The Abhimanyu Project
Bangalore based Theatre Lab (Youth), a company of children trained and mentored by Kirtana Kumar, presents a play that combines tech and mythology, titled The Abhimanyu Project. Featuring a talented cast of children, The Abhimanyu Project is about AB, a hacker and Deaf Girl Devi, a coder. “AB has dreams about the myth of Abhimanyu,” says Kirtana, “AB keeps encountering a game, which involves Krishna, Arjuna, and Karna, that he has to crack.”
The idea for the play came from Konarak Reddy, says Kirtana. “He reenvisioned the myth of Abhimanyu through the eyes of a hacker. Konarak keeps his ear to the ground and picked up a lot on conversations among the kids on gaming and coding.”
The Abhimanyu Project will be staged on July 20 and July 21 at Shoonya Centre for Arts and Somatic Practices, Lal Bagh Main road, and on July 22 at Goethe-Institut, Max Mueller Bhavan. Tickets on www.instamojo.com/shoonya/ the-abhimanyu-project/?ref=store for Shoonya shows and for the show at Max Mueller Bhavan mail pupli.dasgupta@ gmail.com.
Photograph 51
Bangalore Little Theatre (BLT) presents Photograph 51, an award-winning play by Anna Ziegler. The play, directed by Sridhar Ramanathan and Archana Kariappa, is being produced for the firs time in India. “It is based on the story of Rosalind Franklin, English chemist and X-ray crystallographer,” says Sridhar. “The play revolves around the race to solve the double helix DNA, the key to understanding the mystery of life.” The title of the play, Photograph 51, is the nickname given to an X-ray diffraction image taken in 1951 by Raymond Gosling under the supervision of Rosalind at the MRC Biophysics Unit, which at the time was a part of the King’s College campus in London. Sridhar adds: “The image inspired James Watson and Francis Crick to build their double helix model. Rosalind got credit much later for her work, but not during her lifetime.” In fact, as a woman scientist she was also discriminated against, which will be shown in the play. “She was not allowed into the lunch room which was for only men.” Sridhar says Archana and he bring together different perspectives to the direction of the play.
Photograph 51 is the 16th play under BLT’s History of Ideas programme, which stages plays based on the lives of great personalities.
The play will be staged on July 22 at Alliance Francaise, Vasanthnagar, at 4 pm and 7.30 pm, and from July 27 to 29 at Jagriti Theatre, Whitefield. Tickets are available at bookmyshow.com and at the venues.
The Centre Cannot Hold
Vivek Vijayakumaran, actor and theatre facilitator who has won acclaim for his performance in Bhima, is now directing an original play The Centre Cannot Hold. “The play has been created at the end of a one-year-long actor training and theatre making program conducted by Our Theatre, and facilitated by me,” says Vivek. “The play explores the dynamics between the collective and the individual. I worked closely with the dramaturge Sunitha MR and Charumathi Supraja. Later, Sharath Parvathavani came on board to write the script. We first researched and later along with the actors, Sunitha and I collaborated and arrived at a structure, which Sharath penned down. He would write a scene which I would develop with the actors and have a presentation for him and Sunitha, to refine it further. This process continued until Sharath wrote the whole script.” About the stage design, Vivek says: “There are no sets. There are only costumes and five actors, including Abhishek Chauhan, Rahul Thomas, Aditya Nair, Poorvi Sardar, and Abhitej Gupta. We have also experimented with sound, executed by Aswin Varrier, with original sound by Nikhil Nagraj. Choreography has been done by Shikhar Martolia.”
Elaborating further, Vivek says: “It has essentially four parts. The first part is about an individual leaving the collective for himself and what that entails. The second part is about the idea of love, including both romantic and mother's love, the third part is about how an individual follows his conscience - still including and excluding different collectives, and the fourth part is a finale.”
The Centre Cannot Hold (space partner:Invisible Bed) will be staged at Ranga Shankara on July 20 and 21 at 7.30 pm. Tickets on bookmyshow.