This weekend, gear up for an immersive cultural experience as Adishakti Laboratory For Theatre Art Research comes to Bengaluru to stage two productions - Ganapati and Brhannala, both of which premiered years before the death of their founder Veenapani Chawla. 

Ganapati, which premiered in the year 2000, is a performance that is an interpretation of the birth of Ganesha, the elephant-headed god. It follows the cycle of creation, celebration, destruction and return. ‘Return’ is dealt with by re-telling the myth from different perspectives.

Featuring minimal verbal text, it is supported by visual cues and images. The rhythms used are evolved from Koodiyattam and folk music from various parts of South Asia. 

On the other hand, Brhannala, which premiered in 1999, is a play that takes inspiration from the Mahabharatha and focuses on the episode where Arjuna spends a year disguised as a woman. Performed to an original score composed by the late Veenapani, it looks at the consequences of Arjuna’s choices and views it as a dissolution of rigid binary oppositions. The belief that every human being possesses opposing qualities within oneself is the premise of the play.

So if you’re up for a mentally stimulating evening that will make you think and question what you already know, here is where you should be.

Ganapati, Dec 6, 7.30 pm and Dec 7, 3.30 pm & 7.30 pm; Brhannala, Dec 8, 3.30 pm & 7.30 pm. At Ranga Shankara, JP Nagar