Source : The Indian Express
Plays from all over the country are set to be showcased during Rangmahotsav, between January 26 and 31
Making their debuts in Pune, nationally-acclaimed plays Dohri Zindagi and 07/07/07, along with six other productions from Mumbai and Lucknow, will be presented at Maharashtra Cultural Centre’s ‘Rangmahotsav’ from January 26 to January 31 at the Jyotsna Bhole Sabhagruha, Tilak Road. Since its first edition in 2002, the theatre festival has showcased several prominent plays from across the country, and has staged productions of personalities including Satyadev Dubey, Chetan Datar, Manav Kaul, Akash Khura-na, Rasika Agashe, Mohan Agashe and Girish Joshi, among others.
“With the motive of promoting nationally-renowned Hindi, Urdu and English plays among theatre enthusiasts in Pune, we have arranged for the festival to be held in the heart of the city. Such plays are staged rarely, and the ticket prices are expensive, but we have kept tickets at Rs 200 as we want everyone who loves theatre to be able to come,” said Vedant Ranade, manager of the festival.
A total of six experimental plays will be showcased over a span of six days. Amarbeli, a play produced in Lucknow, is an adaptation of the epos written by Umakant Makita, which narrates the story of the suffering of eight immortals from Indian mythology. Dohri Zindagi, a play adapted from Vijaydan Detha’s story, was produced in Mumbai and made its way across theatre festivals all over the country and is essentially the story of two girls who defy the fixed ideology about how men and women should lead their lives.
Chaar Small is another experimental play that portrays four different stories using live singing and music, against the single backdrop of a bar on the stage. Dastangoi, a play that revives the lost art form of Urdu storytelling, features two stories: ‘Gaato’, a satire on class discrimination in modern society and ‘Antar Howat Udaasi’, a tale associated with the hardships that women face.
07/07/07 , another critically-acclaimed play that features a young ensemble, brings forth the harrowing incident of 19-year-old Reyhaneh Jabbari, who was jailed for defending herself against the man who tried to rape her. It is the story of the time she spent in prison, where she tried to make sense of the world, life and humanity.
