High 5 drama

Catch five critically-acclaimed plays at the Aasakta Theatre Festival which begins today

Life's about to get more dramatic for Bangaloreans with the Aasakta Theatre Festival starting today.

Ashish Mehta of Aasakta says, "Theatre Festivals help us to know what's going on in theatre in the larger context. We were quite apprehensive the first time but then it's heart-warming to see full houses for other-language plays. So we hope that even the non-Marathi audience in Bangalore will come for the Marathi plays to see what theatre groups are up to elsewhere."

All the five critically-acclaimed plays to be staged are directed by Mohit Takalkar and have been performed at various festivals including the Prithvi Theatre Festival this year and the Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre last year.



Here's a line-up:

Legitimate Hooey
Opens tonight at 7.30 pm at Kyra theatre. This 65-minute English play reveals 15 nights in the life of a modern-day young urban couple Nilu and Anju.

Adapted by Sagar Deshmukh and directed by Takalkar, this light-veined play examines the age-old questions couples must face every day: Is it better to tell love stories to each other, or just watch TV? Should men be forced to go to shopping? Should the fan be on even though it makes an annoying sound? Does love really exist or is it just a big reasonable nonsense?

Watch how Nilu, a playwright, and Anju, who works for a leading boutique, manage to escape their annoying roommate Radha and how overjoyed they are when they get their own flat.
Legitimate Hooey plays again at Ranga Shankara tomorrow at 7.30 pm.

Garbo
Catch this 105-minute Marathi play on August 15, 3.30 pm, Ranga Shankara. Mahesh Elkunchwar's play is about the class of young people dealing with the frustration of shattered dreams, mediocrity and inhibitions. Of defiance and non-conformism. The drama in Garbo grows out of a claustrophobic real-life situation pushed to the limits of endurance.

TU
This Marathi play will be stated at 7.30 pm the same evening (August 15) at Ranga Shankara. A 120-minute play by playwright Satee Bhave, it is a story of The Man, The Woman, The King, The Fakir and The Storyteller. Under Takalkar's direction, the story begins with the parting of the man and the woman, in love with each other. Their intense love is smothering, leading them to embark on a quest for self. Both meet the fakir.
She, during her journey through her mind, and he in the outside world. They see pure love through the fakir's mind. Each one seeks to complete each one's story. The King falls in love with The Woman. They have all realised that they are far away from true love though each is seeking it.

Bed ke neeche rehnewali
This is a Hindi play for children above 10 and adapted by Sagar Deshmukh and Jitendra Joshi. The 85-minute play revolves around Ira whose invisible friend, Manu, lives under her bed. At night Ira and Manu share secrets, make promises, and confide in each other. Then one day Ira grows up and stops believing in her invisible friend.
This play opens with Manu crawling out from beneath Ira's bed and asking why Isra is moving away.

The play will be staged at Ranga Shankara on August 16 at 3.30 pm and again at 7.30 pm.

Call for Telebooking: 98456 02265.
Online booking at www.indianstage.in