Hunger for More

The name “Upashya”,says Pedanekar,has been coined to represent “a hunger artist”,and talks about an artist isolated from his audience because of the obscurity of his art. He is capable of fasting for several days and his manager,called Management,is constantly trying out ways to make money with his art. While Upashya takes pride in the quality and rarity of his art,he constantly struggles to understand the varied reactions of those who see him. However,as days go by,the audience’s interest in his talent begins to die.

“Upashya is not only a peep into the mind of an artist,but also a dive into the psyche of those who run businesses out of art. The play aims to make us wonder about the delicate balance among the trinity of the artist,the businessman and the audience,” explains Pedanekar,who has also directed the play. The cast of the play includes Mahendra Walunj (playing Upashya),Medha Patil (essaying the role of Management) and other artists as the Mob.

Like in the original story,Upashya also has a zoo where the audience comes for entertainment. “There is no physical cage for the protagonist but with the right lighting and set up,we have tried to show his isolation,” says Pedanekar,adding that he has tweaked the end of the story. While the original story shows that the cage of the artist is occupied by a leopard,in Upashya,the leopard replaces the hunger artist for a while and then the cage is left empty. It leaves the audience with an impression that the cage will soon be taken over by someone else and the show will go on.

Despite being a scientist,Pedanekar manages to spare time for his passion — theatre — with which he has been associated for the past two decades. “My work is as interesting as theatre; I have never made compartments for profession and hobby. So I manage to take out time for both,” he says. Some of the Marathi plays he has showcased earlier include The Shakespeare Experiment,Kankyarajacha Deshat,Pai j–The bet,Extra and Aata. Upashya is the first production of theatre group Magic If,which has recently been formed by Pedanekar.

Upashya will be staged today at Sudarshan Rangmanch,at 7.30 pm

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