Life gets its day on stage

BENGALURU: Ranga Shankara will be hosting its annual theatre festival from October 28 to November 4, and this year, the theme is real life incidents.

Narrative into visual language

These days, many actors from Delhi migrate to Mumbai to build a career. Without much experience, these young actors move there to make a name for themselves. “I thought it would be interesting to execute this subject through drama because I know some struggling actors and the problems they have faced. I have done six months of research. So the challenge was bringing all these stories together and clubbing them into one play,” says Happy Ranjith, director of the play Bloody Bombay.

Adding how he loves Ranga Shankara, Ranjith says that he was inspired by these struggling artists as well as Nawazuddin Siddique. He has also directed Gang of Girls, based on Nirbhaya, another play of his Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda was performed at Ranga Shankara last year and was based on Dharamvir Bharati’s novel. Ranjith’s A Straight Proposal is an artistic response to the Section 377.

Randhir Kumar, who has directed Outcaste, says, “I chose this subject because we have been witnessing a lot of injustice being meted out to minorities of late. Caste discrimination and intolerance have to be addressed. I wanted to highlight the struggles of Dalits. The play is based on Marathi poet and literary critic Dr Sharankumar Limbale’s autobiography. I usually do non-fiction plays, so this was more challenging.”

Manalmgudi Theatre from Tamil Nadu will be showcasing subaltern rituals and contemporary politics through text, movements, visuals and music.  “We focus on incorporating the theatrical language of inanimate objects with human-centric themes. Rehearsals and performances often take place in forests and shifting sand dunes, as well as in cities, towns and villages”, says Murugaboopathy, who has directed Nomads of Water, which focuses on the consequences of urbanization.

Sushama Rao, programme coordinator at Ranga Shankara, says, “We felt that it is important for us to focus on real stories because more and more directors are exploring this concept.”

Festival schedule
Gajab Kahani
Voyage of an elephant from Lisbon to Vienna-October 28,2017-7:30 PM
Tumhara Vincent
Life of painter Vincent Van Gogh -October 29,2017-
7:30 PM
Outcaste  
The struggles of Dalits -
October 30, 2017 - 7:30 PM
Quiet Desire  
Rabindranath Tagore and his bond with sister – October 31,2017- 7:30PM
Bloody Bombay
The life of struggling actors - November 2,2017 - 7:30 PM
Nomads Of Water
Urbanization and its consequences November 3, 2017 -7:30 PM
Quicksand  
Young generation and
their engrossment on
smart phone-November 4, 2017 - 7:30PM