Pravara Arts Studio has a new show. “COVID-19 has made us think differently,” says Hanu Ramasanjeeva, theatre practitioner and founder of the seven-year-old theatre company. “We just completed a series on songs from theatre. Our music director, Akshay Bhonsley, brought out the best song sequences from our theatre shows, re-recorded them and we had artistes presenting them on social media. Our next series, which is starting on May 9, is on theatre monologues. Our best monologues will be re-enacted by the actors themselves, who will record their performances at home.”
The company, with nearly 100 shows to its credit, has selected two dozen monologues from their 13 productions, which will be presented by 24 artistes. “We start the series with one of our most versatile artistes, Venkatesh Bharadwaj. The 30-year-old IT professional apart from Pravara is part of short films and documentaries too.”
The first monologue is from Jayant Kaikini’s Jothegiruvanu Chandira directed by Ramasanjeeva. “The nearly-10 minute monologue has received standing ovations whenever we have performed."
Set during Partition, Jothegiruvanu Chandira finds the protagonist addressing the moon on a riverbank at sunset. “Isn’t Partition and displacement enough?” the protagonist demands. “You gave me three beautiful daughters. One is to be married soon, while the other two are threatening to leave me and join their lovers! How fair is this?”
Fathers and sons
Rajashekar Aradya will perform the next monologue in the series. The monologue is from Bhava Enage Hingithu written by Karanam Pavan Prasad and directed by Ramasanjeeva. The story speaks of the relationship between father and son. Prabhu is an accomplished author of many best-selling novels addressing social equality. His son, Chiranthan, also a writer, wants to break away from his father's shadow. Rajashekar plays Chiranthan and his monologue received a good response every time the play was staged.
"Although deeply conventional, in his monologue, Rajashekar looks into himself and questions his own status,” says Ramasanjeeva. Other artistes presenting monologues includes Varchaswini Ravindra, Mohini Girish and Pavan Mahendrakar.
The social arm
Pravara Art Studio with theatre professionals Manju Narayan, Nayana Sooda and Nandeesh Dev are running a Help for artists campaign where theatre artistes in need can reach out to them for help (9686869676 / 8880153222). “We have distributed nearly 200 packages of provisions and medicine to artistes in need. We have just begun our second round of distributions all over the State.”
The monologue from Jothegiruvanu Chandira will be on Facebook and Instagram on May 9 at 5.30 pm. Rajashekar Aradya will perform a monologue from Bhava Enage Hingithu on May 12 at 5.30 pm