Month: July 2020

Locks, Throughs and Avoids explores the influence of distance between two identities. It is a representation of two bodies finding a way to
coexist together and hence going through Locks, Throughs and Avoids.

Chahul is a story of newly settled couple, Makarand and Madhvi. They are victim of a consumer based society but are also an integral part of it. Makrands boss asks him to spend a night with Madhvi in  exchange of promotion i.e. money. Chahul takes place in between the evening and late night where the couple is reaching towards their decision. The effects of their parents on them, their frustration over never ending requirements of ideal lifestyle, their realization of what they have turned into and their final decision were portrait beautifully. We feel sorry for Madhukar and Madhavi but then we realize that their story is not rare, just the scenarios are different.

Chahul gives us insights about couples desires and what can they do to achieve it. But not at any point, we judge them. We know reasons behind their action. Even we may disagree with their lifestyle decisions, but we can understand their motives.

Both the actors of Chahul understood depths of their characters very well and their conviction was the proof. Creating a character which will
answer all of your questions is difficult, let alone only through voice. Chahul was also blessed by strong direction. Drunk scene, monologues and final scene were done brilliantly.

-Sanket Bagul

Street performance or ‘busking’ is the act of performing in public places for gratuities. The workshop was conducted by Mr M Ranin from Romania. Participants were amazed by the videos shared with them. All productions that Ranin spoke about and had performed in Romania were found to be tremendously beautiful by the participants. A large star cast is the speciality of such performances, they learnt. Ranin shared ideas of directing this type of plays with the participants and engaged in an interactive discussion with several questions from the students towards the end of the session.

– Sushrut Mulavekar

On the fifth day of festival, The Balancing act portrayed children’s magical world. When colours are still bright, minds yet to discover stress and hearts filled with curiosity. It was a compilation of normal day scenarios from children’s routine. Children portrayed by adults, those who are visiting that world and taking us along. As a child, world is a playground. But there are places where he/she shouldnt go. At least not before the right time. The Balancing Act exhibited those places and their effects on childs mind sensitively. Issues like bullying, stereotyping, domestic violence, sexual abuse were handled.

Childrens hearts and minds are like delicate flower that must be nourished like one. How children are supposed to balance between their fantasy world and reality? How they cope with it? The Balancing Act tries to showcase these questions. Finding solution is our responsibility.

As the play progressed smiles vanished, coloures faded and children turned into adults. Maybe we are trying to convert them into adults  before time, just like artificial ripening of fruits. Putting them in a never-ending rat race and killing their innocence in the process.

The Balancing Act is a play which will make children laugh and adults revisit their memories. Its fun, its colourful, its something we should to think about.

-Sanket Bagul

This was a two-day writing workshop facilitated by senior playwright Abhiram Bhadkamkar. The focus of the workshop is to bring us fresh ideas for performances and finding unique expression. He shared that plays have to be written to tell the truth. A particular play is written since one thinks about a particular situation, analyses it and then presents it to the audience. It is a recreation of what is seen. For effective expression, a human being should be sensitive to his or her roots, ponder upon the roots of his/her experience and think about it strongly. What happened is not as important as how it happened. A writer has to tell nothing but everything with just his words.

– Bipin Ghobale

Nautanki is one of the most popular folk operatic theatre performance forms of India, particularly northern India. The workshop took a look at exploring Nautanki’s rich musical compositions and humorous, entertaining storylines that hold a strong influence over rural Peoples
imagination. The workshop facilitators conducted some voice exercises specially designed for Nautanki. They taught some songs and also took some improvisations in which actors had to both sing and act as they do in Nautanki.

– Sushrut Mulavekar

The workshop was facilitated by Bengali theatre director and practitioner Mr. Subhendu Bhandari and Rituparna Biswas. The workshop explored psychological movements that awaken the actor’s inner life. It also dealt with methods of creating bold characters through gestures and movements. Bhandari asked students to form a circle and explained that everyone is equal just like the circle because one can’t define its starting point and ending point. The circle does not have one leader, everyone is leading the circle.

He conducted an exercise on psyco-physics with which he shared that one should keep things simple and easy. When an actor works with his brain and heart, he should be aware about his sixth sense. Every human being is an actor in his childhood because we see children copy or mimic other people or things very easily and with conviction. Actors should also have observing capacities like children. Every actor has his own layers and when an actor studies a character or performs the act, he should open his layers for better performance. Actors should cultivate the capacity to change gestures according to situations and surroundings.

– Bipin Ghobale

First day was about rebel, second about family, religion and the third day turned out to be all about feelings residing deep within and dilemma. Today, two plays were read. Antayatra (Dir. Supriya Gosavi, Vasudha Creations) and Chahul (Dir. Nitin Javale, Mukhvate)

Antayatra is about strained and complicated relationship between a mother-daughter pair. Geeta is well established writer. She’s a strong headed woman living life on her own terms. Sayali is her daughter who never received her love as ahe desired. This relationship never seems usual but not unusual too as we know and understand the reasons behind their behavior. There were flashbacks, time jumps
defined by music. Layers of character were well defined. We understood the reasons and motive behind their actions. Antaryatra, a love-hate story about Geeta and Sayali provided well enough emotional turns and twists, even at the end.

Chahul is a story of newly settled couple, Makarand and Madhvi. They are victim of a consumer based society but
are also an integral part of it. Makrands boss asks him for his wife for a night in exchange of promotion i.e. money. Chahul takes place in between the evening and late night where the couple is reaching towards their decision. Both the actors of Chahul understood the depths
of their characters very well and their conviction was the proof. The effects of their parents on them, their frustration
over never ending requirements of ideal lifestyle, their realization of what they have turned into and their final
decision were portrait beautifully. We feel sorry for Madhukar and Madhavi but then we realize that their story is not rare, just the scenarios are different.

– Sanket Bagul

The Playful Process of Painting’ focused on developing critical thinking, creative expression and essential learning skills through the arts. The workshop explored the visual and performing arts together, looking at a wide variety of artist techniques and styles. Within the visual and performing arts, it looked at a range of potential mergers and connections to explore a wider universe.The facilitators conducted several theatre games to improve bodily coordination and mental attention.

– Sushrut Mulavekar

Introduction to Realistic Acting Workshop – Aniruddha Khutwad (India) This two-day workshop was facilitated by senior theatre practitioner Aniruddha Khutwad who tought acting based on the Stanislavaski System. He tought students the difference between the concepts actor, character and role. ‘Actor’ is nothing but the creative state of the mind. ‘Character’ is invisible – the actor has to study the character and when the actor performs the character based on his study, that can be called the ‘role.’ He also delved into the ideas of real, reality, and realism. He shared that if the play is a lie, the actor has to act the lie. Just like reality, acting is not realism but it is conviction. The workshop concluded by running glimpses of the History of Theatre, Romanticism, Absurdity, Impressionism, and Expressionism in artwork.

– Bipin Ghobale