Performances

Per formance s
GILLO THEATRE REPERTORY
Presents
Kyun-Kyun Ladki
A
dapted from Mahashweta Devi’s well
known picture-storybook Why-Why Girl,
the play celebrates the magical world of
questions. It is the story of Moyna who always
ask the question ‘Why? How often do children
actually get answers from adults? And how often
do adults enter the magical world of questions?
Performed through dance, movement and live
music, this gentle lyrical play attempts to give
an insight into their lives and minds, and offers
children a celebratory reflection of themselves.
Based on Mahashweta Devi’s story Why-Why Girl
Adaptation, Direction, Light Design &
Execution: Shaili Sathyu
Cast: Moyna -Sharvari Deshpande
Malti Teacher- Hetal Varia
Red Story: Vinati Makijany, Ishita Dave,
Harshad Tambe
Blue Story: Sahil Gangurde, Ronak Kitta,
Prasad Dagare
Yellow Story: Ghanshyam Tiwari,
Vighnesh Sinkar, John Soans
Supported by: Violin Shruti Bhave / Manas,
Percussion Abhijeet Pant, Flute Nilesh
Gajbhiye, Vocals Nihar Shembekar
Poem :Safdar Hashmi
Choreography Hamsa Moily
Music :Mithila Lad
Production Design: Abir Patwardhan
Poster Illustration Kanyika Kini
Promotional Design Phagun Dhakka
Stage Manager Tanya Mahajan
Props Ishita Dave
Production Team Yashoda Joshi, Nishna Mehta
Adaptation of Short Stories.
4th November 2012.
10am. Experimental Theatre.
Duration 1 hour 15 minutes.
No interval.
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Fuel Theatre
Presents
The 14th Tale
A BAC Scratch Commission with Apples & Snakes.
A London Word Festival Commission. Originally
funded by Arts Council England.
Written and performed by Inua Ellam
Directed by Thierry Lawson
Lighting Design by Michael Nabarro
T
he 14th Tale is a humorous and moving selfportrait of life spent growing up in Nigeria,
Dublin and London. Inua vividly recreates
the characters that punctuate the narrative,
in deft and beautiful prose and poetry, while
challenging the audience’s expectations of what it
is to be a young, black male in London today.
Against the background of a hospital waiting
room, Inua recounts stories of his childhood, of his
schools, friends and family and of his experiences
of moving to the UK.
The 14th Tale is a sharp reminder of the power
of language and rhythm in theatre, and of how
dramatic poetry can create whole worlds through
the voice of a single performer.’
Spoken Word.
1st November, 2012.
6pm. NCPA Experimental.
Duration 1 hour.
No interval.
Supported by
11
Per formance s
Black Boxers production and the industrial theatre co
Present
Hayavadana
T
wo close friends, Devdutt and Kapil, fall
in love with the same girl- Padmini. Kapil
sacrifices his love for friendship, so Devdutt
can marry Padmini.
But love has its own rules. The heart, always,
charts its own path. Knowing that he has lost
both his wife and his best friend, Devdutt cuts off
his own head as an offering to the Goddess Kali,
Kapil, not to be outdone, offers his own head.
Kali awakes from a slumber of decades. Bored
and very sleepy, the Goddess grants Padmini a
single boon -close your eyes, replace the heads
and pray. In a dark forest Padmini places the
wrong heads on the wrong bodies. Exchanged
heads, mixed identities and a pregnant Padmini!
Shakespeare meets Indian folklore with a
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philosophical twist - who reigns supreme – the
head or the body?
Written by Girish Karnad
Directed by: Arghya Lahiri & Pushan Kripalani
Produced by: Akshat Shah & Vishal Dhandhia
Cast: Preetika Chawla, Vivek Gomber, Dilnaz Irani
Prashant Prakash, Abhishek Saha, Anand Tiwari
Play.
2nd November 2012.
5:15pm. Sunken Garden.
Duration 2 hours 15 minutes
(with interval)
Astad Deboo Dance Company
Presents
Interpreting Tagore
T
he seeds of my present work on Tagore
were laid back in 1995, when I was asked
to participate in a festival on Tagore, with a
piece of my own. Eschewing the plays in favour
of some of his poems, because mine was to be a
solo performance, I zeroed on three poems – Ekla
Chalo, Your Grace and Every Fragment of Dust is
Awakened. After two successful performances
in Mumbai and Kolkata, the show was put on the
back burner, until I revisited it on the occasion
of Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary celebrations.
I have been mentoring street children from the
Salaam Balak Trust and some of them are part of
the show. I have added a new fourth piece called
Surrender, which I hope will reflect the reverence
that Thakurda inspires all over the world and spark
off fresh interest in the younger generation in his
inimitable body of work.
Choreographed by Astad Deboo
Assistant to choreographer: Shamshul &
Avinash Kumar
Costume designer: Archana Shah
Masks & puppets: Mohammed Shameem & Anil
Kumar
Poems recited by :Akash Khurana
Light design: Milind Srivastava
Program design: Eureka Moment Design
Company
Performers: Anil Kumar, Astad Deboo, Avinash
Kumar, Pankaj Gupta, Raju Thapa, Rohit Kumar,Salim
Zahedi, Sanjay Khan
Music: Amelia Cuni, Alio Die, Bill Laswell, Kodo
Drummers, Mari Boine, Jan Garbarek,Frederico
Senesi, Liro Rantala Yoichiro Yoshikawa
Picture credit Haran
Dance.
4th November 2012.
7:30pm. Tata Theatre.
Duration 75 minutes.
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Per formance s
Green Poems
for a Blue Planet
Written and performed by Martin Kiszko
Projected illustrations by Nick Parker
A
humorous, theatrical and challenging stand-up
poetry performance suitable for the entire family.
Martin Kiszko, ‘The UK’s Green Poet’, performs
poems from his Green Poems For A Blue Planet collection.
Accompanied by Nick Park’s projected illustrations,
the show explores what it means to be green! From
disappearing tigers to lost whales and from football
to ‘poo power’, Martin feels this show will provoke a
thought, raise a smile, start a conversation, spark an idea,
spur us into action, or simply turn on a few ‘green lights!
Poetry Recitation.
3rd November 2012.
12noon. Little Theatre.
Duration 1 hour.
No interval.
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The Hip-Hop Shakespeare Company
Presents
Hip-Hop Shakespeare Live
H
ip-hop and Shakespeare come together
in performance, hosted by Akala who will
be joined onstage by a live band, aspiring
talent and special guest artists all performing a
medley of songs inspired by scenes/themes from
famous Shakespeare plays and sonnets.
The Hip-Hop Shakespaeare Company (HSC )
is a music theatre production company founded
by MOBO award-winning hip hop artist Akala,
aimed at exploring the social, cultural and
linguistic parallels between the works of William
Shakespeare and that of modern day rappers.
THSC has established an Artist Associate and
Peer Leader programme to train talented
youth to become part of THSC’s growing pool
of artistic talent. Artist Associates is a collective
of highly talented professional artists who
mentor and perform alongside Peer Leaders at
THSC productions around the world. THSC also
produces interactive live music events/theatre
productions showcasing the work of up and
coming young talent who share the stage with
established artists and actors.
Musical.
1st November, 2012.
7:30pm. Tata Theatre.
Duration 1 hour 20 minutes.
Supported by
15
Per formance s
AN INSTINCT FOR
KINDNESS
Written and performed by Chris Larner
Directed by Hannah Eidinow
C
hris Larner accompanied his chronically
ill ex-wife to Dignitas euthanasia clinic
in Switzerland. He came home with an
empty wheelchair and a story to tell. Candid,
poignant and sometimes funny, Larner uses his
considerable talent as a writer and performer to
weave his and Allyson’s compelling tale on the
simplest of sets. A multi-textured piece of theatre
with moments of absurdity and unexpected joy
as well as sadness, reflecting on the morality
and humanity surrounding assisted suicide.
Intensely moving, at times overwhelming, Larner
explores both the profound personal implications
and the wider ethical issues that surround the
contentious topic through his own experiences –
from meeting and marrying Allyson in the 1980s,
through the birth of their child and to the end, in
a blue-grey porter- cabin in Switzerland. Using
his s more familiar comic skills he succeeds in
drawing us into this poignant real- life story.
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Non-Fiction Play.
3rd November 2012.
7:30pm. Tata Theatre.
No interval.
Motley Presents
Thurber and Seth’s Animals - A Performance Reading
Directed by Naseeruddin Shah
Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Kenneth Desai, Heeba
Shah and Vivan Shah.
M
otley has been experimenting with
performing the short story, in the
writer’s very words, on stage for the
past ten years. So far we have confined ourselves
to the Hindustani language, those stories having
a more immediate connection to us. It was not
easy identifying stories in the English language,
which similarly could be ‘told’ on stage; the
nationality of the characters in them demanding
that they speak with a particular intonation.
Hence James Thurber, whose whose characters
need not necessarily be American. He speaks for
the befuddled common man in any nationality
and in any tongue. The stories are told in the
writer’s exact words. The ‘American-ness’ of the
stories, which fortunately is not all-pervading,
has been retained and no attempt has been
made to ‘Indianise’ or ‘contemporarise’ anything.
The unmistakeable trait of great writing is that it
transcends the time and the milieu in which it is
set. Vikram Seth’s two poems “The Elephant and
the Tragopan” and “The Frog and the Nightingale”
are also being read, for the sheer joy of reciting
that exquisite verse, and to pay tribute to his
prolific writing and his slightly disturbing offcentre ability to transform childrens’ verse into a
searing morality tale for adults.
Act II
Vikram Seth:
i. The Frog and The Nightingale
ii. The Elephant and The Tragopan
Performance Reading.
2nd November 2012. 8pm.
Tata Theatre.
Duration 1 hour 30 minutes.
With interval.
Act I
James Thurber:
i. Nine Needles
ii. The Little Girl and The Wolf
iii. The Very Proper Gander
iv. The Seal Who Became Famous
v. The Bear Who Let It Alone
vi. The Owl Who Was God
vii. The Unicorn In The Garden
viii. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
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