14 original songs and 10 choreographed dance sequences, spanning across a multitude of genres.” states an article in Mumbai Mirror. Watch, croon and swoon to the lifestory of the Father of the Nation in Gandhi- The Musical.
Where? Jamshed Bhabha Theatre: NCPA
When?
Sat 01 Apr, 07:30 PM
Sun 02 Apr, 07:30 PM
Fri 07 Apr, 07:30 PM
Sat 08 Apr, 07:30 PM
That is not all. The Giants of theatre in the city are here with their newest bests.
Nadir Khan’s intriguing courtroom drama that premiered at Aadyam last year, Twelve Angry Jurors also returns after quite a while this month.
Where? St. Andrews Auditorium
When? Sun 02 Apr, 07:30 PM
A whirlwind of conflicting questions of truth, reality and belief is Saurabh Shukla’s Barff. The gripping hindi thriller is all set to return to the city after a long hiatus.
Where? Prithvi Theatre
When? Thu 06 Apr, 06:00 PM & 09:00 PM and Fri 07 Apr, 06:00 PM
A fresh Hindi romcom is aRanya’s ‘Chuhal’, written and directed by AND starring the multifaceted Manav Kaul with an equally great cast.
Where? Prithvi Theatre
When? Sat 08 Apr, 05:00 PM
Akarsh Khurna tackles Workplace politics in the META winner ‘Dhumrapaan’, a comedy about the rat race with a very exciting ensemble.
Where? Experimental Theatre: NCPA
When? Sun 16 Apr, 07:00 PM
It is a great month for stories from Hindu Mythology on the stage. It is also a recurring theme in the two plays by Adishakti that grace the city.
Arjuna’s year in the guise of a woman looks at the consequences that accompany the dissolution of all rigid binary oppositions in Brhannala.
Where? Prithvi Theatre
When? Sat 15 Apr, 06:00 PM & 09:00 PM
Nine heads of Ravana make the final one feel left out in a story of conformity, compliance, aesthetics and more, The Tenth Head.
Where? Prithvi Theatre
When? Sun 16 Apr, 06:00 PM & 09:00 PM
The Story of the In-betweens - Shikhandi - which boasts of a stellar cast and vibrant stage design opened to an extremely positive response at NCPA last month. Directed by Faezeh Jalali, this unique production is performed in the round.
Where? NCPA: Experimental Theatre
When? Sat 29 Apr, 08:00 PM and Sun 30 Apr, 04:00 PM & 08:00 PM
A king is forced to keep turning into a woman and back. Puja Sarup and Sheena Khalid’s Ila is an interesting take on gender in modern times and a mythological era as the story jumps between cursed forests and a crowded local train. A stunning piece, it makes you laugh till your gut hurts, but also takes you on a thoughtful journey.
Where? The Cuckoo Club, Bandra
When?
Fri 28 Apr, 08:00 PM
Sat 29 Apr, 07:00 PM
Sun 30 Apr, 07:00 PM
Another exciting month with so much to watch! Don’t forget to tell us what you chose and tell us what we missed. See you in May!
The new year is just whizzing past and we are already in the third month! But fret not, because there’s nothing better than theatre to help you slow down and chill!
The newly rediscovered Sitara plays host to not one but three shows of White Rabbit Red Rabbit in English, Marathi and Hindi on the 26th. Curious about who performs? Watch this space for updates! On the 19th, it is home to Natak Company's Sindhu Sudhakar Ram Ani Itar at 4:30pm and then to White Rabbit Red Rabbit performed in Marathi by the ace Geetanjali Kulkarni.
The month kicks off with D for Drama’s acclaimed Dhumrapaan that opened at Prithvi Festival in 2016. You can catch at Prithvi Theatre on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd at 7:00pm and 9:30pm everyday. The play is written by Adhir Bhat and directed by Akarsh Khurana.
A lot of contemporary classics will play across the city in March, including Mohit Takalkar’s Mein Huun Yusuf Aur Yeh Hai Mera Bhai. Catch it at Swatantryaveer Savarkar Smarak Sabhagrih on Sunday, 5th March at 8:00pm.
Rajat Kapoor’s Shakespearean Comedies that have taken on the bard’s work with the art of clowning are all back this month. All the four plays boast of a stellar cast and will play at St. Andrews Auditorium in the later half of the month.
Makarand Deshpande presents his newest play Patni at Tata Theatre on Saturday, 4th at 7:00pm and at Prithvi Theatre on Saturday, 11th at 6:00pm and 9:00pm. The solo play is Deshpande’s collaboration with Sitar-Zitar Maestro Niladri Kumar playing live.
Speaking of solo plays, Ira Dubey rocks the stage with 9 Parts Of Desire at the Godrej Dance Theatre Godrej on Sunday, 12th at 7:30pm. She plays nine different Iraqi women in the acclaimed play directed by Lilette Dubey.
Lilette Dubey is not the only woman skyrocketing through the ceiling this month. We witness the openings of four new plays, all directed by female directors. Trishla Patel’s Mayday opens at the Cuckoo Club on Thursday, 2nd at 8:00pm. The play is a farcical (and fictional) take on the real-life mysterious disappearance of flight MH17.
FATS The Arts opens Faezeh Jalali's Shikhandi: The Story Of The In-Betweens at NCPA Experimental with shows on 21st, 22nd and 23rd.
ACE Productions premieres Rediscover The Epic directed by Karla Singh at the Royal Opera House Theatre with shows on Friday, 3rd at 7:30pm, on Saturday, 4th at 4:00pm & 7:30pm, and on Sunday, 5th at 4:00pm & 7:30pm.
Batch IV of The Drama School, Mumbai showcase their annual production this month too. The Mule’s Foal opens in the blackbox at Mumbai Marathi Sahitya Sangh on Saturday, 4th at 7:00pm and on Sunday, 5th at 12:00pm. It returns for a show on Tuesday, 7th at 6:30pm at NCPA Experimental as a part of Zest!
It can’t be V-day month without shows of The Vagina Monologues! Catch the classic Saturday, 11th at 06:00pm, Sunday 12th at 06:00pm; Friday, 24th at 06:30pm, and Saturday, 25th at 06:00pm.
So that’s all, folks! Your dose of theatre chill for the month! Tell us what you watch, what you loved and what we missed.
The shortest month of the year is here, and we know how to make it go even faster! Lots of exciting plays coming up!
Sunday, Feb 5 is QTP’s very latest - Blank. Written by Nassim Soleimanpour (whose White Rabbit Red Rabbit has been creating waves all over the country) Blank is a “story-machine”, where the audience not only participates, but also makes the play! Performed by a new actor every time, this show will feature ace actor Satchit Puranik. Added bonus - It plays at a brand new performance venue, the Fun Republic Social, Andheri at 6pm.
The end of the academic year might be close but there’s no stopping the young ’uns! Thespo@Prithvi returns with two of the most applauded plays of Thespo 17. Hero on Tuesday, Feb 7 at 6 and 9pm is a fresh story of young love between an Amitabh Bachchan fan and an Amitabh Bachchan mimic. Chitthi on Wednesday, Feb 8 at 6 and 9pm is the heartwarming tale of an illiterate woman trying to make sense of a letter that a beautiful woman has left for her husband. NCPA’s Zest! presents Ithaka, the official theatre and literary festival organised by the English literature department of St. Xavier's College on Tuesday, Feb 7 at 6:30pm.
Fresh from the rehearsal rooms in Bangalore, another exciting production by Abhishek Majumdar. Written and directed by Majumdar and featuring a stellar cast with the likes of Kumud Mishra and Shubhrajyoti Barat, Indian Ensemble’s ‘Muktidham’ at Prithvi Theatre on Saturday, Feb 4 at 5 and 9pm and on Sunday, Feb 5 at 4 and 8pm. The play is set in 8th century India and revolves around a Hindu temple town surrounded by Buddhists.
It is also a month for the return of modern legends.Celebrating 25 years of glory, Rage Productions entertains us with some of their most acclaimed plays at Prithvi.
Love Letters - Tuesday, Feb 21 at 6 and 9pm
Naqqaash - Wednesday, Feb 22 at 6 and 9pm
Mahua - Thursday, Feb 23
The Glass Menagerie - Friday, Feb 24
One on One - Saturday, Feb 25
One on One 2 - Saturday, Feb 25
Class of 84 - Sunday, Feb 26
Atul Kumar is back on the scene with his newest offering - Khwab-sa, a Hindi adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream - on Saturday, Feb 4 at Sophia Auditorium, 7:30pm. This month we also see the return of another modern classic - Feroz Khan’s Dinner With Friends plays on Friday, Feb 17, Saturday, Feb 18 and Sunday, Feb 19 at Prithvi Theatre
Satchit Puranik returns with the solo play - Karl Marx In Kalbadevi on Friday, Feb 10 at 6pm at Prithvi Theatre. The play is a hilarious (and fictional) account of the German socialist’s adventures in the streets of Mumbai. It also kickstarts a weekend of plays by Ideas Unlimited and Manoj Shah at Prithvi. Most of these plays are biographies of eminent personalities. Friday, Feb 10 at 9:30pm is Popcorn With Parsai, based on the works and life of Hindi satirist Harishankar Parsai. Sunday, Feb 12 at 12:30pm is Mohan No Masalo on the forgotten memories of Mahatma Gandhi; 8:30pm is Jal Jal Mere Patang - an ensemble piece about Gujarati writer and scholar Manilal Nanubhai Dwivedi.
Another powerful ensemble play that has been garnering a lot of praise since it opened last year is Faezeh Jalali’s 07/07/07. It is a devised piece based on Reyhaneh Jabbari, a young Irani girl wrongly hanged for murder. You can catch it at Prithvi Theatre on Thursday, Feb 9 at 7 and 9:30pm and at G5A Foundation on Friday, Feb 10 at 7:30pm.
In Marathi, two of Mahesh Elkunchwar’s trilogy of play - Wada Chirebandi and Magna Talyakathi play at Dinanath Mangeshkar Natyagruh on Sunday, Feb 5 at 11am and 4pm respectively. Canvas Laugh Club and NCPA Experimental feature plays for the tiny tots while the evergreen Vagina Monologues returns in Hindi on Sunday, Feb 12 and Friday, Feb 24 and in English on Saturday, Feb 11 and Sunday, Feb 12 and on Saturday, Feb 25 and Sunday, Feb 26.
There it is! We’re all spoilt for choice this February, so don’t forget to tell us which ones you pick or if you choose to watch them all!
It’s finally here! The opening month of the most anticipated play of the year - Jennifer Haley’s The Nether, helmed by the brilliant Mohit Takalkar, produced by the prolific AK Various and a dream cast that includes Naseeruddin Shah, Akash Khurana and Puja Sarup among others. It opens on the 22nd at St. Andrew’s Auditorium.
Another premiere is Aadyam’s final offering for the season, Chakkar Chalaye Ghanchakkar directed by Salim Arif on 23rd and 24th at Jamshed Bhabha Theatre (NCPA). This is the stage version of Gulzar’s cult classic film Angoor, which in turn is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Comedy of Errors. The Bard turns up in almost every venue this month with Rajat Kapoor’s hilarious Hamlet - The Clown Prince at Sophia’s (9th & 10th) and The Company Theatre’s nautanki musical Piya Behroopiya (Twelfth Night) at Prithvi Theatre (14th to 17th).
In fact the walls of Prithvi will be ringing after all the musicals it is hosting this month. There is the uplifting Stories In A Song on the 5th & 6th and Aarambh’s powerful Aaj Rang Hai on the 23rd & 24th, plus Jhoom’s epic Ishq Aaha on the 28th & 29th. Musicals for children are also not to be left behind with morning shows of Ansh’s Krishna Kidding on 9th & 10th, and Aarambh’s Tunni Ki Kahaani on the 24th.
The much larger JBT at NCPA plays host to Gauhar, a play about India’s first multimedia superstar on the 31st.
Among the old favorites, the evergreen The Vagina Monologues has shows at the Canvas Laugh Club in Hindi on 8th and 22nd and in English on the 9th, 23rd and 24th. Sheena Khalid and Puja Sarup’s much acclaimed Ila makes a comeback at Prithvi on the 27th and 28th while AK Various’ Internal Affairs returns to Bombay Canteen on the 16th and Cuckoo Club on the 17th.
Rangbaaz opens Dhat Pagli, written and directed by Pawan Uttam on the 10th at 7:30pm at The Barking Deer. And the unusual Darkroom Project has shows at the Hive on the 9th and at CLAP on 3rd & 17th. The Way I See It, a monologue penned by Shiv Subramanium will be performed at Brewbot on the 24th and Cuckoo Club on the 31st.
So that’s it folks. Lots and lots of new plays, old plays, musical plays and Shakespeare plays to catch this July. Tell us what you watched, loved or perhaps what you hates as well!
If acting is a big part of what human beings do, then it is but natural that watching plays should take up a lot of June. It is an exciting month for the fraternity and there’s something for everyone, from children’s plays and play by young practitioners to premieres and the return of the popular ones.
The month dawns with Veronica’s Room, a part of Thespo At Prithvi on the 7th and 8th (9:00pm). Based on the Ira Levin Classic, the play is an intriguing story of Tara who finds herself in the room, clothes and shoes of a long-dead woman called Veronica, or is it Veronica who is pretending to be Tara?
Another classic that breathes life again this month is Reginald Rose’s Twelve Angry Jurors. The next play in the second installment of Aadyam, this one is helmed by Nadir Khan and produced by Rage. The play - based on a very acclaimed script - plays at St. Andrews Auditorium on the 4th (7:30pm) and 5th (4:00 & 7:30pm) and then again at Jamshed Bhabha Theatre, NCPA (JBT) on the 18th (7:30pm) and 19th(4:00 & 7:30pm).
I Don’t Like It. As You Like It, the play that opened Aadyam this year returns with shows for a whole week straight at Prithvi Theatre from the 21st to the the 26th. This is the fourth play where director Rajat Kapoor dabbles with Shakespeare and the art of Clowning. The other plays include ‘What’s Done Is Done’ - a version of MacBeth - that opened in Calcutta in December last year and opens to the Mumbai audience on the 5th (7:30pm) at JBT. Finally completing the trilogy for the month is Hamlet - The Clown Prince at NCPA Experimental on the 11th and 12th (7:00pm).
At the other end of the spectrum, Indian Ensemble (Bangalore) presents three contemporary scripts at Prithvi. On the 14th and 15th (9:00pm) plays Gasha, an award winning script by Iravati Karnik set against the backdrop of the Kashmir quandary. Up next is Hayavadana on the 16th and 17th. This Girish Karnad classic is based on a Sanskrit story and deals with the problems of human identity in a world of tangled relationships. Abhishek Majumdar’s Kaumudi with similar Sanskrit roots from the Mahabharata that plays on the 18th & 19th (5:00 & 9:00pm).
This month also sees the premier of Alyque Padamsee’s 76th directorial, Legend of Lovers. The play which is based on the Greek mythology of Orpheus and Eurydice, plays at the Sophia Auditorium on the 18th and 19th (7:30pm) and boasts of a stellar cast with the likes of Shazahn Padamsee, Sabira Merchant and Asif Ali Beg. Also premiering is 27 02 02 Zaheen Shah, a psychological thriller set against the 2002 Gujarat and the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots. Shows at Prithvi Theatre on the 2nd (9:00pm) and 3rd (6:00 & 9:00pm).
If your mood is to experience some fantastic solo plays, there’s a lot for you in the offing! Ideas Unlimited’s Karl Marx in Kalbadevi features at Prithvi on the 9th (6:00pm) and at NCPA Godrej on the 12th (7:00pm). Meanwhile, Cuckoo Club hosts ONEderland - a festival of 9 Solo Acts on the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 10th.
It’s also time for some young blood in theatre! The Drama School, Mumbai puts up their Annual Showcase on the 9th and 10th (6:30pm) at the Mumbai Marathi Sahitya Sangh and will feature theatre performances by the talented graduates of the school. This one has free entries. NCPA Zest presents Laut Aao Gauri, winner of IPTA’s ICDC in 2014 on the 14th (6:00pm)
If the young are set to conquer, the kids aren’t going to be left behind! Summertime @ Prithvi continues into June with plays like Parindo Ki Mehfil and Sur v/s Asur at 12:00pm everyday till the 12th. On the 4th and 5th, Canvas Laugh Club features A Musical Play For Kids by the Chikaraks.
Canvas Laugh Club also plays the ever-favorite Vagina Monologues in Hindi on the 10th and 24th (6:30pm) and in English on 11th,12th, 25th and 26th (6:00pm). Also watch out for shows at Sathaye Auditorium which seems to be a favorite for local theatre groups this month.
So, theatreattis. There it is. June has spoilt us for choice, so tell us what you pick!
May 2016
If Summer is boring you out, don't send a mayday just yet. The month of May is here and with it, a bunch of exciting plays!
Disney’s Beauty And The Beast that opened in Mumbai last October returns to the city, all set to charm the viewers once again between May 6 and 15 at the Dome @ NSCI. The musical promises to be an entertaining watch.
In its second innings, Aadyam opens its third play for the season - Aarambh’s Ladies Sangeet - on the 7th and 8th May at St. Andrews Auditorium, Bandra. You can catch it again on 14th and 15th May at Jamshed Baba Theatre, NCPA. Ladies Sangeet has been written and directed by Purva Naresh and tackles gender stereotypes in a mad ‘shaadi waala ghar’. You can also enjoy the reruns of Aadyam plays, Loretta and Merchant of Venice. Loretta which will be playing on 13th May at St. Andrews Auditorium, Bandra. and Merchant of Venice will also be playing at the Prithvi Theatre on 28th and 29th May.
Continuing the chain of returns is the Thespo play, Lassanwala on the 3rd and 6th May at Prithvi. You can also revisit the Writers' Bloc plays,Outer Dilli on 19th May and Ok Tata Bye Bye on 20th May at the Prithvi Theatre.
There's also a return of some much acclaimed plays. Nasseruddin Shah’s Einstein plays at NCPA Experimental on the 7th May. The very next day (May 8), Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar render Shaukat Azmi’s memoirs in Kaifi Aur Main at the Fine Arts Society in Chembur. You can also catch Pankaj Kapoor on stage performing Dopehri at the Prithvi Theatre on 7th and 8th May. The forever favorite Vagina Monologues plays in Hindi and in English at the Canvas Laugh Club on May 6, 7, 8 and 20, 21,22.
You definitely do not want to miss Song of the Swan, directed by Shubrajyoti Barat. It is a story of life and death of Hans Christian Ostro who was kidnapped and killed in Kashmir. Its playing at Prithvi on 17th and 18th May.
The summer is also filled with Children's Plays across various locations. You can read our pick of Children's Plays and Children's Workshops in this issue.
April 2016
QTP begins the month of April with A Peasant of El Salvador performing for the first time at NCPA Exp on the 2nd. The play is a riveting, touching and powerful story of a hill farmer and his family in El Salvador during the 1980's - one that surprisingly resembles India durings the 2000s! We also return with the new favorite The God of Carnage on the 10th at St. Andrews Auditorium after the successful shows at Prithvi Theatre last month. On the 6th, QTP will be a part of Writers' Bloc 4 with the internationally acclaimed White Rabbit Red Rabbit
Writers’ Bloc 4 promises a good line up of fresh scripts staged by some celebrated directors for the better half of the month. Slated from 1st to 10th at Prithvi and then from 13th to 17th at NCPA Experimental, the festival also stages readings and performances in their run this month.
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Plays at Writers’ Bloc
- NAQQAASH (Hindi) | Friday April 1 – 7pm and 9:30pm (PT) + Sunday April 17 – 7:30pm (NCPA)
- OUTER DILLI (Hindi and Haryanvi) | Sunday April 3 – 6pm and 9pm (PT) + Saturday April 16 – 7:30pm (NCPA)
Energetic, engaging and brutally true, Shivani Tanksale's directorial venture tells the story of a young 'new boy in school' who realizes that a new school can throw a lot on your plate - bullying, bad company and even bullets! Now he must decide - will he fight and live? Or be humiliated and merely survive? Outer Dilli is a reminder that coming of age is rarely easy on the young.
Another play with a Goan-Anglo Indian background is writer Ramu Ramnathan’s Bombay Jazz. A semi-biographical musical play about Goan and Anglo Indian musicians who brought jazz influences into Hindi film music between the 50s and 70s, features the incredible Denzil Smith and Rhys Sebastian. Bombay Jazz plays on the 14th and 15th at Prithvi.
Drama School, Mumbai’s Juliet Aur Uska Romeo which finished a successful tour in March, returns for one last show at Mumbai Marathi Sahitya Sangh on the 2nd of April. Also returning in April is AK Various’ A Friend’s Story featuring Sayalee Phatak who won the Best Actress at this year’s META awards.
The alternate spaces in Bombay's theatre scene also seem to be gaining a lot of momentum. The current hotspot Hive features Roundabout, Error 404, Bamboo Shoots and Asamjas Babu ki Atmakatha. Its sister space, Cuckoo Club plays host to The Job and Blueticks. The summer holidays also brings in a lot of children’s play at Andheri Base and the Canvas Laugh Club. Theatre lovers are further spoiled for choice on the 2nd, when House of Wow plays Bayan, Prabodhankar Mini plays CodeName SRK and the Bombay Canteen lends room to Hindi Medium.
Which of these do you plan to catch?
March 2016
March promises to be an exciting month for theatre lovers!
QTP brings its latest, the ‘savage, vicious, hilarious’ The God of Carnage to Prithvi for the very first time from 9 to 11 March. Also returning after a gap of five months, is the eternally loved Khatijabai of Karmali Terrace - a fitting way to celebrate Women's Day on 8th March.
Prithvi kicks off the month with two days of Hero. The play, by a group of young Thepo-ans from Pune, tells the engaging and hilarious story of a village boy trying his best to be ‘Ditto Amitabh Bachchan’ as he tries to woo another Bachchan fan. The play featured as one of the five at the festival last December and has since embarked upon a successful journey across festivals in Maharashtra.
Speaking of youth theatre, another young play that’s had an applaudable opening last month is The Drama School, Mumbai’s Juliet Aur Uska Romeo. The student production is an adaptation of the Shakespeare classic from Juliet’s point of view. Read Asmit Pathare’s review of it here.
Also invoking Shakespeare is Rajat Kapoor’s I Don’t Like It. As You Like It. This play marks the start of the second season of Aadyam, a theatre initiative by the Aditya Birla Group. The play tells the story of a group of clowns who put up a show of the classic play. With devices like clowning and gender-reversal as well as a stellar cast, it promises to be an interesting watch. Shows have been scheduled on 5th and 6th of March at Jamshed Bhabha Theatre, NCPA and then on the 25th and 26th at St. Andrews Auditorium.
Another highlight of the month is Marie-Helene Estienne and Peter Brook’s Battlefield at NCPA. The play draws on the section of the Mahabharata that features the Kurukshetra War. It also marks the award winning director’s return to the Indian mythology after 30 years and will have an exclusive run of shows at the Tata Theatre from 5th to 12th March. For lovers of mythological plays, NCPA Experimental also features Anamika - Searching For Krishna, a dance based drama.
Prithvi Theatre features two plays experimenting with the meta-theatrical device in March. Raghav Dutt (writer-director of the acclaimed Baawla) returns with a new play - Parey. Opening on 4th March at Prithvi, the play is the story of two very different individuals, an actor and a writer taking the journey of life, death and everything beyond it. Avneesh Mishra’s The Great Raja Master Drama Company is another such play. It plays at Prithvi on the 16th of March. The musical-comedy is the story of a tailor who decides to open a play and the hilarity that ensues, and uses the folk form of Nautanki.
Primetime Theatre Company also returns with their new and very well-received offering Gauhar that opened last month. It plays on 7th March at Sophia Auditorium. Also showing is the evergreen Vagina Monologues in Hindi and English. The month also features an eclectic line up at the newly opened Cuckoo Club, the current cultural favorite The Hive, The Jeff Goldberg Studio and the very underappreciated Sathaye Auditorium. NCPA also hosts the Vasant Gujarati Natya Utsav which features 5 off-beat and experimental plays by well-known theatre companies.
This is just a small selection of what March offers. For more detailed listings and to buy tickets log on to bookmyshow.com.
Happy Theatre Watching!
October 2015
We are totally spoilt for choice this month.
It’s the last two shows of BLANK!
Nassim Suleimanpour’s masterpiece ends its run in India with two shows at Prithvi Theatre. On Saturday 10 June, 9:00pm Jerry Pinto performs the show and on Sunday 11 June, 8:00pm, Freishia Bomanbehram joins the story machine.
After the successful start to the season, two new Aadyam plays come to the city this month. The first is Purva Naresh’s Bandish 20-20000 Hz which opened in Delhi last month. It plays at the NCPA: JBT on Saturday 17 June and Sunday 18 June. The second big premiere is Nadir Khan’s Anand Express with a fresh cast and lingo. Catch the opening run at the St. Andrews Auditorium on Saturday 24 June and Sunday 25 June.
Naseeruddin Shah’s Riding Madly Off In All Directions plays at NCPA: JBT at 7:00pm on Saturday 17 June. The play that opened at Tata Lit Live is based on the writings of Stephen Smorgasbord and famously stars the five Shahs.
Also returning this month is NCPA’s popular magnum opus - Mughal-E-Azam. The show boasts of technical expertise from Broadway and a magical (and also original) score. Their run run this month starts Saturday 24 June and has a show everyday till the Sunday 2 July.
Among other shows to watch out for is Saat Teri Ekvees, a collection of Gujarati monologues all written by journalists and performed by women on June 17 and 18 at NCPA: Experimental. This is the second round of an experiment that first happened in 2008.
Prithvi plays Nagn Nagin Aur Shrota Tota, a satirical courtroom comedy on Thursday 8 June. A girl looses her hand on the third day of her first job. The lost hand - that can not speak, is fighting a case against people who have learnt the art of manipulation for centuries.
Na Aagey Naath, Na Pichey Pagaah at Studio Tamasha on Friday 30 June features young actors bringing Hindi literature to life. The actors are all alumni of The Drama School, Mumbai and the writings are by Vinod Kumar Shukla, Kedarnath Singh, Chandrakant Devtale, Manohar Chamoli, Vimal Chandra Pandey etc
Tell us which ones you catch!
May is here! And you all know what that means right? Young ones will be flocking to theatre spaces around the city for some theatre fun. To know what's in store for the little folk this summer, you can head here.
But don't for a second think that this means there's nothing for the elders! Some exciting premieres, classics, experiments - it's all here!
The favorite from last year's Thespo - Bhanvar - is back and this time at NCPA Experimental! If you haven't caught it yet, don't miss it now. And if you have, we're sure you wouldn't want to pass on another watch! 6:30pm on Tuesday, May 9.
Aadyam kicks for yet another season, and this time the line-up isn't just proscenium plays. The two opening plays for the season are both black box plays and they open at the G5A Foundation.
The first, Guards At The Taj is set in 1648 and is a fictional take on a conversation of the title characters, the first morning after the monument has been completely built. It stars Vrajesh Hirjee and Joy Fernandes.
The shows are scheduled at 7:30pm on May 3, May 4, May 5 and at 4:00pm and 7:30pm on May 6, May 7.
The next, Gajab Kahani is the story of the first elephant that was taken to Europe in 1551, where nobody had seen an elephant before! The play has been directed by Mohit Takalkar, and has an ensemble cast led by Geetanjali Kulkarni.
The shows are scheduled at 7:30pm on May 24, May 25, May 26 and at 4:00pm and 7:30pm on May 21, May 27 and May 28.
NCPA: Tata Theatre plays host to the return of A Walk In The Woods directed by Ratna Pathak Shah and starring the legends Naseeruddin Shah and Rajit Kapur. Catch it at 7:00pm on Saturday, May 6.
As a part of Zee's newest theatre initiative, Mita Vashisht dons the role of Bai Saheb in P. L. Mayekar's Agnipankh, set in a Brahmin household against the backdrop of the Gandhi assassination. You can watch it at 7:30pm on Sunday, May 7.
Prithvi Theatre has a great start to the month with eleven plays by IPTA in seven days!
Here's the list:
- Bakri (Monday, May 1)
- Girija ke Sapna (Tuesday, May 2)
- Bilquis Begam ka Bada (Tuesday, May 2)
- Biwi-O-Biwi (Wednesday, May 3)
- Moteram (Wednesday, May 3)
- Taj Mahal Ka Tender (9:00pm on Thursday, May 4)
- Darindey... The Villains (5:00pm on Thursday, May 4)
- Simla Coffee House (5:00pm on Friday, May 5)
- Kashmakash (9:00pm on Friday, May 5) (5:00pm on Saturday, May 6)
- Hum Deewane Hum Parwaane (9:00pm on Saturday, May 6)
- Shatranj ke Mohre (9:00pm on Sunday, May 7)
NCPA: Experimental hosts the Ananda Hindi Natya Utsav this month, and as a part of it you can watch Sangeet Bari, a show that combines stories, songs and the traditional dance form of Lavani at 7:00pm on Saturday, May 6.
Experience four classic stories by Manto, Chugtai, Premchand and an anonymous writer, all the while being blindfolded! Watch (or don't) The Darkroom 2.0 at 6:00pm on Saturday, May 6.
Welcome to April!
We have a busy beginning to the month.
Arghya Lahiri’s masterpiece Wildtrack is back, this time at Sitara Studios on Sat 08 Apr. Nassim Suleimanpore’s work of art, Blank will be performed at the same venue on Sun 09 Apr by Tushar Pandey and Ramona Arena at 05:00 PM and 8:00 PM respectively.
The month may start on fool’s day, but theatrewaalas in the city are running no fool’s errand! On the very first day of the month, we are spoilt for choice with no less than four exciting plays happening across the city!
A brand new play about unravelling relationships, and the efforts to save them!
Directed by Divya Jagdale and written by Shiv Subrahmanyum, Toxic also explores the idea of fresh beginnings and ‘how attraction and love square off against fidelity and guilt.’
Where? Theatre’s new favourite haunt, Harkat Studios
When? Sat 01 Apr, 07:30 PM
A tale in Hindi about love, longing, gossip and a village where nothing makes sense!
While primarily a student production by the Drama School, Mumbai, The Mule’s Foal has been helmed by Puja Sarup and Sheena Khalid. It is a hilarious adaptation of a novel by Fontini Epanomitis and promises two acts full of laughter, entertainment and some food for thought!
Where? The Black Box at Mumbai Marathi Sahitya Sangh
When? Sat 01 Apr, 07:00 PM
Sat 08 Apr, 07:00 PM
Sat 15 Apr, 07:00 PM
Sun 16 Apr, 07:00 PM
The Vagina Monologues, and with Guest Stars.
The legendary production completes 15 years of shows with its evergreen cast and a few special guests. Apart from its usual run at the Canvas Club, it will kick off the month at Prithvi Theatre as a part of the ONE BILLION RISING movement to end violence against women.
The shows are scheduled as follows:
Sat 01 Apr, 05:00 PM - Swara Bhaskar
Sat 01 Apr, 07:00 PM - Manasi Scott
Sat 01 Apr, 09:00 PM - Sid Makkar
Sun 02 Apr, 03:00 PM - Alankrita Shrivastava
Sun 02 Apr, 05:00 PM - Kamalika Guha-Thakurta
Sun 02 Apr, 07:00 PM - Naseeruddin Shah
Sun 02 Apr, 09:00 PM - Malishka Mendonsa (in Hindi)
A Musical about Mahatma Gandhi
“The musical extravaganza boasts of over 14 original songs and 10 choreographed dance sequences, spanning across a multitude of genres.” states an article in Mumbai Mirror. Watch, croon and swoon to the lifestory of the Father of the Nation in Gandhi- The Musical.
Where? Jamshed Bhabha Theatre: NCPA
When?
Sat 01 Apr, 07:30 PM
Sun 02 Apr, 07:30 PM
Fri 07 Apr, 07:30 PM
Sat 08 Apr, 07:30 PM
That is not all. The Giants of theatre in the city are here with their newest bests.
Nadir Khan’s intriguing courtroom drama that premiered at Aadyam last year, Twelve Angry Jurors also returns after quite a while this month.
Where? St. Andrews Auditorium
When? Sun 02 Apr, 07:30 PM
A whirlwind of conflicting questions of truth, reality and belief is Saurabh Shukla’s Barff. The gripping hindi thriller is all set to return to the city after a long hiatus.
Where? Prithvi Theatre
When? Thu 06 Apr, 06:00 PM & 09:00 PM and Fri 07 Apr, 06:00 PM
A fresh Hindi romcom is aRanya’s ‘Chuhal’, written and directed by AND starring the multifaceted Manav Kaul with an equally great cast.
Where? Prithvi Theatre
When? Sat 08 Apr, 05:00 PM
Akarsh Khurna tackles Workplace politics in the META winner ‘Dhumrapaan’, a comedy about the rat race with a very exciting ensemble.
Where? Experimental Theatre: NCPA
When? Sun 16 Apr, 07:00 PM
It is a great month for stories from Hindu Mythology on the stage. It is also a recurring theme in the two plays by Adishakti that grace the city.
Arjuna’s year in the guise of a woman looks at the consequences that accompany the dissolution of all rigid binary oppositions in Brhannala.
Where? Prithvi Theatre
When? Sat 15 Apr, 06:00 PM & 09:00 PM
Nine heads of Ravana make the final one feel left out in a story of conformity, compliance, aesthetics and more, The Tenth Head.
Where? Prithvi Theatre
When? Sun 16 Apr, 06:00 PM & 09:00 PM
The Story of the In-betweens - Shikhandi - which boasts of a stellar cast and vibrant stage design opened to an extremely positive response at NCPA last month. Directed by Faezeh Jalali, this unique production is performed in the round.
Where? NCPA: Experimental Theatre
When? Sat 29 Apr, 08:00 PM and Sun 30 Apr, 04:00 PM & 08:00 PM
A king is forced to keep turning into a woman and back. Puja Sarup and Sheena Khalid’s Ila is an interesting take on gender in modern times and a mythological era as the story jumps between cursed forests and a crowded local train. A stunning piece, it makes you laugh till your gut hurts, but also takes you on a thoughtful journey.
Where? The Cuckoo Club, Bandra
When?
Fri 28 Apr, 08:00 PM
Sat 29 Apr, 07:00 PM
Sun 30 Apr, 07:00 PM
Another exciting month with so much to watch! Don’t forget to tell us what you chose and tell us what we missed. See you in May!
The new year is just whizzing past and we are already in the third month! But fret not, because there’s nothing better than theatre to help you slow down and chill!
The newly rediscovered Sitara plays host to not one but three shows of White Rabbit Red Rabbit in English, Marathi and Hindi on the 26th. Curious about who performs? Watch this space for updates! On the 19th, it is home to Natak Company's Sindhu Sudhakar Ram Ani Itar at 4:30pm and then to White Rabbit Red Rabbit performed in Marathi by the ace Geetanjali Kulkarni.
The month kicks off with D for Drama’s acclaimed Dhumrapaan that opened at Prithvi Festival in 2016. You can catch at Prithvi Theatre on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd at 7:00pm and 9:30pm everyday. The play is written by Adhir Bhat and directed by Akarsh Khurana.
A lot of contemporary classics will play across the city in March, including Mohit Takalkar’s Mein Huun Yusuf Aur Yeh Hai Mera Bhai. Catch it at Swatantryaveer Savarkar Smarak Sabhagrih on Sunday, 5th March at 8:00pm.
Rajat Kapoor’s Shakespearean Comedies that have taken on the bard’s work with the art of clowning are all back this month. All the four plays boast of a stellar cast and will play at St. Andrews Auditorium in the later half of the month.
- I Don’t Like It - As You Like It | Saturday, 18th at 4:00pm
- Nothing Like Lear | Saturday, 18th at 7:30pm
- Hamlet - The Clown Prince | Sunday, 19th at 9:00pm
- Macbeth - What Is Done Is Done | Sunday, 19th at 9:00pm
Makarand Deshpande presents his newest play Patni at Tata Theatre on Saturday, 4th at 7:00pm and at Prithvi Theatre on Saturday, 11th at 6:00pm and 9:00pm. The solo play is Deshpande’s collaboration with Sitar-Zitar Maestro Niladri Kumar playing live.
Speaking of solo plays, Ira Dubey rocks the stage with 9 Parts Of Desire at the Godrej Dance Theatre Godrej on Sunday, 12th at 7:30pm. She plays nine different Iraqi women in the acclaimed play directed by Lilette Dubey.
Lilette Dubey is not the only woman skyrocketing through the ceiling this month. We witness the openings of four new plays, all directed by female directors. Trishla Patel’s Mayday opens at the Cuckoo Club on Thursday, 2nd at 8:00pm. The play is a farcical (and fictional) take on the real-life mysterious disappearance of flight MH17.
FATS The Arts opens Faezeh Jalali's Shikhandi: The Story Of The In-Betweens at NCPA Experimental with shows on 21st, 22nd and 23rd.
ACE Productions premieres Rediscover The Epic directed by Karla Singh at the Royal Opera House Theatre with shows on Friday, 3rd at 7:30pm, on Saturday, 4th at 4:00pm & 7:30pm, and on Sunday, 5th at 4:00pm & 7:30pm.
Batch IV of The Drama School, Mumbai showcase their annual production this month too. The Mule’s Foal opens in the blackbox at Mumbai Marathi Sahitya Sangh on Saturday, 4th at 7:00pm and on Sunday, 5th at 12:00pm. It returns for a show on Tuesday, 7th at 6:30pm at NCPA Experimental as a part of Zest!
It can’t be V-day month without shows of The Vagina Monologues! Catch the classic Saturday, 11th at 06:00pm, Sunday 12th at 06:00pm; Friday, 24th at 06:30pm, and Saturday, 25th at 06:00pm.
So that’s all, folks! Your dose of theatre chill for the month! Tell us what you watch, what you loved and what we missed.
Sunday, Feb 5 is QTP’s very latest - Blank. Written by Nassim Soleimanpour (whose White Rabbit Red Rabbit has been creating waves all over the country) Blank is a “story-machine”, where the audience not only participates, but also makes the play! Performed by a new actor every time, this show will feature ace actor Satchit Puranik. Added bonus - It plays at a brand new performance venue, the Fun Republic Social, Andheri at 6pm.
The end of the academic year might be close but there’s no stopping the young ’uns! Thespo@Prithvi returns with two of the most applauded plays of Thespo 17. Hero on Tuesday, Feb 7 at 6 and 9pm is a fresh story of young love between an Amitabh Bachchan fan and an Amitabh Bachchan mimic. Chitthi on Wednesday, Feb 8 at 6 and 9pm is the heartwarming tale of an illiterate woman trying to make sense of a letter that a beautiful woman has left for her husband. NCPA’s Zest! presents Ithaka, the official theatre and literary festival organised by the English literature department of St. Xavier's College on Tuesday, Feb 7 at 6:30pm.
Fresh from the rehearsal rooms in Bangalore, another exciting production by Abhishek Majumdar. Written and directed by Majumdar and featuring a stellar cast with the likes of Kumud Mishra and Shubhrajyoti Barat, Indian Ensemble’s ‘Muktidham’ at Prithvi Theatre on Saturday, Feb 4 at 5 and 9pm and on Sunday, Feb 5 at 4 and 8pm. The play is set in 8th century India and revolves around a Hindu temple town surrounded by Buddhists.
It is also a month for the return of modern legends.Celebrating 25 years of glory, Rage Productions entertains us with some of their most acclaimed plays at Prithvi.
Love Letters - Tuesday, Feb 21 at 6 and 9pm
Naqqaash - Wednesday, Feb 22 at 6 and 9pm
Mahua - Thursday, Feb 23
The Glass Menagerie - Friday, Feb 24
One on One - Saturday, Feb 25
One on One 2 - Saturday, Feb 25
Class of 84 - Sunday, Feb 26
Atul Kumar is back on the scene with his newest offering - Khwab-sa, a Hindi adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream - on Saturday, Feb 4 at Sophia Auditorium, 7:30pm. This month we also see the return of another modern classic - Feroz Khan’s Dinner With Friends plays on Friday, Feb 17, Saturday, Feb 18 and Sunday, Feb 19 at Prithvi Theatre
Satchit Puranik returns with the solo play - Karl Marx In Kalbadevi on Friday, Feb 10 at 6pm at Prithvi Theatre. The play is a hilarious (and fictional) account of the German socialist’s adventures in the streets of Mumbai. It also kickstarts a weekend of plays by Ideas Unlimited and Manoj Shah at Prithvi. Most of these plays are biographies of eminent personalities. Friday, Feb 10 at 9:30pm is Popcorn With Parsai, based on the works and life of Hindi satirist Harishankar Parsai. Sunday, Feb 12 at 12:30pm is Mohan No Masalo on the forgotten memories of Mahatma Gandhi; 8:30pm is Jal Jal Mere Patang - an ensemble piece about Gujarati writer and scholar Manilal Nanubhai Dwivedi.
Another powerful ensemble play that has been garnering a lot of praise since it opened last year is Faezeh Jalali’s 07/07/07. It is a devised piece based on Reyhaneh Jabbari, a young Irani girl wrongly hanged for murder. You can catch it at Prithvi Theatre on Thursday, Feb 9 at 7 and 9:30pm and at G5A Foundation on Friday, Feb 10 at 7:30pm.
In Marathi, two of Mahesh Elkunchwar’s trilogy of play - Wada Chirebandi and Magna Talyakathi play at Dinanath Mangeshkar Natyagruh on Sunday, Feb 5 at 11am and 4pm respectively. Canvas Laugh Club and NCPA Experimental feature plays for the tiny tots while the evergreen Vagina Monologues returns in Hindi on Sunday, Feb 12 and Friday, Feb 24 and in English on Saturday, Feb 11 and Sunday, Feb 12 and on Saturday, Feb 25 and Sunday, Feb 26.
There it is! We’re all spoilt for choice this February, so don’t forget to tell us which ones you pick or if you choose to watch them all!
It’s finally here! The opening month of the most anticipated play of the year - Jennifer Haley’s The Nether, helmed by the brilliant Mohit Takalkar, produced by the prolific AK Various and a dream cast that includes Naseeruddin Shah, Akash Khurana and Puja Sarup among others. It opens on the 22nd at St. Andrew’s Auditorium.
Another premiere is Aadyam’s final offering for the season, Chakkar Chalaye Ghanchakkar directed by Salim Arif on 23rd and 24th at Jamshed Bhabha Theatre (NCPA). This is the stage version of Gulzar’s cult classic film Angoor, which in turn is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Comedy of Errors. The Bard turns up in almost every venue this month with Rajat Kapoor’s hilarious Hamlet - The Clown Prince at Sophia’s (9th & 10th) and The Company Theatre’s nautanki musical Piya Behroopiya (Twelfth Night) at Prithvi Theatre (14th to 17th).
In fact the walls of Prithvi will be ringing after all the musicals it is hosting this month. There is the uplifting Stories In A Song on the 5th & 6th and Aarambh’s powerful Aaj Rang Hai on the 23rd & 24th, plus Jhoom’s epic Ishq Aaha on the 28th & 29th. Musicals for children are also not to be left behind with morning shows of Ansh’s Krishna Kidding on 9th & 10th, and Aarambh’s Tunni Ki Kahaani on the 24th.
The much larger JBT at NCPA plays host to Gauhar, a play about India’s first multimedia superstar on the 31st.
Among the old favorites, the evergreen The Vagina Monologues has shows at the Canvas Laugh Club in Hindi on 8th and 22nd and in English on the 9th, 23rd and 24th. Sheena Khalid and Puja Sarup’s much acclaimed Ila makes a comeback at Prithvi on the 27th and 28th while AK Various’ Internal Affairs returns to Bombay Canteen on the 16th and Cuckoo Club on the 17th.
Rangbaaz opens Dhat Pagli, written and directed by Pawan Uttam on the 10th at 7:30pm at The Barking Deer. And the unusual Darkroom Project has shows at the Hive on the 9th and at CLAP on 3rd & 17th. The Way I See It, a monologue penned by Shiv Subramanium will be performed at Brewbot on the 24th and Cuckoo Club on the 31st.
So that’s it folks. Lots and lots of new plays, old plays, musical plays and Shakespeare plays to catch this July. Tell us what you watched, loved or perhaps what you hates as well!
The month dawns with Veronica’s Room, a part of Thespo At Prithvi on the 7th and 8th (9:00pm). Based on the Ira Levin Classic, the play is an intriguing story of Tara who finds herself in the room, clothes and shoes of a long-dead woman called Veronica, or is it Veronica who is pretending to be Tara?
Another classic that breathes life again this month is Reginald Rose’s Twelve Angry Jurors. The next play in the second installment of Aadyam, this one is helmed by Nadir Khan and produced by Rage. The play - based on a very acclaimed script - plays at St. Andrews Auditorium on the 4th (7:30pm) and 5th (4:00 & 7:30pm) and then again at Jamshed Bhabha Theatre, NCPA (JBT) on the 18th (7:30pm) and 19th(4:00 & 7:30pm).
I Don’t Like It. As You Like It, the play that opened Aadyam this year returns with shows for a whole week straight at Prithvi Theatre from the 21st to the the 26th. This is the fourth play where director Rajat Kapoor dabbles with Shakespeare and the art of Clowning. The other plays include ‘What’s Done Is Done’ - a version of MacBeth - that opened in Calcutta in December last year and opens to the Mumbai audience on the 5th (7:30pm) at JBT. Finally completing the trilogy for the month is Hamlet - The Clown Prince at NCPA Experimental on the 11th and 12th (7:00pm).
At the other end of the spectrum, Indian Ensemble (Bangalore) presents three contemporary scripts at Prithvi. On the 14th and 15th (9:00pm) plays Gasha, an award winning script by Iravati Karnik set against the backdrop of the Kashmir quandary. Up next is Hayavadana on the 16th and 17th. This Girish Karnad classic is based on a Sanskrit story and deals with the problems of human identity in a world of tangled relationships. Abhishek Majumdar’s Kaumudi with similar Sanskrit roots from the Mahabharata that plays on the 18th & 19th (5:00 & 9:00pm).
This month also sees the premier of Alyque Padamsee’s 76th directorial, Legend of Lovers. The play which is based on the Greek mythology of Orpheus and Eurydice, plays at the Sophia Auditorium on the 18th and 19th (7:30pm) and boasts of a stellar cast with the likes of Shazahn Padamsee, Sabira Merchant and Asif Ali Beg. Also premiering is 27 02 02 Zaheen Shah, a psychological thriller set against the 2002 Gujarat and the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots. Shows at Prithvi Theatre on the 2nd (9:00pm) and 3rd (6:00 & 9:00pm).
If your mood is to experience some fantastic solo plays, there’s a lot for you in the offing! Ideas Unlimited’s Karl Marx in Kalbadevi features at Prithvi on the 9th (6:00pm) and at NCPA Godrej on the 12th (7:00pm). Meanwhile, Cuckoo Club hosts ONEderland - a festival of 9 Solo Acts on the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 10th.
It’s also time for some young blood in theatre! The Drama School, Mumbai puts up their Annual Showcase on the 9th and 10th (6:30pm) at the Mumbai Marathi Sahitya Sangh and will feature theatre performances by the talented graduates of the school. This one has free entries. NCPA Zest presents Laut Aao Gauri, winner of IPTA’s ICDC in 2014 on the 14th (6:00pm)
If the young are set to conquer, the kids aren’t going to be left behind! Summertime @ Prithvi continues into June with plays like Parindo Ki Mehfil and Sur v/s Asur at 12:00pm everyday till the 12th. On the 4th and 5th, Canvas Laugh Club features A Musical Play For Kids by the Chikaraks.
Canvas Laugh Club also plays the ever-favorite Vagina Monologues in Hindi on the 10th and 24th (6:30pm) and in English on 11th,12th, 25th and 26th (6:00pm). Also watch out for shows at Sathaye Auditorium which seems to be a favorite for local theatre groups this month.
So, theatreattis. There it is. June has spoilt us for choice, so tell us what you pick!
May 2016
If Summer is boring you out, don't send a mayday just yet. The month of May is here and with it, a bunch of exciting plays!
Disney’s Beauty And The Beast that opened in Mumbai last October returns to the city, all set to charm the viewers once again between May 6 and 15 at the Dome @ NSCI. The musical promises to be an entertaining watch.
In its second innings, Aadyam opens its third play for the season - Aarambh’s Ladies Sangeet - on the 7th and 8th May at St. Andrews Auditorium, Bandra. You can catch it again on 14th and 15th May at Jamshed Baba Theatre, NCPA. Ladies Sangeet has been written and directed by Purva Naresh and tackles gender stereotypes in a mad ‘shaadi waala ghar’. You can also enjoy the reruns of Aadyam plays, Loretta and Merchant of Venice. Loretta which will be playing on 13th May at St. Andrews Auditorium, Bandra. and Merchant of Venice will also be playing at the Prithvi Theatre on 28th and 29th May.
Continuing the chain of returns is the Thespo play, Lassanwala on the 3rd and 6th May at Prithvi. You can also revisit the Writers' Bloc plays,Outer Dilli on 19th May and Ok Tata Bye Bye on 20th May at the Prithvi Theatre.
There's also a return of some much acclaimed plays. Nasseruddin Shah’s Einstein plays at NCPA Experimental on the 7th May. The very next day (May 8), Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar render Shaukat Azmi’s memoirs in Kaifi Aur Main at the Fine Arts Society in Chembur. You can also catch Pankaj Kapoor on stage performing Dopehri at the Prithvi Theatre on 7th and 8th May. The forever favorite Vagina Monologues plays in Hindi and in English at the Canvas Laugh Club on May 6, 7, 8 and 20, 21,22.
You definitely do not want to miss Song of the Swan, directed by Shubrajyoti Barat. It is a story of life and death of Hans Christian Ostro who was kidnapped and killed in Kashmir. Its playing at Prithvi on 17th and 18th May.
The summer is also filled with Children's Plays across various locations. You can read our pick of Children's Plays and Children's Workshops in this issue.
April 2016
QTP begins the month of April with A Peasant of El Salvador performing for the first time at NCPA Exp on the 2nd. The play is a riveting, touching and powerful story of a hill farmer and his family in El Salvador during the 1980's - one that surprisingly resembles India durings the 2000s! We also return with the new favorite The God of Carnage on the 10th at St. Andrews Auditorium after the successful shows at Prithvi Theatre last month. On the 6th, QTP will be a part of Writers' Bloc 4 with the internationally acclaimed White Rabbit Red Rabbit
Writers’ Bloc 4 promises a good line up of fresh scripts staged by some celebrated directors for the better half of the month. Slated from 1st to 10th at Prithvi and then from 13th to 17th at NCPA Experimental, the festival also stages readings and performances in their run this month.
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Plays at Writers’ Bloc
- NAQQAASH (Hindi) | Friday April 1 – 7pm and 9:30pm (PT) + Sunday April 17 – 7:30pm (NCPA)
In the village without men, why are the women singing in the streets?
Set in rural India, the play is an intriguing tale of violence, love and loyalty. Directed by Rajit Kapur, you don't want to miss this one!
- JANAK (Marathi) | Saturday April 2 – 6pm and 9pm (PT) + Wednesday April 13 – 7:30pm (NCPA)Set in rural India, the play is an intriguing tale of violence, love and loyalty. Directed by Rajit Kapur, you don't want to miss this one!
‘Janak’ is a satire and like all satires, it holds a mirror to our lives and will make us laugh at ourselves, and at the sometimes ridiculous positions we find ourselves in, at the hands of the System. Farcical and sarcastic, this play will have you laughing until you split your sides!
- OUTER DILLI (Hindi and Haryanvi) | Sunday April 3 – 6pm and 9pm (PT) + Saturday April 16 – 7:30pm (NCPA)
Energetic, engaging and brutally true, Shivani Tanksale's directorial venture tells the story of a young 'new boy in school' who realizes that a new school can throw a lot on your plate - bullying, bad company and even bullets! Now he must decide - will he fight and live? Or be humiliated and merely survive? Outer Dilli is a reminder that coming of age is rarely easy on the young.
- WHITE RABBIT RED RABBIT (English) | Tuesday April 5 – 7pm (Ali Fazal) and 9:30pm (Atul Kumar) (PT)
- TUTAK (Marathi) | Thurday April 7 – 7pm and 9:30pm (PT) + Sunday April 15 – 7:30pm (NCPA)
- FLYPAPER TRAP (English) | Friday April 8 – 7pm and 9:30pm (PT)
As every Azan from the newly constructed mosque brews hate in a child, a forbidden relationship ensues – there’s blood on her pants, the windows are shattered, paper planes are burnt, the garden becomes a grave and there’s fire next door. But can we hear the sound of fire?
- GIVEN (English) | Saturday April 9 – 6pm and 9pm (PT) + Thursday April 14 – 7:30pm (NCPA)
Mundhirikkotte asks whether one can make a right choice in a wrong world. As the lives of three different communities cross paths, each will have to make a choice that will change their lives forever.
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Also this month, Sunil Shanbag’s Loretta opens on the 2nd and 3rd of April at Jamshed Bhabha Theatre and then plays at Andrews on the 8th and 9th as a part of Aadyam II . The play, set in the 70s on a river island in Goa looks closely at issues language politics, father-son dynamics, the labyrinthine nature of being insular and how vested interests can cloud perception..
The script without a director. No stage directions, no set design.
Instead, there's ace actors Ali Fazal and Atul Kumar enacting a script that they've never laid their eyes on before! The first person narrative, written by Iranian writer Nassim Suleimanpour is a one-of-a-kind experiment. Now who wouldn't want to bea subject in an experiment like that?
Instead, there's ace actors Ali Fazal and Atul Kumar enacting a script that they've never laid their eyes on before! The first person narrative, written by Iranian writer Nassim Suleimanpour is a one-of-a-kind experiment. Now who wouldn't want to bea subject in an experiment like that?
- TUTAK (Marathi) | Thurday April 7 – 7pm and 9:30pm (PT) + Sunday April 15 – 7:30pm (NCPA)
Tutak is a story of a bisexual man, torn between trying to be ‘normal’ for his overbearing father, honest to his to-be wife and faithful to his boyfriend. Will he eventually give in to one side of his personality, or manage to make it all work together by accepting his bisexuality?
- FLYPAPER TRAP (English) | Friday April 8 – 7pm and 9:30pm (PT)
As every Azan from the newly constructed mosque brews hate in a child, a forbidden relationship ensues – there’s blood on her pants, the windows are shattered, paper planes are burnt, the garden becomes a grave and there’s fire next door. But can we hear the sound of fire?
- GIVEN (English) | Saturday April 9 – 6pm and 9pm (PT) + Thursday April 14 – 7:30pm (NCPA)
Given is a dark and disturbing tale of four people caught in a web of violence and living with their mistakes. Can they continue to carry on the status quo? Watch the trailer here.
- MUNDHIRIKKOTTE (Tamil) | Sunday April 10 – 6pm and 9pm (PT)Mundhirikkotte asks whether one can make a right choice in a wrong world. As the lives of three different communities cross paths, each will have to make a choice that will change their lives forever.
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Another play with a Goan-Anglo Indian background is writer Ramu Ramnathan’s Bombay Jazz. A semi-biographical musical play about Goan and Anglo Indian musicians who brought jazz influences into Hindi film music between the 50s and 70s, features the incredible Denzil Smith and Rhys Sebastian. Bombay Jazz plays on the 14th and 15th at Prithvi.
Drama School, Mumbai’s Juliet Aur Uska Romeo which finished a successful tour in March, returns for one last show at Mumbai Marathi Sahitya Sangh on the 2nd of April. Also returning in April is AK Various’ A Friend’s Story featuring Sayalee Phatak who won the Best Actress at this year’s META awards.
The alternate spaces in Bombay's theatre scene also seem to be gaining a lot of momentum. The current hotspot Hive features Roundabout, Error 404, Bamboo Shoots and Asamjas Babu ki Atmakatha. Its sister space, Cuckoo Club plays host to The Job and Blueticks. The summer holidays also brings in a lot of children’s play at Andheri Base and the Canvas Laugh Club. Theatre lovers are further spoiled for choice on the 2nd, when House of Wow plays Bayan, Prabodhankar Mini plays CodeName SRK and the Bombay Canteen lends room to Hindi Medium.
Which of these do you plan to catch?
March 2016
March promises to be an exciting month for theatre lovers!
QTP brings its latest, the ‘savage, vicious, hilarious’ The God of Carnage to Prithvi for the very first time from 9 to 11 March. Also returning after a gap of five months, is the eternally loved Khatijabai of Karmali Terrace - a fitting way to celebrate Women's Day on 8th March.
Prithvi kicks off the month with two days of Hero. The play, by a group of young Thepo-ans from Pune, tells the engaging and hilarious story of a village boy trying his best to be ‘Ditto Amitabh Bachchan’ as he tries to woo another Bachchan fan. The play featured as one of the five at the festival last December and has since embarked upon a successful journey across festivals in Maharashtra.
Speaking of youth theatre, another young play that’s had an applaudable opening last month is The Drama School, Mumbai’s Juliet Aur Uska Romeo. The student production is an adaptation of the Shakespeare classic from Juliet’s point of view. Read Asmit Pathare’s review of it here.
Also invoking Shakespeare is Rajat Kapoor’s I Don’t Like It. As You Like It. This play marks the start of the second season of Aadyam, a theatre initiative by the Aditya Birla Group. The play tells the story of a group of clowns who put up a show of the classic play. With devices like clowning and gender-reversal as well as a stellar cast, it promises to be an interesting watch. Shows have been scheduled on 5th and 6th of March at Jamshed Bhabha Theatre, NCPA and then on the 25th and 26th at St. Andrews Auditorium.
Another highlight of the month is Marie-Helene Estienne and Peter Brook’s Battlefield at NCPA. The play draws on the section of the Mahabharata that features the Kurukshetra War. It also marks the award winning director’s return to the Indian mythology after 30 years and will have an exclusive run of shows at the Tata Theatre from 5th to 12th March. For lovers of mythological plays, NCPA Experimental also features Anamika - Searching For Krishna, a dance based drama.
Prithvi Theatre features two plays experimenting with the meta-theatrical device in March. Raghav Dutt (writer-director of the acclaimed Baawla) returns with a new play - Parey. Opening on 4th March at Prithvi, the play is the story of two very different individuals, an actor and a writer taking the journey of life, death and everything beyond it. Avneesh Mishra’s The Great Raja Master Drama Company is another such play. It plays at Prithvi on the 16th of March. The musical-comedy is the story of a tailor who decides to open a play and the hilarity that ensues, and uses the folk form of Nautanki.
Primetime Theatre Company also returns with their new and very well-received offering Gauhar that opened last month. It plays on 7th March at Sophia Auditorium. Also showing is the evergreen Vagina Monologues in Hindi and English. The month also features an eclectic line up at the newly opened Cuckoo Club, the current cultural favorite The Hive, The Jeff Goldberg Studio and the very underappreciated Sathaye Auditorium. NCPA also hosts the Vasant Gujarati Natya Utsav which features 5 off-beat and experimental plays by well-known theatre companies.
This is just a small selection of what March offers. For more detailed listings and to buy tickets log on to bookmyshow.com.
Happy Theatre Watching!
October 2015
We are totally spoilt for choice this month.
The theatre orgy starts off with 3 shows of AKVarious’ The Hound of the Baskervilles the first weekend of October at the NCPA, where it premiered. A most fitting closing act for the Aadyam initiative: First Edition - a brilliant idea uncompromisingly executed. Can’t wait to see what the next edition will offer!
NCPA also hosts the second season of the Ibsen Theatre Festival from 24-26 October featuring Maranat Kharokhar... Jag Jagate, Peer Ghani and Peer Gynt. Ont he 26th there is also a panel discussion with the directors (entry free) about different approaches to Ibsen’s world.
The Going Solo festival is back this month with 8 shows of 3 wonderful productions at NCPA Experimental and Sophia Bhabha Hall from 27 to 30 October. Featuring one man/woman shows - Big Mouth, One Man Star Wars and In The Window – the line-up is really promising.
And at the end of the month, for dessert, there are 8 wonderful productions at NCPA and Prithvi Theatre (PT) from 29 October to 1 November as part of Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest. ENTRY IS FREE!! (Details on how to score passes will be mailed to you. Subscribe to The Script.)
- COMEDY OF HORRORS (Bombay, India) | Thursday 29 October – 5pm (NCPA)
The play brings the genre of classic old fashioned gothic horror to stage with the immortal works of Edgar Allan Poe and Ambrose Pierce.Three provocative and shocking stories retold by some of the most powerful narrators of Bombay stage.
- RIVER RUNS DEEP (Manipur, India) | Friday 30 October – 8pm (NCPA)
Inspired by Manipuri poet Saratchand Thiyam, Astad Deboo collaborates with Manipuri drummers to create an evening of stunning visuals and sound.
- STORM STILL (Calcutta, India) | Friday 30 October – 6.30pm (NCPA) + Saturday 31 October – 6:30pm (PT)
A musician and performer breathe life into this text by the controversial writer Peter Handke. Adapted for the stage by Varun Kishore and Tanaji Dasgupta, it is a dream, a rant… about life//death, war//peace, past//future… colliding in the present.
- SCHLOCK (Birmingham, UK) | Friday 30 October – 5pm (NCPA) + Sunday 1 November – 9pm (PT)
In a unique take on the phenomenally popular Fifty Shades of Grey, Hannah Silva has ripped the pages of her copy and now attempts to put the female body back together. A very intriguing proposition.
- ILA (Bombay, India) | Saturday 31 October – 6:30pm (NCPA)Inspired by Devdutt Pattnaik’s mythological story in The Pregnant King, who in turn reinterpreted the story from the Puranas, the play is set in the ladies compartment of a Mumbai local train. It there that they share the mythological story on their long journey home one evening. Surprising, startling, and yet told with simplicity and delicateness.
- SEA SICK (Toronto, Canada) | Saturday 31 October – 9pm (PT) + Sunday 1 November – 5pm (NCPA)
A captivating solo performance by journalist + author Alanna Mitchell, Sea Sick uses science and wit to tell the story of her journey to the bottom of the ocean, the demons she discovered there and her hope for the future. A must-watch about climate change and our role in it. “A thrilling… cautionary tale.” – Toronto Star.
- WHEN IT RAINS (Halifax, Canada) | Saturday 31 October – 8pm (NCPA) + Sunday 1 November – 6:30pm
A play in the form of a live-action existential graphic novel! A blackly funny social satire about people… and relationships. An award winning and internationally acclaimed production that has found a new visual vocabulary that we can’t wait to watch.
- BLANK PAGE (Bombay, India) | Sunday 1 November – 3:30pm (NCPA)
Blank Page is a celebration of the spoken word through 55 minutes of theatre,music, and movement. The poems written in English, Hindi, Marathi, and Kashmiri by some of India’s finest contemporary poets explore themes such as conflicted relationships, political resistance, identity, and the intense act of writing itself.
Those were just the festivals. In addition to this, we have the ever popular Motley plays at Prithvi and St Andrews, Ekjute returns to Prithvi and the Vagina Monologues reign supreme at the Canvas Laugh Club.
There are about 6 children’s plays being performed across the city, including Natkhat Krishna at Y B Chavan which features quite a few QTP and Thespo regulars. You can catch Little Red Riding Hood at the NCPA, Jack & The Beanstalk and King’s Foolishness… at the Canvas Laugh Club and Jhumru and Jhumri at Prithvi.
But the most anticipated fairy-tale coming to life at the NSCI this month is the Disney production of The Beauty and The Beast! In Bombay for a limited run of 10 shows only from 23 October to 1 November, this Indian production of the Broadway musical features some of the best talent of the country. If you do manage to get your hands on some tickets, do share your experience with us and the readers of The Script.
But the most anticipated fairy-tale coming to life at the NSCI this month is the Disney production of The Beauty and The Beast! In Bombay for a limited run of 10 shows only from 23 October to 1 November, this Indian production of the Broadway musical features some of the best talent of the country. If you do manage to get your hands on some tickets, do share your experience with us and the readers of The Script.
And if that wasn’t enough, we have quite a few exciting venues coming up! This month Andheri Base, The Hive and the Jeff Goldberg Studio will be hosting new experimental work in new experimental spaces. Check it out!
FYI – Prithvi Theatre will be closed form 12th October for their annual maintenance work and will reopen for the (free) Literature Live! Performances on 31 October and 1 November.