View from the Ground

Brahmins are forbidden from eating non-vegetarian food, in which category falls the pungent garlic. Kallu Brahmin cultivates and sells the bulb although the rest of the village, including his family, frowns upon it. Don’t read the play as a political mirror of the rise of Brahmanical Hinduism. Director Hemant Pandey says Lassanwala is a dramedy, the sum of a drama and comedy, about a lassanwala from his childhood who came to his house in Bareilly in the peak afternoons. The play, in Hindi and khadi boli, builds the tempo through music, drawn from the bhajans performed by elders in the villages around Bareilly as well as the Kabir poetry sung by Prahlad Singh Tipanya.

On March 4 at Sri Ram Centre, 8 pm

Bhima

The madhyam Pandava is the archetype of machoism, but Bhima shows that vulnerability is also a part of masculinity. Vivek Vijayakumaran, who plays Bhima, underwent training in Kuttiyatam with an Inlakhs scholarship, which informs the physical language of the play. Directed by Anitha Santhanam, the play traces the experiences of passionate, emotional and sensitive people in contemporary society, especially workplaces. “Bhima was a person who could marry the demon Hidimba as well as princess Draupadi. Yet, if Bhima were to live today, would he be a loyal middle management warrior but never the CEO of a company? Does society look after its Bhima or is it only Arjuna we want?” asks Vijayakumaran.

On March 5 at Sri Ram Centre, 8 pm

Elephant in the Room

Yuki Ellias, who has played roles ranging from Portia in Merchant of Venice to the berserk Brooke in Noises-Off, directs herself in a solo performance, Elephant in the Room. The play stems from her fascination with Ganesha stories as well as the theatrical potential of a character with a half elephant-half human body. Mr Tusk is misfit, mismatched and misjudged. He has also been given a new head, of an elephant. Confused and bewildered, he finds himself lost in the forest in which danger lurks in every shadow. “At the end, it is not a Ganapati story but a tale of friendship and
relationship with parents. It is about being mismatched and how we can feel whole again,” says Ellias.

On March 6 at Sri Ram Centre, 6 pm

Outcaste

Akkarmashi, a path-breaking work in Marathi Dalit literature about Sharankumar Limbale, has been performed by several groups as well as solo performers. Outcaste, which received critical acclaim at BRM, weaves several episodes from the text to
create a narrative that, according to director Randhir Kumar, reflects the state of caste politics of the entire Indian state rather than of an individual.

On March 6 at Kamani auditorium, 8 pm

Kaali Nadakam

The play is based on the ritual of Kaali Nadakam, in which the goddess slays the demon Darika. Director Chandradasan’s story is about a temple in which the actor playing the goddess kills the one enacting the demon. Fifty years later the Kaali Nadakam ritual resumes in the temple — and once again, the actor playing Kaali kills Darika. Many ritual traditions and realism bring out the underlying conflicts of Dalit and feminist discourse, law and
order and the changing nature of social and religious customs.

On March 7 at Shri Ram Centre, 6 pm

Dhumrapaan

Director Akarsh Khurana was at the Delhi airport, waiting for a flight, when he began to watch the smoking room. The camaraderie between the smokers, their body language and the change in dynamics when a woman entered formed the germ of the idea behind Dhumrapaan. The plot unfolds in the smoking room of a corporate office where staffers unwind — and wind up — over drags as they talk about politics, relationships and their
financial fluctuations.

On March 7 at Kamani auditorium, 8 pm

Awddyo Shesh Rajani

A play-within-a-play, Awddyo Shesh Rajani revolves around Amiya, a writer, whose play, The Prostitute, becomes a big hit. He starts an extra-marital affair with the lead actor, Lata. “Amiya now must confront inner demons, outer turmoil, passions, and anxieties; the play has many layers which deal at various levels with personal relationships, illicit love, political satire, artistic jealousies and professional battles. The end is startling with a play-within-a-play leitmotif,” says director Bratya Basu in a statement.

On March 8 at Shri Ram Centre, 8 pm

Katha Sukavi Surajmal

The life and literary works of 19th century Rajasthani poet from Bundi, Suryamall Mishranth, is the base of the play. We see his loyalty to Raja Ram Singh as well as the increasing influence of the East India Company and the conflicts of the first war of independence in 1857. An important element of the play is its use of music to carry forward the narrative.

On March 9 at LTG auditorium, 6 pm

Mahabharata

It is only in the last few years that mainstream platforms have started including puppet theatre. The first META had a puppet performance by Dadi Pudumjee, titled Exposition, which won awards in two categories. This time, it is Anurupa Roy’s play that uses shadow puppets, human-sized puppets that are operated by three people, and with a lot of extensions. Actors, too, act as puppeteers and puppets. The scattered narrative has 13 characters who ponder over their role in the war. They are not heroes or villains, simply grey in colour and human. “You don’t hear the voices, you see them,” says Roy. Yudhisthira’s gambling habit is an extension of his body that manipulates him even as he tries to manipulate it.

On March 8 at Little Theatre Group, 6 pm

I Don’t Like It As You Like It

Director Rajat Kapoor returns with his clowns, played by an ensemble cast of Vinay Pathak, Cyrus Sahukar, Joy Fernandes, Faezeh Jalali and Aadar Malik. The clowns, with names such as Fido, Popo, Soso, Coco and Mimi, play members of a theatre troupe that has not been doing well lately. In need of a powerful production, they decide to stage William Shakespeare’s As You Like It, with the men acting as women and vice versa.

The course of the play does not run smooth, thanks to the fraught relationships between the different clowns that keep getting in the way. A performance that was created organically by the cast and director is marked by smart dialogues and stellar
performances.

On March 9 at Kamani auditorium, 8 pm