Bangalore Gayana Samaja, K R Road, Basavanagudi, is holding the centenary celebrations of the great Carnatic musician, Semmangudi Dr R Srinivasa Iyer, with its 40th music conference being held from July 27 to August 3.

@65 6049 2120 8643, 2661 2244.

It’s a long time since we had Hindi theatre here…and now it’s in the offing….

Mashaal brings to you Sanchay. Sanchay (meaning ‘Collection’ in Hindi) is a new initiative by Mashaal which aims to showcase on stage, a few short pieces of theatrical performances, different from one another in content & presentation, but united by a common theme.

Theme : Sapne
Language : Hindi
Date & Time : 27th July, 7:30 p.m.
Location : CFD (Centre for Film and Drama)
Duration : 60-70 minutes
Entry : Rs. 75
For bookings contact: +91 9739803104 or mailmashaal@gmail.com

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An intense, absorbing play…that was “The Woman In Me”, by Pawan Kumar , that was staged on Thursday and today at Ranga Shankara.

A view of the various plays that ACTof has put up, displayed at the Ranga Shankara foyer.

Rajiv and Nina are a married couple…and Nina is raped and murdered by three men when she goes to a party thrown by the airline that she works for, as an air hostess. Rajiv is a writer, not entirely comfortable at his being at home while Nina puts the bread on the table…

Pawan Kumar slips in and out of the personae of Nina and Rajiv, which confront Rajiv (the audience was not introduced to the actor who played Rajiv, or to the crew, on Friday at least…Pawan, you MUST introduce everyone to the audience at the end, even if this takes a few minutes.), played by another very talented actor. As the woman in the man confronts the man with truths that he doesn’t want to admit to himself, layers get peeled away….murder, rape, marriage…what is the definition of all these?

Pawan did fluff his lines a bit at the beginning of the play..but then, his ability to slip into a female persona which is so credible even when he is putting in the balloons in his bustline, and tying the saree on stage….that was superb.

The sequences where Rajiv and Nina reach out to each other, with superb lighting, made for a visual treat.

The props were: two water closets which served as the seating focus, with books, toilet paper, alcohol bottles, and other deteritus of daily life strewn around; two washbasins facing each other, with two buckets (with a fish in each of them, how symbolic!) and two mugs….the toilet was even “used” by “Rajiv” at one point.

Powerful performances from both the actors enhanced the intense mood of the play.

The rapid-fire delivery of dialogue by both of them in one sequence brought home the fevered pitch of thought. The use of shadows to show what happens to Nina is innovative.

The sound was well managed throughout, and voices carried clearly even when Pawan was “behind” stage.

The play disturbed me and made me think hard; I am very impressed that such a young man is able to delve so deeply into the male and female psyche and bring out the nuances of how men do not even understand when they are raping their own wives…

Strongly recommended! (though I would not ask someone who wants a little light entertainment after work, in the evening, to watch this play.) I think that ACTor is a very talented theatre group, and I hope that they go from success to success…

Today, Environment Support Group, which is working in many ways for the commons of Bangalore and Karnataka, organized a lecture on ‘Rethinking the Indian city, reclaiming its Commons” by Professor Michael Goldman.

Here’s the background about Prof. Goldman that ESG gave in their invitation mail:

“Prof. Michael Goldman is a McKnight Presidential Fellow and professor of Sociology and Global Studies at the University of Minnesota, in Minneapolis, USA. He is the editor of Privatizing Nature: Political Struggle for the Global Commons (Rutgers University Press and Pluto Press), and the author of Imperial Nature: The World Bank and Struggles for Social Justice in the Age of Globalization (Yale University Press 2005; Orient Longman India 2006; Kyoto University Press [in Japanese] 2008), based on a decade-long ethnography of the World Bank. He is currently conducting research in Bangalore on the project,“Bangalore: The Making of a World City,”focusing on the transformations of land, government,and citizenship taking place under liberalization.”

Here’s Leo Saldanha of ESG, introducing Professor Goldman:

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Date: 27th July, 2008
Starting time: 8 am
Starting point: Alankar Plaza, Kempe Gowda Road, Gandhinagar, Bangalore 560009
Ending time: Approximately 10:30 am
Ending point: Malleswaram Circle

To participate mail Karthik S at skthewimp [at] yahoo [dot] com.

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I went today to watch “The Final Rehearsal” by ACTor Productions, Bangalore , and came away very impressed with a theatre group that seems to have got its…er…act together, with a very talented team, led by Pawan Kumar.

The play is all about competition, winning and losing….acceptance and rejection. An actor describes his experiences, working his way up the ladder (from playing a tree in Macbeth, where he artistically sways to and fro) to finally getting the part of Mark Antony in Julius Caesar, only to lose it because when he trips over Browniel (more about this character later) he drops the actor playing Caesar…and that’s the director’s son!

The dialogue was very well-written, with that touch for the everyday phrase that is so natural when spoken. But Pawan did hurry up the diction a little, and I hope he slows it down for his next show. However, his grasp of (at least the well-known lines of) Shakespeare helped him a lot with his excellent comic timing; the spoof speech on “to act or not to act” brought the house down! And in the one or two places that Pawan did fluff the dialogue a bit, it was as if it was the Actor that was doing it; it didn’t seem out of place.

As the actor faces multiple rejections in each of the reality shows or the productions that he compromises his principles to act in, he breaks down….

One of the most impressive facets of the show was Pawan’s use of props. A chair, Browniel (I hope I have the spelling right!) Funich (”derived from Furniture”) the folding chair, is a character by himself. The Actor has a love-hate relationship with Browniel, and the sequence where the chair and he have an altercation was a great piece of theatre-gymnastics!

Also, I would not have believed earlier that one sheet of white cloth can become: the foliage of a tree,Othello’s cape, Macbeth’s witch’s robes, a soldier’s armour, Banquo’s ghost, Caesar’s shroud, the dead Caesar himself, a trumpet, an actor’s microphone, a plain bed sheet, Gandhi’s spinning mat, a ragpicker’s backpack, and the defendant’s enclosure in a court….truly innovative! Are you not intrigued about how this can be done? Pawan is certainly well-versed in stagecraft and mime.

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Pawan Kumar is staging two of his plays, “The Final Rehearsal”, and “The Woman in Me”, at Ranga Shankara ; the first on July 15 and 16 at 7.30pm, and the second on July 17 and 18, at the same time.

“The Final Rehearsal” is a dark comedy about a reality show, which was written in 2002. “The Woman in Me” is about how men look at women, and touches on women’s issues.

Pawan Kumar is also making his mark in writing the story and screenplay for Bollywood movies, and is preparing to direct a Kannada movie in October.

Ranga Shankara and DHNiE (Deccan Herald Newspapers in Education) are staging a theatre festival, which will kick off on July15, and will feature a total of 35 shows till the end of August.

The festival starts off with “Gumma Bande Gumma” (an adaptation of the German play, “Max Und Milli”, from July 15 to 18. The play is about a child’s ability to connect to others regardless of adult restrictions.

This play will be followed by “The First Leaf”, written by Padmavati Rao. The play is about Putti, her brothers Dodu and Chinna, and their neighbours, facing the challenges of a middle-class family.

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An old adage says “there is more happiness in giving than in receiving”. With this in mind, Maxanim Consulting, a business consulting firm in Bangalore is getting together with Pixetra , the photo store, and holding a photography competition in Bangalore. The proceeds will go towardds supporting an organization, Mallige Smile Foundation, which is helping children with Cleft Palates. Dentists offer their services free of charge and each child undergoes on average 4 operations over a period of 14 years.

The theme of this competition is ‘My Bangalore, Your Bengalooru’.

From the greater purpose behind it to the way a winner will be judged, this competition is unique in several ways.

For more details, email Pixetra at:

club@pixetra.com

before Monday, 14th July, 2008,

or call one of their stores for details (Click on the name Pixetra to go to their home page.) They will email the details of the competition.

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After a one year hiatus, Merchants of Drama are back with a bigger and better brand-new production!

An Apt Pupil

The play will be staged at the Alliance Francaise (Off Cunningham Road) on the 11th and 12th of July at 7 pm.

For donor passes priced at Rs.100 each, call 99808-62727 or 99002-12387. Else, just login to www.buzzintown.com or mail us at: merchants.of.drama@gmail.com . Tickets are also available at Crossword on Residency Road and the Alliance Café.

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