Watch six different performances this weekend that explore the art form of theatre in unique ways. Bengaluru’s Quiver Productions has put together these stage performances as part of the first edition of their theatre festival titled Revue. Revue brings to the stage new productions like The Ghorpade Fortune, Bloom, Crisis of Civilisation, Town Musicians of Bermen and Daastan Yusuf Aur Zulekha Ki, and one of the most popular and long running mystery plays, Murder At Cafe Noir.
Talking about the reason for curating a theatre festival for Bengaluru, Nishu Dikshit, lead producer with Quiver Productions, says, “There is no theme to the festival. We wanted to offer a platform to local theatre groups to showcase their talents. The featured groups include Quiver Productions, Namkampani Theatre and Forum-Three.” The plays they will stage fall into the political, experimental, comedy, ancient story-telling and mystery genres.
Family business
“The Ghorpade Fortune, for instance, is a story about a dysfunctional family. Ghorpade, who is the grandfather, is extremely sick. He wants his grandson to marry within the family, so that after Ghorpade dies, the family fortune that will be inherited by the grandson remains within the family. But this young man is secretly engaged to someone else.
The play explores this complex situation through comedy,” says Nishu. Mixed bag Bloom, also by Quiver Productions, combines choreography with a monologue. Artiste Anushka Nair who has conceptualised and written the script and will also be performing it, questions gender equality through this amalgam of movement and theatrics. “The performance starts with the artiste posing like a foetus in a womb and through different movements depicts how it grows into an adult woman,” explains Nishu.
The other play to watch out for is Dastan Yusuf Aur Zulekha Ki, a new dastangoi performance by Kafeel Jafri. Kafeel interprets a 14th century story that’s set in Egypt. “This is the story of Yusuf (Prophet Joseph) and Zulekha which is taken from the holy books, Quran, Bible and Torah.
The journey of Yusuf from his childhood to a rich man’s palace and the hardships, love and other problems he faces are some of the things that make it a great story to be told through dastangoi,” says Kafeel. The idea of Revue, Nishu says is to facilitate collaboration between groups and individuals. “At Quiver Productions, we have worked with many newcomers and found it enriching. Revue is a way to get theatre groups in Bengaluru to start working with each other,” she signs off.
Rs 300 upwards. August 24-26. At Alliance Francaise
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