NPCA Hosts CENTRESTAGE Festival, Now thru Dec 8

Three years ago, The National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA), India's premiere arts and culture institution, rejuvenated the theatre scenario in Mumbai by introducing its first-ever, major, multi-lingual annual theatre festival of premiering plays - Centrestage. The festival aimed to create a platform for new/different works and encourage the birth of New Groups. As a result, plays showcased over the last three editions of Centrestage, have performed at various prestigious national and international festivals and won multiple awards and accolades. Some plays that premiered in the first edition are still running to full houses!

The fourth edition of Centrestage has an eclectic and exciting mix of styles and genres ranging from family dramas with a twist to Gen Next love stories, from a Commedia Dell'Arte inspiration to an Alfred Hitchcock hat tip. This multilingual theatre festival will present 6 English, 1 Marathi, 1 Hindi and 3 Gujarati, 3 multilingual and 1 street play. Theatre groups such as Akavarious, Awishkar, Aranya, Utopia and Tram Theatre come back to the festival, Yatri, Pundalik, stand-up comedy group Schitzengiggles, Cartel, Jhoom enter Centrestage for the first time, while Evam visits from Chennai and Stagecraft from Nagpur.

The festival will commence on 29th December with a Street Play by the winners of the Waves Drama Contest at BITS, Pilani followed by a presentation of Chennai based group, Evam's play Ali J which delves into the many freedom struggles still underway in India.

On 30th November two plays will be showcased: Tram Theatre Productions present Khidki, the story of two girls looking into each other's lives through their windows and the play It's Not Waht You Tihnk! will present fast paced, physical humour.

On 1st December are two plays, Status Quo which explores a love story in the time of technological overreach, while director Manoj Shah will bring a comic version of Romeo and Juliet set against a contemporary background in Laxmipoojan.

On 2nd December, Awishkar Production will present the Marathi play Prakaran Pahile, Sushama Deshpande's exciting new production.

On 3rd December Stagecraft from Nagpur will bring an adaptation of PatRick Hamilton's nerve-stretching thriller and based on Alfred Hitchcock's critically acclaimed film, Rope.

A Schitzengiggles Production on 4th Dec, is The Complete Works of Shakespeare also known as The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (abridged). This is a parody of the plays written by Shakespeare with all of them being performed in shortened form by only three actors.

Famous Bollywood actress Kalki Koechlin - co-writer and actor in the play - presents the audience with Colour Blind -- a play based on Rabindranath Tagore's relationship with Argentinian writer Victoria Ocampo -- on 5th December. On 6th Dec., Yatri will present Teri Meri Prem Kahani, an unusual one-sided love story based on Harishankar Parsai's short story Das Din Ka Anshan.

With Common People, on 7th Dec., the festival moves on from litterateurs and small town India towards a more Urban space. The play revolves around four people who are related but rather distant. On the same day Dharmendra Gohil Production will present Blackout a play which is based on a young couple going through a troubled phase in their marriage.

The theatre group Utopia will bring nerve-wracking suspense to the stage with Manchha, while stage actresses Suruchi Aulakh and Faezeh Jalali will step into the producer's arena with Ladies Special.

Speaking on the occasion, Deepa Gahlot, Head-Programming (Theatre and Film) says, "Over the years, NCPA has received overwhelming response, not only from the theatre community, but also from the audience. Centrestage has become one of the most awaited theatre festivals in the city and we promise to keep up to expectations by providing a platform to new and aspiring talent across India."

Speaking on their partnership with NCPA, Dr. Saryu Doshi, Trustee of the Vinod & Saryu Doshi Foundation, says, "Centrestage is one of the landmark theatre festivals of Mumbai and we are extremely proud to be associated with NCPA. This initiative fits in very well with the Foundation's objectives of supporting the Arts. Over the years, NCPA has played the role of a catalyst in encouraging new creative work and in promoting theatre. Together, we are committed to bringing some of the best and brightest talent from across the country to the audiences."

Apart from the diverse fare of plays, Centrestage co-promoted by NCPA and the Vinod & Saryu Doshi Foundation will also have a Workshop on 7th & 8th December conducted by Deepal Doshi. Comedian Dell 'Arte is an Italian form of physical theatre which uses masks as the primary medium of playing comic characters.

Witness the best of theatre starting 29th November 2013 only at the NCPA!

Schedule:

Street Play by Waves
English Play (30 mins)
Sunken Garden
Friday, 29th - 6.00 pm

A Performance by the winners of Nukkad Natak, The Street Play, Waves 2013

Admission on a first-come-first-served basis

Ali J
English Play (60 mins)
Experimental Theatre
Friday, 29th - 7.00 pm

Ali J's story navigates the terrain of individual desire and national suspicion. It breaks down a man into his component parts, none of which stick. In a time when bodies are being hanged and mauled, it maintains that this body holds all identities and yet, holds none. The play talks of the Indian identity today, in the light of the shadow cast upon it from the Partition in 1947. Ali J is not the story of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, but the story of Azim Ali J, a Muslim in India.

Written by Shekinah Jacob

Directed & Performed by Karthik Kumar

An Evam(Chennai) & Richard Jordan Productions Ltd. in association with Pleasance

Tickets:

Rs. 250/- (Members)

Rs. 300/- (Public)

Khidki
English & Hindi Play (70 mins)
Godrej Dance Theatre
Saturday, 30th - 5.00 pm

It follows the story of two girls looking into each other's lives through their windows. The play is inspired by the urban landscape photography of Gabriele Basilico and is performed largely to music.

Written by Siddharth Kumar

Directed by Sananda Mukhopadhyaya

Performed by Shweta Tripathi & Dipna Dariyanani

A Tram Theatre Production

Tickets:

Rs.180/- (Members)

Rs.200/- (Public)

It's Not Waht You Tihnk!
English & Hindi Play (80 mins)
Experimental Theatre
Saturday, 30th - 7.00 pm

A bank heist by bumbling thieves, an off-key classical music performance, lovers spurned and reunited, cooks whipping up a storm, obedient servants and braggarts - all in one evening of fast paced, physical humour that will knock audiences off their seats with side splitting laughter. A frenzied performance of Commedia dell' Arte sketches with characters and stories drawn from the classic Italian form and everyday Indian society, the production is an original, contemporary version.

Directed by Deepal Doshi

Cast: Yuki Ellias, Kathryn Doshi, Siddhant Karnick & Deepal Doshi

A Cartel Production

Only 12 years and above

Tickets:

Rs. 250/- (Members)

Rs. 300/- (Public)

Status Quo
English Play (90 mins)
Godrej Dance Theatre
Sunday, 1st December - 5.00 pm

The play explores the funny, complex, and sexy online and offline life of a couple in today's social media driven world. It discovers how a new level of intimacy and fragmentation has changed romantic relationships between people. Love, betrayal and multiple relationships, both real and imagined, are given a vicarious new dimension.

Written & Directed by Zubin Driver

Cast: Heeba Shah & Asif Basra

A Pundalik Production

Tickets:

Rs.180/- (Members)

Rs.200/- (Public)

Laxmipoojan
Gujarati Play (90 mins)
Experimental Theatre
Sunday, 1st December - 7.00 pm

The destinies of Sonali and Viraj are tied together since they were kids with the note of one song that haunts them for years. Ultimately, they discover each other after two decades when the same note brings them together. But, their families are staunch enemies. So love is in peril and has to survive many trials and tribulations. A laugh riot, the story is teeming with more than 22 strange and weird characters.

Director by Manoj Shah

Writen by Uttam Gada

Cast :Pratik Gandhi,Satchit Puranik,Vaishaki Shukla,Ishaan Dhoshi,Trupti Thakkar

An Ideas Unlimited Production

Tickets:

Rs. 250/- (Members)

Rs. 300/- (Public)

Prakaran Pahile
Marathi Play (90 mins)
Experimental Theatre
Monday, 2nd December - 7.00 pm

Jeeja is a 55-year-old writer whose boyfriend, Eknath, dies in her house. Jeeja sends the body to his wife, but she wants to place the traditional lamp in the place where Eknath died. She sends her son Ravi to Jeeja's residence. Now, Ravi and Jeeja are caught in an exciting conversation.

Written & Directed by Sushama Deshpande

Presented by Arun Kakade

Cast: Sushama Deshpande, Deepak Rajadhyaksha

An Awishkar Production

Tickets:

Rs. 250/- (Members)

Rs. 300/- (Public)

Rope
English Play( 90 mins)
Experimental Theatre
Tuesday, 3rd December - 7.00 pm

An adaptation of PatRick Hamilton's nerve-stretching thriller and based on Alfred Hitchcock's critically acclaimed film, Rope begins with a shriek and ends with a shot.

The plot concerns two well-read students who, under the Nietzsche's influence, kill a fellow student for thrills. They, then, hold a dinner party, serving the food and drink from a chest that contains the corpse, and in a further twist, include the dead boy's girlfriend and father among the guests.

Directed by Vikash Khurana

Cast: Nandan Majumdar, Varun Vij, Vikash Khurana, Anamika Sawarkar, Anuj Hamilton & Anurag Kulkarni

A Stagecraft Theatre (Nagpur) Production

Only 16 years and above

Tickets:

Rs. 250/- (Members)

Rs. 300/- (Public)

The Complete Works of Shakespeare
English Play (100 mins)
Experimental Theatre
Wednesday, 4th December - 7.00 pm

Also known as The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (abridged), this is a parody of the plays written by Shakespeare with all of them being performed in shortened form by only three actors. The actors use their real names and play themselves. The fourth wall is nonexistent with some scenes involving audience participation. The director and stage crew may also get involved in the performance and become characters themselves. It is notable for holding the (self-proclaimed) world record for the shortest-ever performance of Hamlet, clocking in at 43 seconds, as well as the fastest performance of Hamlet backwards at 42 seconds.

Performed by Aadar Malik, Brij Bhakta & Neville Shah

A Schitzengiggles Production

Tickets:

Rs. 250/- (Members)

Rs. 300/- (Public)

Colour Blind
Multi-lingual Play (75 mins)
Experimental Theatre
Thursday, 5th December - 7.00 pm

The image that Tagore evokes is like an impenetrable and larger than life sculpture of poise, calm, beauty, intellect and romance. Colour Blind is an attempt to seep into that and rediscover him through his life events, relationships and writings. As the play gooes deeper, the grand image of Tagore is replaced with images of a lonely child, a vulnerable poet, a misunderstood patriot and an ageing lover, and he emerges in flesh and blood.

Written by Dwijottam Bhattacharjee, Kalki Koechlin & Manav Kaul

Directed by Manav Kaul

Cast: Swanand Kirkire, Satyajeet Sharma, Ajitesh Gupta, Amrita Bagchi, Kalki Koechlin, Chitrangada Chakraborty & others

An aRANYA Theatre Production

Only 12 years and above

Tickets:

Rs. 250/- (Members)

Rs. 300/- (Public)

Teri Meri Prem Kahani
Hindi Play (120 mins)
Experimental Theatre
Friday, 6th December - 7.00 pm

What happens when Mannu, a street goon falls in love with Savitri, a married woman? All his overtures are rejected. He decides to take help from local politicians who suggest a fast unto death. Mannu is scared but ultimately agrees and the politicians start their game plan. An unusual one-sided love story based on Harishankar Parsai's short story Das Din Ka Anshan.

Written & Directed by Om Katare

Cast: Om Katare, Sanjeev Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Soman Singh, Paromita Chatterjee, Ashok Sharma, Tasha Kapoor, Prashant Updhayay, Mohit Maghnani, Rakesh Ranjan, Sonali Wval & others

A Yatri Production

Tickets:

Rs. 250/- (Members)

Rs. 300/- (Public)

Blackout (120 mins)
Gujarati Play
Godrej Dance Theatre
Saturday, 7th December - 5.00 pm

A young couple Siddharth and Maitri are going through a troubled phase in their marriage. Siddharth is on a sabbatical from work and busy putting together a book that he has been longing to write and Maitri is working quite successfully as an interior decorator. She has suffered a miscarriage and the grief of losing a child is constantly chewing on their lives. Now they both suffer in quiet silence and are used to putting up pretences of normalcy. One day there is a notice on the society board which says that between 7-9 every evening there will be an electricity cut in the area due to some repair work. They make some minor changes in their otherwise fixed schedules to incorporate the electricity cut. They are now forced to share sparse and functional candlelit dinners and are faced with the prospect of talking to each other in the absence of escapist gadgets like their TV and computers. They both decide to share a hitherto unshared secret with each other on every night. From seriously funny to hidden demons and skeletons in the closet, words come tumbling out in the comforting darkness and they both stand at crossroads waiting to decide if they are really a couple or a divorce on standby.

Written by - Sneha Desai

Directed by - Dhiraj Palshetkar

Cast: Sneha Desai , Dharmendra Gohil

A Pheonix Company Production

Tickets:

Rs.180/- (Members)

Rs.200/- (Public)

Common People
English Play (100 mins)
Experimental Theatre
Saturday, 7th December - 7.00 pm

Soon after the death of a patriarch, two couples spend an evening idly chatting at his seaside bungalow in Bandra. As her cousin and husband prattle on about their nouveau-riche lifestyle, Maya makes a devastating claim that could change their lives forever. Could they all really become millionaires overnight? Or has Maya lied only to save face?

Directed by Akarsh Khurana

Cast: Abir Abrar, Akarsh Khurana, Aseem Hattangady, Chaitnya Sharma, Dilshad Edibam, Himanshu Sitlani, Shriya Pilgaonkar

An Akvarious Production

Adults Only

Tickets:

Rs. 250/- (Members)

Rs. 300/- (Public)

Ladies Special
English Play (90 mins)
Godrej Dance Theatre
Sunday, 8th December - 5.00 pm

This free-wheeling adaptation of Arthur Shnitzler's play Reigen is set in contemporary Mumbai, the play is a merry-go-round of sexual encounters with a special focus on the mysterious and tangled world of the modern Indian woman. The prostitute who seeks momentary relief by reversing roles, a village girl whose dreams of Mumbai include its sexual freedom, a young woman who finds herself alone with a man on an overnight train journey, an adventurous housewife who makes a tentative choice and finds herself transformed and an unapologetic journalist who wears her sexuality on her sleeve - the play brings fascinating vignettes of women who are pushing the boundaries. In a stifling society where the loud metronome of mainstream drowns out individual songs of desire, these women bravely seek spaces and opportunities to discover parts of themselves in private confines, which the world would condemn if brought out in the open. The play takes women's sexuality from the space of repression and loaded value judgments to their complete assertion and non-judgmental celebration.

Adapted by Abhishek Thakore

"Compartment" by Annie Zaidi

Directed by Faezeh Jalali

Cast - Suruchi Aulakh, Shyam Kishore, Trimala Adhikari, Hitesh Malukani, Ankit Challa, Isha Talwar

A Jhoom & FAT Production

Adults only

Tickets:

Rs.180/- (Members)

Rs.200/- (Public)

Manchha
Gujarati Play (110 mins)
Experimental Theatre
Sunday, 8th December - 7.00 pm

A lawyer hires an actor to tutor him in recounting to his loved ones a story that has long troubled him. It concerns events that transpired when he attended the funeral of an elderly recluse in an eerie and almost abandoned village called Lakhpat in Kutch. There he sees a woman named Manchha, the mere mention of whom terrifies the locals and makes their faces go pale.

Directed by Pritesh Sodha

Written by Sejal Ponda

Presented by Utopia Communications & Kamlesh Mota

Cast - Paresh Vora, Shivang Thakkar & Dr. Hemlata Shingala

Tickets:

Rs. 250/- (Members)

Rs. 300/- (Public

Workshops @ Centrestage

Commedia Dell 'Arte: Masked Characters Workshop by Deepal Doshi

Sea View Room

Saturday, 7th December - 3.00 pm to 7.00 pm

Sunday, 8th December - 3.00 pm to 8.00 pm

In collaboration with Cartel Productions

Commedia Dell'Arte is an Italian form of physical theatre which uses masks as the primary medium of playing characters and physical comedy as the underlying genre to communicate a virtuosic story-telling.

The goals of this workshop shall be:

To introduce the students to the world of masks and teach them the principles and techniques of mask work
To introduce them to the genre of physical theatre and physical comedy through masks
To teach them character work and timing which forms the basis of comedy
To guide the students through an explorative process of improvising through the exercises of Commedia Dell'Arte.
To introduce and explore the concept of expressing through body and breath using character masks
To share the relevance of a 16th century Commedia Dell'Arte to a 20th century India through the exploration of archetypes and their dynamic relationship in the society

Other conditions: Participants must be willing to explore and invest themselves in the physical study of the character through the mask. The participants are not required to show any particular level of physical condition but must be available to jump in all the exercises we shall explore during the workshop.

Max. Participants: 16

Fees: Rs.2, 500/-

Age limit: 16 & above

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