Fringe Impressions

Nehru: His Inner Story zeroes in on India’s first Prime Minister as a “cool” figure. “ History is not a magic show,but there is plenty of magic for those who have eyes to see,” says Delhi-based Pramila Le Hunte. In her troupe Beaten Gold’s version,Nehru is placed in the foreground of events such as the sociopolitical and cultural awakening in his country and the draft of the Cold War coming from outside its borders. Nehru is also a man who is at ease with ladies,including his wife Kamala,and Edwina Mountbatten. Among the powerful moments of the play is one in which Nehru grieves for his late wife. The 2011 play has been staged in Delhi and Shimla as well as the Nehru Centre in London.

La Femme Fearless

Noted playwright-director Yael Farber,in collaboration with actor-producer Poorna Jagannathan,will create Nirbhaya,a play about the gang-rape incident that jolted India last December. According to Jagannathan,“through the aperture of one defining night on a bus in Delhi,as a young couple begin a journey they think will take them home,Nirbhaya weaves contemporary personal testimonies provoked by that brutal rape and death”. It takes a close look at violence and seeks to “break open our colluding silence”. “It aims to enrage,move,devastate and inspire with the sheer capacity of the human spirit to rise,to bear witness,to survive and turn the tide,” she adds.

No Quarter Given

Among the indie bands that evoke strong emotions in India,is Bangalore-based Thermal and a Quarter (TAAQ). The credit for creating the musical genre of “Bangalore rock” by combining alternative rock,progressive-rock,jam-band music and the blues goes to them. Led by Bruce Lee Mani,lead vocalist and guitarist,along with bassist Leslie Charles and drummer Rajeev Rajagopal,TAAQ is escaping the monsoon in India by making its debut at the Edinburgh Fringe. The performance coincides with their 36-dates-in-four-countries “Bangalore Rock Tour”. The Fringe gig will be a 26-day back-to-back affair,which began on August 1. For the performances,the band promises “a completely different set each night of the week,with no repeated songs,drawing from a shortlist of 60 songs”. This will be followed by a final appearance at the Edinburgh Mela Festival on September 1.

Blowing in the Wind

In the play The Wolf and the North Wind: A Contest in the Sky,one friend is a dictator who thrills in killing,while the other is a Shaman,a believer in goodness and humanity. When these childhood friends meet as adults,the discussion can only be dramatic. Add to this the fact that the two are not on solid ground but bobbing in a hot air balloon. As the ambitious dictator seeks to take the balloon higher than anything else in the sky,the Shaman attempts to direct him towards spirituality. Pramila Le Hunte has drawn upon the Arab Spring dictators as well as the likes of Hitler to create the protagonist,and has contrasted him with the metaphorical Shaman of the North Wind. The play opened in Delhi this summer,with Le Hunte creating an interesting mix of powerful dialogues,lilting music and high symbolism.

The j Factor

“International works are looked upon with interest by the audience,and Ali J: A Political Theatre is Indian and talks a lot about issues of identity in this country today,” says Karthik Kumar of Chennai-based Evam theatre group. The solo act — to be performed by Kumar and TM Karthik alternately in 26 shows — has protagonist Ali J locked in a prison cell with only 24 hours to live. The name doesn’t remind one of Mohammed Ali Jinnah until the play progresses. Like Quaid-i-Azam,Ali J has been educated abroad,is fond of public speaking and has a dream of performing Hamlet at the Globe Theatre. “One of Jinnah’s favourite Hamlet speeches was ‘To be or not to be’. We have built this character as a shadow of Jinnah,transposing vignettes of his life into that of a muslin in modern India,” says Kumar. The play will be staged at the 100-seater Pleasance Courtyard in Edinburgh,a venue so intimate that the audience will feel very close to Ali J’s cell.