The Ramayana Celebrates 50 Years Of Performances

The Ramayana, Gopal Sharman's contemporary theatrical interpretation of the great epic, was premiered in November 1970 in New Delhi, 50 years ago.

This weekend, the Akshara inaugurates the 50-year celebrations of The Ramayana with two performances at the Akshara Theatre on November 12 and 13 at 7pm.

This internationally acclaimed theatrical masterpiece has been praised the world over for the dramatic intensity of Sharman's script, which explores the human characters of Rama and Sita with reverence, delicacy and insight, through some of the most exquisite stage writing in modern theatre.

In its original one-woman version The Ramayana was performed by Jalabala Vaidya on Broadway in New York, London's West End, the Smithsonian Institution, United Nations Headquarters and more than 35 cities and towns in India and has been hailed as "India's Gift to Broadway" by the New York Times.

The current version still has Jalabala performing the opening and closing Acts of the play. A cast of superbly talented young actors - including Vikalp Mudgal as Rama, Vidur Mohan as Ravana and Gopal and Jalabala's grandchildren: Nisa Shetty as Sita, Dhruv Shetty as Bharata and Yashna Shetty as Kaikeyi along with other members of the Akshara Theatre Repertory -- perform with Jalabala, creating an exciting and innovative theatrical experience.

Jalabala says: "Over 50 years the play has changed and evolved somewhat, but it remains at its core the story of a man and a woman searching for the meaning of existence and their place in the universe."

Together, Gopal, Jalabala and their young cast explore the magic and mystery of Rama "in whose grace the dumb babble love's profundities and the lame prance gaily over unscaled peaks."

Performed by Jalabala Vaidya, Vikalp Mudgal, Nisa Shetty, Vidur Mohan, Dhruv Shetty, Yashna Shetty, R.S. Raghu, Varun Mittal, Ankur Anand, & others.

Tickets Rs. 500, Rs. 350 & Rs. 250 on bookmyshow.com, insider.in, Akshara

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