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Showing posts with the label Drama

An Allegory for All Ages

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The 7th and 10th of October 2016 saw a production of George Orwell’s Animal Farm staged by The Mustard Seed Art Company. Audiences who caught the play adapted from the famous novel at Gomant Vidya Niketan (Margao) and Kala Academy (Panaji), were fortunate indeed. Those acquainted with Orwell’s novel, written in 1945, will certainly make connections with its allegory which retells the political scenario of the time, with communism hailed as the answer to society’s problems. The novel mirrors the events that took place from before the Russian Revolution of 1917 to the rule of Stalin. The satirical novel, by his own admission, is Orwell’s first deliberate attempt to use literature towards a political revelation. The play produced by The Mustard Seed Art Company was adapted for theatre from the novel by Peter Hall. The play opens with old Major, the boar, fomenting the spirit of rebellion among the farm animals with his tirade against humans. After old Major dies, the younger pigs Napoleo

Experiencing the Box Theatre in Goa

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Theatre is a conduit to releasing the inner self and the psychological and sociological benefits of being part of a theatre group are plentiful. In the world of theatre, what does the box theatre bring to this equation? Let us discuss its presence in Goa through the Hauns Sangeet Natya Mandal and the Hauns Theatre Training Centre. It is not surprising that one of the most noted theatre companies of Goa saw its naissance in Ponda, also known as Antruj Mahal for being a culturally vibrant locale with its numerous temples. The establishment of the Hauns Sangeet Natya Mandal in 1950 was the culmination of the efforts of artistically and culturally kindred spirits. Of these artists, two are the now deceased Vishwanath Naik and Surya Wagh. They sought to play their part in contributing to the plentiful festivals and fairs that Ponda is famous for by staging and performing in dramas. It did not matter that most of them were illiterate or had minimal formal education; it was the hard work and

An Encounter with God

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Goa has a new reason to be proud, as the Hauns Sangeet Natya Mandal, Ponda, has pioneered the staging of an adaptation of Raymond Smullyan’s dialogue between man and his Maker on the dilemma of possessing free will. The play is called Is God a Taoist? and is based on Smullyan’s book The Tao is Silent . Raymond Smullyan has had a singular career course that has ranged from stage magic to authoring books on Taoism. The nonagenarian polymath is acclaimed for his manifold talents as concert pianist, logician, Taoist philosopher, mathematician, puzzle maker, and magician. In his book, published in 1977, Smullyan gave an understanding of Eastern philosophy to the Western world for the first time. It is Smullyan’s surmise that the Taoist is one who enjoys what he has rather than looking for that which is not in his grasp. The dialogue begins with man urging God to take away his free will, which he sees as the bane of his existence and the reason for his sinfulness. Through a pattern of reaso

All Those Pipe Dreams: A Review

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Many a times we are held back from achieving our dreams because we permit our fears to overcome us. We stew in the hell our minds fabricate and sabotage our own ambitions. All Those Pipe Dreams is a reminder that surmounting the perceived obstacles in our path can be achieved by confronting our fears. The play opens with typical banter between husband and wife, with Caitu Soares playfully teasing his wife about her obsession with make-up and ‘high fashion’, while Veena harangues him to get the pipes fixed so that water will flow into the sink again. The scene seems innocuous enough to belie the prospect of anything untoward occurring or having occurred. We learn that Caitu has purchased this huge mansion in the hope of starting a restaurant but does not seem to have made a go of his dreams as yet. Sonali is Caitu and Veena’s daughter, we learn, who has not visited home in a long time and is designing furniture in Chennai. Both parents yearn for their absent child. Meanwhile Caitu sets

Chakra: A Review

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There have been claims that Konkani (Devnagri) and Marathi theatre seems to lose out to the tiatr every time. Whether it is negligent advertising or a bias in favour of the Romi script tiatrs is not absolutely clear. Calculating the worth of a play on the basis of language, script or dialect seems rather unfair to the art form as a whole and the participants: actors, directors, producers, set designers, etcetera. Each has its own virtues to excite artistic sensibilities. Prayog Saanj is an initiative of the Directorate of Art and Culture, Goa, to provide a suitable platform for experimental theatre without any discrimination on the grounds of language. The last Saturday of every month sees the unveiling of original plays by talented playwrights which are presented at the Multipurpose Hall of Sanskruti Bhavan, Panaji. The last Saturday of June saw the Konkani drama Chakra , a one act play written and directed by Gopal Bhimber. The cast included Ugam Zambaulikar, Saurabh Karkhanis, Preet

Kala Academy’s School of Drama

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Goa has talent bursting at its seams, and this is no secret. Unfortunately, in the sphere of drama enough of it has not been tapped. The reason for this is not a dearth of avenues, but rather the unwillingness of parents to permit their children to explore this area as a career option has been a stumbling block. In 1987, Kala Academy decided to start the School of Drama, initially called the Theatre Art Faculty, under the direction of S B Josalkar. The motivation was to secure talent in theatre and mould it according to its capabilities. The Director of the School of Drama, Mrs Padmashree Josalkar tells us, ‘Kala Academy invited my husband and me to come here. Before that we were in Delhi. My husband was in the Repertory Company of the National School of Drama and I was teaching at the Sardar Patel Vidyalaya as a drama teacher.’ S B Josalkar, a Goan by birth, had received a scholarship to the National School of Drama. It is no surprise then that he returned to his home state to give Go

Light Play (Theatre)

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The gift of light has not been appreciated as much as it should be and the true nature of its wonders are withheld from the common man due to lack of awareness and understanding. To illumine minds, 2015 has been dedicated as the Year of Light in celebration of this treasure of luminosity. Taking inspiration from this endeavour, The Mustard Seed Art Company (established 1987) is all set to entertain, and as it always does, subtly educate its audience through the medium of a new play by playwright Isabel Santa Rita Vás. Whistling in the Light has been co-directed by Isabel Santa Rita Vás and Kiran Bhandari. One might recall The Story of Light Festival held earlier this year, which was an innovative and educative experience brought to Goa by Nash Paul D’Souza, Jaya Ramchandani and their team. ‘The Story of Light Festival brought it to my notice. And yes, they did a fantastic job, their initiatives were beautiful!’ says Ms Vás. She clarifies, ‘The plot has nothing to do with The Story of

A Journey through History and Subjective Realities (Play Review)

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Voices After Me by the Mustard Seed Art Company, is probably one of the most intellectually stimulating plays performed in recent times on a Goan stage. The group of performers banded together by playwright Isabel de Santa Rita Vás and under the direction of Daegal Godinho and Celsa Pinto, staged a play that provoked the audience to question and appreciate the myriad thoughts, memories and subjective perceptions that shape us as human persons and in turn affect our relationships with other people. The play was one in a series, put on in an effort to promote theatre and the appreciation of drama in Goa. This programme by the Directorate of Art and Culture (Goa) was presented by Prayog Saanj (Evening of Experiments), which has dramas staged in other languages besides English, and after the performance there is a discussion held to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the play. The play, Voices After Me , was scripted by Isabel de Santa Rita Vás and took the audience through the rem

Dramatically Yours, The Mustard Seed Art Company! (Theatre)

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In Goa, Isabel de Santa Rita Vás is a name synonymous with English drama. Having written and directed numerous plays, this playwright of exceptional calibre, allowed us to partake of her vision of this art form. Her illustrious career as a college professor of English Literature has included becoming the head of the English department at Dhempe College of Arts and Science. Her position as an English Literature lecturer indubitably led to her acquaintance with other forms of literature. She was often entrusted with the duty of putting up performances to embellish regular college programmes or whenever occasion demanded it. Her passion for literature and the bond that she shared with her students enabled her to immerse herself wholly in drama and its nuances. In time, the challenge and charm of transmuting play scripts into stage performances encouraged a more adventurous endeavour. Along with a group of young people, she set out independently to stage a well-known American play in the t