BackBeyond physical theatre
The Jagriti Season 2015 will include stand-up comedy and music shows, as well as a new play on power equations
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Jagriti Theatre is starting its 2015 season today. Besides five plays, including Akvarious Productions’ A Friend’s Story and Swami And Friends by Visual Respiration, there will be stand-up comedy acts as well as music and dance performances over three months.
Arundhati Raja, artistic director of Jagriti Theatre, says this is the first time their line-up will have performing arts other than plays. “We have been hosting music shows and stand-up comedy performances every week on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (respectively) since the beginning of this year. We find that people travel to see these from faraway places even on weekdays. Their inclusion in the season is a continuation of that trend," says Raja.
What to expect: Unlike a theatre festival where each play typically gets stage time of a day or two, the season will give each play a longish run of 11 days.
Raja says the plays were chosen either because the script is by a well-known writer, like Vijay Tendulkar (A Friend’s Story) or Ramu Ramanathan (Teen Sakina Manzil), or because it’s being performed by a well-known group. “This is the first time Adishakti are performing in Jagriti," she says. Adishakti will stage The Tenth Head from 30 October-8 November.
Among the interesting performances lined up are a cabaret theatre piece by Kirtana Kumar, called One Night In Paris (10 November), and a physical theatre performance by Italian company Instabili Vaganti called Made In Ilva, which uses movement, original music, vocals and video projections to talk about industrial pollution.
What’s new: Every season, the Jagriti Theatre repertory opens a new play for the season. This year, it is The Workers’ Bible. Directed by Rebecca Spurgeon, it is “very loosely based on three stories by the Italian playwright Dario Fo"—Two Lovers Entwined Like Peas In A Pod, Presumptuous Pig and The Dungbeetle—which in turn are based on Italian folklore.
Spurgeon says the stories are a reflection on the nature of power. The four pieces in the play (Two Lovers is a longish tale and has been split into two devised pieces) talk about the relationship between God and Adam and Eve, the story of why pigs have squished noses (because an arbitrary God took away their wings and let them fall from heaven), and a justice-seeking dung beetle who gets some good advice from a too-busy, perhaps uncaring, God.
The devised act uses elements of physical theatre, minimal text as well as props like a plastic tub with animal pictures that serves as the garden of Eden.
“The pieces could be viewed as fables," says Spurgeon. There’s a lot of social commentary on issues like feminism today and power equations in a patriarchal society, adds Spurgeon.
The Jagriti Season 2015 is being held from 4 September-11 November, at Jagriti Theatre, Varthur Road, Whitefield. Timings vary. Tickets, ₹ 400, available on in.bookmyshow.com. For details, visit www.jagrititheatre.com
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