by: Nirmala Ravindran
The 10th edition of the Ranga Shankara theatre festival will celebrate the life and works of one of India’s best known playwrights — Girish Karnad
Girish Karnad was all of 23 years old when he wrote Yayati, the story of a man cursed to be old before his time, and how he looks to pass the burden onto one of his sons. Karnad’s Yayati was much more than a tale adapted from mythology, it spoke about the angst of a burdened youth, as much as it did about the ageing king in a contemporary language.
From Yayati to his latest play, Boiled Beans on Toast, Karnad’s plays are about characters locked in conflict — moral, psychological and philosophical. Once Yayati was published and performed, there was no looking back for Karnad who studied philosophy in London as a Rhodes scholar. He went on to form the holy trinity of Indian theatre, along with Badal Sircar and Vijay Tendulkar and was responsible for defining modern Indian drama, a movement that was started by Dharamveer Bharati with his Andha Yug and Mohan Rakesh with Aashad ka ek din! Over the years, Karnad, who started out wanting to be a poet, has won many accolades and worn many hats — he is a well-known writer, a noted film actor and director and winner of several national awards. He has worked with Oxford University Press; he has been a director at the Nehru Center in London, and director at the Film and Television Institute of India.
Karnad’s best known and much loved persona however, has been as a playwright. Having chosen episodes from mythology and folktales, he contemporarised the way we look at theatre. As a thinker and intellectual he has courted controversy several times, but has been unafraid to speak his mind on several issues, ranging from Naipaul’s politics to the saffronisation of Karnataka politics.
To celebrate the 75th anniversary of arguably India’s best known playwright, Ranga Shankara commissioned eight of his best known plays to be re-imagined, reinterpreted and directed by young directors — all under 35 years of age, from across the country. Opening the festival is Tughlaq — the tale of the idealistic, but foolhardy emperor of India that Karnad chose to write as an allegory of Nehruvian politics of the ’60s. Tughlaq was translated into Hindi and directed by the legendary Ebrahim Alkazi and performed by The National School of Drama, thus establishing the 26-year-old Karnad as a force to reckon with in Indian Theatre. Tughlaq will be performed by Samudaya, one of Karnataka’s best known theatre groups in Kannada and is directed by Samkutty Pattomkari.
Closing the Ranga Shankara festival is Yayati (in English). Directed by Ashish D’Abreo of Rafiki Theatre, Yayati uses the protagonist’s obsession with youth as a starting point for an engagement about the fear of ageing and the quest for eternal youth in today’s world. While Kalabhedham, directed by Sam George, is the Malayalam version of Anju Mallige, a contemporary take on incest, Nagamandala will be performed in Bengali and is directed by Abanti Chakraborty. Dreams of Tipu Sultan a nd Fire and the Rain will both be performed in English, while Karnad’s latest play, Boiled Beans on Toast, an ode to Bangalore has been adapted by Aasakta Kalamanch Pune as Une Purey Shahar ek and is directed by Mohit Takalkar. Bali will be performed in Hindi and is directed by Aditee Biswas.
Though lovers of Karnad’s works are sure to miss Hayavadana, his most playful take on the complex body versus mind debate, there’s enough to keep theatre goers happy in the coming weeks. Besides the new plays there will also be a special tribute to Karnad by various theatre groups that will perform 10-minute montages from his plays. Also part of the festival is an arts appreciation course curated and facilitated by culture critic Sadanand Menon at which Karnad will share stories on how he writes. There will be a seminar on the portrayal of women in Karnad’s plays moderated by Dr Ashadevi and one on the politics in Karnad’s plays, moderated by Arshia Sattar. Also on the cards is a film show of Kaadu, directed by Karnad.
WHEN: October 18 to 27, daily 2 shows
WHERE: Ranga Shankara, JP Nagar
source: http://www.bangaloremirror.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> Entertainment> Lounge / by Nirmala Ravindran / October 08th, 2013