OUR THEATRE presents 'Nariyal Paani'

Here we are once again with OUR THEATRE's upcoming production 'NARIYAL PAANI'

A play in conversation with a being, about his love for another being/a girl. He takes you into an unknown world known to him, built with his innocence and guided by his beliefs. Everything around him and his physical being always wants to interrupt his urge to complete his story, while he wants to complete his story in the light. In his never ending story he ends to start again and again and….

The play begins with a character madly in love. Every time this character tries to share his story with others, he is stopped. At one point, he makes the decision to clarify his story to the general public by hiring Rangashankara as a platform to tell his story.It is from this point that the play begins.

Taking the stage with the main character, played by Vivek Vijayakumaran, are two musicians playing the tabla and guitar. The musicians are actually co-actors in the performance. The tabla player signifies the physical presence of the character and the guitar player represents the rest of the universe. “Most sound emerges from the human body in the form of rhythm (walk, talk, clap, etc.)- that’s why I chose a percussion instrument to show the character’s physical presence,” says director Sandeep Shikhar. “Strings can convey a lot of mystery and melody and that’s why the guitar represents the universe.”

Writer and Director

Sandeep Shikhar: Theatre artist-actor, writer and director.

Started theatre with Dastak Sanskritik Manch (Dhanbad,Jharkhand) as an actor for 10 plays and more than 100 shows(performed in Bihar,Jharkhand, Orrisa,UP,Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai,etc).Worked with Rajinder Nath in Abhiyaan, New Delhi. Trained as an actor from Sri Ram Centre For Performing Arts (Diploma in acting).

Directed Surender Verma’s play Marnoparant.

As a writer his work includes plays Treadmill and Nariyal paani.

Dialogues and Screenplay for films and serials in Mumbai.

Cast and Credit

Vivek Vijayakumaran is a young theatre actor/director. A student of Adil Hussain.trained with Mahesh Dattani while essaying the role of Anarkali, a hijra, in the play Seven Steps Around the Fire. Vivek’s training includes a workshop at AdiShakti Theatre Arts Laboratory and a year long project with Abhishek Majumdar for the play Lucknow ’76. Vivek has also undertaken training at the Attakkalari Center for Movement Arts and the Kalari Academy of Performing Arts in contemporary dance and kalaripayattu. Vivek works with children at Head Start school as a theatre facilitator.

Anupam Roy is a lyricist and composer of dazzling originality and exciting promise. His songs combine youthful emotions with sophisticate poetic imagery, and Indian melodic base with western chord progressions, to create a new flavour in contemporary Bengali music. His songs like "Tistaan II", "Maati Khnure", "Protidin" are hugely popular among music lovers.

Originally from Calcutta, Anupam's previous musical endeavours were mainly in Bengali. This is the first time in his career that he is involved in composing & singing songs written in Hindi (lyrics by Sandeep Shikhar).

He is involved in numerous live performances throughout the year, memorable ones being - "Remembering Mohiner Ghoraguli (2007)", "Anupam Roy in a Preview Concert (2007)".

Santosh Satavailli is a budding artist. He is Passionate about his TABLA "The Instrument" as he says....!! He originally belongs to Jamshedpur, Jharkhand. Nariyal Paani being his very first venture into the world of Theatre.

Vivek S Punjabi is a theatre actor. Trained recently at a workshop at Adishakti Theatre Arts Laboratory for Performing Arts where he was introduced and equiped with many techniques like navrasaas and kalaripayattu. He has done a few Plays & Short Films as well which accounts to his experience.

Shows:
1st Show : 24th September 7:30 pm
2nd Show : 25th September 7:30 pm

Venue:

Rangashankara

36/1, 8th Cross, JP Nagar, 2nd Phase, Bangalore-560078

Phone: 080-26592777, 080- 26493982

Beside JP Nagar Post Office & Opp RV Dental College

For tickets you can book online at www.indianstage.in or call us! For telebooking, call Bhakti at 9900582259..

Ticket Price : Rs.100 per head

Moments Unforgettable

Stills from the SHOW

Our Theatre Presents- BEYOND THE LAND OF HATTAMALA

Hi all readers,

Our Theatre presents its debut production, Beyond the Land of Hattamala, a play written by Badal Sircar. Founded by Sandeep Shikhar, an actor, writer and director and Vivek Vijayakumaran, a theatre artist, Our Theatre was originally born out of a need to have a banner for Beyond the Land of Hattamala. However, the connection between Vivek and Sandeep and their belief about theatre ran deeper and so Our Theatre has become more a way of working, a way of doing theatre. “For me, Our Theatre is our thought, our belief, our language, our culture, our complexity, our simplicity, our problems and maybe our solutions. We are interested in something that is ours- things that are rooted in us- and the common man should be able to understand what we are showing,” says Sandeep. This belief in “our” has led the team to its fifth month of work on this play- the work has included workshopping, experiementing, improvisation and discovery. The concept of “our” is so strong that the cast of Beyond the Land of Hattamala even spent three days in a village in Kerala, at the director’s ancestral home, working and exploring a tangible sense of ‘Beyond’ for the play. “It was important for us to bring back our own personal experiences and impressions that we can tap into for the play. We found and created things there that we couldn’t have created in a studio here in the city,” adds Vivek.

Shows:
1st Show : 3rd April 7:30 pm
2nd Show : 4th April 3:30 pm
3rd Show : 4th April 7:30 pm

Venue:

Rangashankara

36/1, 8th Cross, JP Nagar, 2nd Phase, Bangalore-560078

Phone: 080-26592777, 080- 26493982

Beside JP Nagar Post Office & Opp RV Dental College

For tickets you can book online at www.indianstage.in or call us! You could also pick them up at Rangashankara (from 28th onwards, between 6-7 pm everyday) before the show. For telebooking, call Vipul at 9886390879. You can also get tickets in KC Das(St Marks Road), Bangaliana(Koramangla), Crossword (Resindency Road) and Wisdom Lounge(Koramangla).

Ticket Price : Rs.100 per head(Also suitable for children above 8 yrs)

Here is small preview about the Play & People associated with it:

Ridhdhi, a non profit charitable trust , is the venture of professionals from different field, with a vision of making a visible difference in the developmental arena of the Indian society in the holistic sense. The primary objective of this forum is to partner and work with different grassroot level programs and support in the areas of edcation, health, community develpment.Ridhdhi also works towards in promoting various art forms and culture. People from different walks of life have joined this forum and are contributing their skills.

About the writer:
Badal Sircar is a veteran playwright and director who has pioneered an indigenous ‘theatre of conscientization’, a theatre (of) natural environment, physical acting. slogans and familiar sounds, documentary material and sustained movement.

About the Play:
Two Likeable thieves, Kena and Becha, jump into a river to escape being caught. They wash up on the shores of a Never-Never land where buying and selling are alien concepts. In this new land, everyone works together to produce what the entire community needs and wants and money does not exist. Being thieves, Kena and Becha do not understand the concept of “no-money” and hence several humorous misadventures follow as they make their journey through this land.
We hope that you can be a part of the audience for one of the shows and make the journey with Kena and Becha.

About the Director:
Vivek Vijayakumaran is a young theatre artist. He trained with Mahesh Dattani while essaying the role of Anarkali, a hijra, in the play Seven Steps Around the Fire. Vivek’s training includes a workshop at AdiShakti Theatre Arts Laboratory and a year long project with Abhishek Majumdar for the play Lucknow ’76. Vivek has also undertaken training at the Attakkalari Center for Movement Arts and the Kalari Academy of Performing Arts in contemporary dance and kalaripayattu. Vivek currently works with women in slums and children at Head Start school as a theatre facilitator. He is also a storyteller with Kathalaya.

Cast:
Sandeep Shikhar
Samta Shikhar
Parthiv Purani
Bhakti Vij
Ashwini Shridhar
Vivek S Punjabi
Ashok Vasudevan

Live Music:

Kallol Dasgupta

A Note from the Director- Vivek Vijayakumaran

The script came to me at a time when my mornings were being welcomed by bomb blasts, killings, crime reports and recession in the newspapers. A strong will from within motivated and pushed me to tell this story, to direct it and to make a personal journey with it.

I have not selected any of my actors/musician through an audition. Because it was important for me as a director to know my actor, to find a connection which is personal. When I am with my actor in the heat of rehearsal I need to be in love with the human in the actor/actors that I am trying to deal with. I believe when creation happens treading on this path, it becomes more personal for both the actor and the director and thus more belief seeps in.

Over these five months, I have developed a way of directing for myself which is very intuitive to the extent that, I don’t know what I am going to do with my actors until I enter the rehearsal space and finish with my warm up. I also somewhere feel that this discovery has got a lot to do with the idea/concept of the play!

Trusting this discovery took us to my ancestral home in kerala for three very significant days of work, where we trained in the lap of nature making discoveries that surprised us. A great learning came when we were able to work on certain scenes in its realistic settings, as it just opens up so many possibilities. We have also been fortunate enough for being able to work on our creation in six different spaces.

Trusting the light in me I dedicate all my efforts towards this play to my mother. As this is also my first creation after she left her body.

A big reason behind me being able to direct this play is Abhishek Majumdar. Who has been there like a friend, partner, brother and a teacher.

Thank you God!

Rehearsal at a different space