Thursday, December 22, 2005

'4.48PSYCHOSIS ' SOLO PLAY BY BRITISH ACTRESS RUTH SHEARD DIRCTED BY ARVIND GAUR , IHC, 27TH DEC


Asmita Art Group presents-

4.48 PSYCHOSIS
Solo performance by
British actress Ruth Sheard
27 th December at IHC at 7.30 pm
A Play by Sarah Kane
Directed by Arvind Gaur

"And my mind is the subject of these bewildered fragments".
4.48 Psychosis, the controversial playwright Sarah Kane's last play is a report from a region of the mind that most of us hope never to visit but from which many people cannot escape. Written whilst she herself was suffering from clinical depression, the play is as compact and beautiful as a diamond structure √ yet the mood it inspires is as black as coal.
Kane herself committed suicide shortly after finishing the play, yet surprisingly, the work is a celebration of the human impulse to create art through adversity.

Sarah Kane
(February 3, 1971- February 20, 1999) was a British playwright. Her plays dealt uncompromisingly with themes of death, sex, violence and mental illness, and are characterised by an increasing poetic intensity, a rich affirmation of love in all its forms, and by use of sharply violent imagery so powerful that it cuts across and fragments the narrative, perhaps an attempt to give us the experience of a life torn up by its roots.She struggled with intense manic depression for many years, but continued to work, and was for some time the writer-in-residence at the Royal Court theatre.

About the Actor
Ruth Sheard ,eminent British actress, gained her BA Hons Degree in Contemporary Theatre and Dance and has worked extensively in experimental theatre and contemporary art. Ruth has toured Germany with several shows including Aykbornes 'Relatively Speaking' .
Ruth is now on a theatre world tour working on several different projects.

Critics Say

The beauty and rawness-the combination of unprocessed honesty and meticulous craft- remains as striking as ever; Kane's power to take material beyond endurance and shape it, burnish it, laugh at it, dominate with her art.
-Scotsman

As compact and beautiful as a diamond in structure and yet the mood it inspires is as black as coal.
-Time Out

'Sarah Kane 'wrote simply and starkly about the world she saw around her-a mature and vividly thatrical response to the pain of living.
-The Guardian

Kane was a dramatist original enough to communicate ultimate emotions with a strange beauty as well as with a frightening bluntness.
-The Times

4.48 Psychosis is a report from a region of the mind that most of us hope never to visit but from which many people cannot escape. Those trapped there are normally rendered voiceless by their condition.
-David Greig

About the Director

Arvind Gaur who heads the Delhi, based Theatre group ASMITA is committed to innovative and socially relevant theatre. Starting off as a journalist and working for sometime for the electronic media, he set up ASMITA and earned a reputation in theatre circle in India and abroad.
Arvind Gaur has conducted many theatre workshops and performed in various Colleges, Institutions, Universities and Schools in India and abroad such as Stanford, Harvard Uni , Stony Brook Uni, Smithsonian (Washington DC),Nehru Centr (London) ,Jawahar Lal Nehru University, IILM , I.I.T.(Delhi) , AIMS , School of Planning and Arhitecture.
One of his production "Madhavi", solo by Rashi Bunny was recently invited at International Theatre Festival , Russia,oct.2005
Workshops for children in schools and slums as well as Street Theatre performances on different socio-political issues organized and conducted by Arvind Gaur are many in numberHe has also conducted theatre workshops for Actors and Directors at Houston, USA and India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. He also performed various plays in collobration with organizations like Theatre World, British Council(Chennai), IHC, Paridhi, Bahroop,Banjara Theatre group (IIT,Khargpur), IIC, Rainbow Cavaliers, M.Dot Band (Jaipur),Vivchana (Jabalpur),Darpan Academy, Prithvi Theatre Festival(platform theatre IHC,2004),and NGOs like Mobile Creches,Action-Aid, Haq, PCVC, Deepalaya , Heinrich Boll Foundation, ASF,Youthreach and World Social Forum.
He also designs lights for NAYA theatre under the Direction of Shri Habib Tanvir.
Director Arvind Gaur has also collaborated with various Theatre artists and Groups specially in exploring a new language for Solo performances which includes Dario fo's 'Story of the Tiger', solo by Jaimini Kumar Srivastava, 'Women in Black' by Bubbles Sabharwal and "Untitled Solo" by Lushin Dubey in collaboration with Theatre World. Not only have these plays received great audience response from important metropolis of India, "Women in black" was invited to perform in Dubai and "Untitled Solo" was performed in Chicago, Dallas, Washington DC, Boston, Rochester , San francisco, Ohio in USA and at the Edinburgh Theatre Festival last year .
"Bitter Chocolate " a new solo by Lushin was also performed at Harvard (USA) & at Nehru Centre, London and Gandhari solo by Aishveryaa Nidhi was recently performed at NIDA theatre , Sydney.
With Rashi Bunny, young actress trained in Theatre design at University of Alabama at Birmingham and Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA. Arvind Gaur Has directed three solo's .Bhishma sahani's" Madhavi ", Manjula Padmanabhan's 'Hidden Fires'and 'Walking through the Rainbow'.
Madhavi & Hidden fires has received rave reviews all over and have been invited to perform for Mahindra's OLD WORLD THEATRE FESTIVAL, Vivachana National Theatre Festival Jabalpur, Muktibodh Natyaotsav raipur, 5th National Theatre Festival Balaghat, World Social forum Mumbai and National School Of Drama (N.S.D.), Satta Festival Jaipur, Theatre Club J.N.U., PCVC, and Queen's Award Project (UK) for Communal Harmony.
Bishma Sahani's MADHAVI, Solo by Rashi Bunny and directed by Arvind Gaur, received special award for best play in experimentaion with tradition at International Solo Theatre Festival, Armenia.

ABOUT THE GROUP

ASMITA, one of the leading Hindi theatre groups in the country, stands committed to aesthetically innovative and socially relevant theatre. Since its inception in 1993, ASMITA has carved a niche for itself in the Indian theatre scene by staging plays of varied socio-political interest while not losing out mass appeal. The group takes up contemporary issues to underline the contours of our time while providing the best of entertainment.
The group has 48 productions to its credit and on an average has been performing for about 60 nights a year. All these plays have been directed by ASMITA's Resident Director Arvind Gaur. For ASMITA, theatre has a purpose of awakening the audience to contemporary issue and creating a dialogue on prevailing social problems. ASMITA performed in all major theatre festivals of India including National School of Drama, (Bharat Rang Mahotsava),Sangeet Natak Akademi, SKP,Nandikar and Vivachana Theatre Festival, Old World Theatre Festival, Muktibodh Natya Samaroh,World Social Forum and Nehru Centre Festival Mumbai

In the past 12 years, the group has performed Girish Karnad's 'Tuglaq' and 'Rakt Kalyan', Dharamveer Bharti's 'Andha Yug', Swadesh Deepak's 'Court Martial', G P Deshpande's 'Antim Divas', Albert Camus' 'Caligula', Mahesh Dattani's 'Final Solutions' and 'Tara', Eugene O'neill 's 'Desire Under the Elms', Dario Fo's 'An Accidental Death of an Anarchist', Dr.Narenda Mohan's 'Kalandar', Bertolt Brecht's 'Good Woman of Setzuan' and 'Caucasian Chalk Circle', Samuel Beckett's 'Waiting For Godot', John Octanasek's 'Romeo Juliet and the Darkness', Neil Simon's 'The Good Doctor', Vijay Tendulkar's 'Ghasiram Kotwal', Munshi Premchand's 'Moteram ka Satyagrah', Ashok Lal's 'Ek Mamooli Aadmi', Rajesh Kumar's 'Me Gandhi Bolto', Vijay Mishra's 'Tatt Niranjana', Doodnath Singh's 'Yama Gatha', Uday Prakash's 'Warren Hastings ka Saand',
Bhishma Sahani's 'Madhavi' & Manjula Padmanbhan's 'Hidden Fires'(both solo by actress Rashi Bunny), Walking Through the Rainbow ( joint production with PCVC, solo by Rashi Bunny) & Gandhari ( solo by Aishveryaa Nidhi).


Contact-
arvindgaur@hotmail.com,
arvindasmita@yahoo.com
09899650509,
09810606823

Tuesday, December 6, 2005

COURTMARTIAL AT OXFORD BOOK STORE

Dialogue

O X F O R D
BOOK STORE

An Oxford Bookstore Theatre Initiative
& Asmita art Group

Invite you to
A Gripping erformance of

SWADESH DEEPAK’S

COURT-MARTIAL

Direction - Arvind Gaur


8th December , 5.45 pm
OXFORD BOOK STORE
Statesman House, First Floor,
148, barakhamba Road, N. Delhi -110001

ABOUT THE PLAY

When respect is denied to a man for the only reason that he is borne by ‘low-caste’ parents, the offence cannot simply be termed as a social violence. It assumes larger proportions of crime against humanity and society at large.
Yet by the turn in situation the murderer becomes a winner whereas the victim is unforgiven. The culprit may receive severe punishment at the hands of the law but, in fact, it is the society which is put in the docks.
Court Martial,written by Swadesh Deepak, is a story of recruit Ram Chander who is tried for murdering one of his officers and injuring another. The Court Martial is presided by a war veteran.Col. Surat Singh who has witnessed many ‘life –and –death’ situation. But this trial puts him in a queer position, so far unknown to him, and during the course of interrogation he realize that the issues at stake are much larger than what meets the eye. Realizing that the Indian Army is the only government agency in which reservation on caste basis is not permissible. Court Martial presents a combination of legal and poetic justice.

CRITICS SAY

Tight pace of Court Martial….not to be missed .
- Kavita Nagpal (H.T.)
Gaur’s hard hitting realism…..His infinitely intelligent approach….strong play.
- Aruna Ahluwalia (E.News)
Kudos to Court Martial….a drama that went beyond the limits of drama .
- (Indian Express)
The Asmita team has created a marvelous piece of theatre out of a wonderful script….don’t miss it. The times spent watching it is well worth it.
-Smita Narula (Pioneer)
Stealing scenes with revolt as the theme ….Court Martial was an engrossing display of theatre for social awareness.
-Sushama Chadha (T.O.I.)
Excellent acting, live and memorable…..worth visit.
-Ajit Rai (N.B.T.)

ABOUT THE GROUP

ASMITA, one of the leading Hindi theatre groups in the country, stands committed to aesthetically innovative and socially relevant theatre. Since its inception in 1993, ASMITA has carved a niche for itself in the Indian theatre scene by staging plays of varied socio-political interest while not losing out mass appeal. The group takes up contemporary issues to underline the contours of our time while providing the best of entertainment.

The group has 48 productions to its credit and on an average has been performing for about 60 nights a year. All these plays have been directed by ASMITA's Resident Director Arvind Gaur. For ASMITA, theatre has a purpose of awakening the audience to contemporary issue and creating a dialogue on prevailing social problems. ASMITA performed in all major theatre festivals of India including National School of Drama, (Bharat Rang Mahotsava),Sangeet Natak Akademi, SKP,Nandikar and Vivachana Theatre Festival, Old World Theatre Festival, Muktibodh Natya Samaroh,World Social Forum and Nehru Centre Festival Mumbai

In the past 12 years, the group has performed Girish Karnad's 'Tuglaq' and 'Rakt Kalyan', Dharamveer Bharti's 'Andha Yug', Swadesh Deepak's 'Court Martial', G P Deshpande's 'Antim Divas', Albert Camus' 'Caligula', Mahesh Dattani's 'Final Solutions' and 'Tara', Eugene O'neill 's 'Desire Under the Elms', Dario Fo's 'An Accidental Death of an Anarchist', Dr.Narenda Mohan's 'Kalandar', Bertolt Brecht's 'Good Woman of Setzuan' and 'Caucasian Chalk Circle', Samuel Beckett's 'Waiting For Godot', John Octanasek's 'Romeo Juliet and the Darkness', Neil Simon's 'The Good Doctor', Vijay Tendulkar's 'Ghasiram Kotwal', Munshi Premchand's 'Moteram ka Satyagrah', Ashok Lal's 'Ek Mamooli Aadmi', Rajesh Kumar's 'Me Gandhi Bolto', Vijay Mishra's 'Tatt Niranjana', Doodnath Singh's 'Yama Gatha', Uday Prakash's 'Warren Hastings ka Saand',
Bhishma Sahani's 'Madhavi' & Manjula Padmanbhan's 'Hidden Fires'(both solo by actress Rashi Bunny), Walking Through the Rainbow ( joint production with PCVC, solo by Rashi Bunny) & Gandhari ( solo by Aishveryaa Nidhi).

CAST(In order of appearance)

Col. Surat Singh : Susan Brar
Judge consultant- I : Sandeep Srivastava
Judge consultant­-II : Amita Walia
Judge-III: Shamim Gandhi / Rajesh Mishra
IV: -Sunil rawat
V: Rajesh Kumar / Awadesh Kr.
Major Ajay Puri : Ajeet Kumar Mahato
Capatian Bikash Rai : Pushpraj Rawat
Subedar Balwan Singh : Prageet Pandit
Cap. Dr. Gupta : Vipin Arora
Lt. Col. Breajendra Rawat : Amit Rana
Captian BD. Kapoor : Akhilesh Praveen
Ramchander : Rohan Madeshya
Soldier -I : Shilendra Bist
Soldier –II : Rakesh Shah

ENACTMENTS
Ramchadar : Sidharth Dubey
Capatian Kapoor : Siddarth Dubey
Mrs. Kapoor : Anupam Pachauri/Nidhi sharma
Soldiers : Sanjay Chawhan, Kartik Shah, Abhijit, Suleman Khan, Aman Sharma,
Deepak Rajor,Abeer Mourya, Amit Baisoya, Sharad Verma, Prabhakar Ranjan,
Abhishek Sharma, Rajesh raj, Nitin Garg,Ashutosh Das,

Music : Dr. Sangeeta Gaur

PRODUCTION
Sunil Rawat,Sharad Verma,Akhilesh Praveen,Ajit Mahto,Susan Brar,Kranti Pratap Singh,Sandeep Srivastava, Girish Pal,Ruth Sheard

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Arvind Gaur who heads the Delhi, based Theatre group ASMITA is committed to innovative and socially relevant theatre. Starting off as a journalist and working for sometime for the electronic media, he set up ASMITA and earned a reputation in theatre circle in India and abroad.
Arvind Gaur has conducted many theatre workshops and performed in various Colleges, Institutions, Universities and Schools in India and abroad such as Stanford, Harvard Uni , Stony Brook Uni, Smithsonian (Washington DC),Nehru Centr (London) ,Jawahar Lal Nehru University, IILM , I.I.T.(Delhi) , AIMS , School of Planning and Arhitecture.One of his production "Madhavi", solo by Rashi Bunny was recently invited at International Theatre Festival , Russia,oct.2005
Workshops for children in schools and slums as well as Street Theatre performances on different socio-political issues organized and conducted by Arvind Gaur are many in numberHe has also conducted theatre workshops for Actors and Directors at Houston, USA and India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. He also performed various plays in collobration with organizations like Theatre World, British Council(Chennai), IHC, Paridhi, Bahroop,Banjara Theatre group (IIT,Khargpur), IIC, Rainbow Cavaliers, M.Dot Band (Jaipur),Vivchana (Jabalpur), Prithvi Theatre Festival(platform theatre IHC,2004) and NGOs like Mobile Creches, Darpan Academy, Action-Aid, Haq, PCVC, Deepalaya , Heinrich Boll Foundation, ASF,Youthreach and World Social Forum.
He also designs lights for NAYA theatre under the Direction of Shri Habib Tanvir.
Director Arvind Gaur has also collaborated with various Theatre artists and Groups specially in exploring a new language for Solo performances which includes Dario fo's 'Story of the Tiger', solo by Jaimini Kumar Srivastava, 'Women in Black' by Bubbles Sabharwal and "Untitled Solo" by Lushin Dubey in collaboration with Theatre World. Not only have these plays received great audience response from important metropolis of India, "Women in black" was invited to perform in Dubai and "Untitled Solo" was performed in Chicago, Dallas, Washington DC, Boston, Rochester , San francisco, Ohio in USA and at the Edinburgh Theatre Festival last year .
"Bitter Chocolate " a new solo by Lushin was also performed at Harvard (USA) & at Nehru Centre, London and Gandhari solo by Aishveryaa Nidhi was recently performed at NIDA theatre , Sydney.
With Rashi Bunny, young actress trained in Theatre design at University of Alabama at Birmingham and Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA. Arvind Gaur Has directed three solo's .Bhishma sahani's" Madhavi ", Manjula Padmanabhan's 'Hidden Fires'and 'Walking through the Rainbow'.
Madhavi & Hidden fires has received rave reviews all over and have been invited to perform for Mahindra's OLD WORLD THEATRE FESTIVAL, Vivachana National Theatre Festival Jabalpur, Muktibodh Natyaotsav raipur, 5th National Theatre Festival Balaghat, World Social forum Mumbai and National School Of Drama (N.S.D.), Satta Festival Jaipur, Theatre Club J.N.U., PCVC, and Queen's Award Project (UK) for Communal Harmony.
Bishma Sahani's MADHAVI, Solo by Rashi Bunny and directed by Arvind Gaur, received special award for best play in experimentaion with tradition at International Solo Theatre Festival, Armenia.

Contact-arvindgaur@hotmail.com,
arvindasmita@yahoo.com
09899650509

Saturday, December 3, 2005

MADHAVI SOLO BY RASHI BUNNY :THE STORY OF EVERY WOMAN,HT CITY


MADHAVI SOLO BY RASHI BUNNY :THE STORY OF EVERY WOMAN
by Mita Kapur
Hindustan Times
20th nov.2005

One woman. Like the Earth, she bears, she nurtures, she cares. She must give up her sense of self, her feelings, her desires to fulfil her ‘duty’ towards the ‘man’. The ‘man’ sometimes is her father, her lover, her husband, her brother, her son – it is an eternal journey of sacrifice. This one woman, you may call her Madhvi, Mandakini, or Monica, she has passed through 5000 years of history, merely existing for the ‘man’.
The play, ‘Madhvi’, solo by Rashi Bunny staged at JKK last evening, brought to town by the IILM Academy of Higher Learning, is the story of every woman. Dimensions of Time and Space cease to matter. Canvas and colours of our culture - mehndi, gulaal, haldi, roli, sand are used by the protagonist to paint the _expression of her feelings as she goes through the play. The woman is a symbol of creation. And yet she must suffer.
Madhvi, the beautiful daughter of Yayati is given away to a devoted disciple of Guru Vishwamitra, Galav. Why ? Galav must fulfil his duty towards his guru. He must procure 800 Ashwamedha horses as gurudakshina. An indomitable task. The woman must step in to rescue the man from his predicament. First, the man who is her father, who has to prove to the world he is a ‘mahadaanveer’. So the daughter must be sacrificed. The dutiful disciple, Galav, must abide by his word, given to his guru.
Madhvi, bestowed with the power of recurring youth and the ‘vardaan’ that she will give birth only to sons, is used by Galav as a mere instrument. Both men endeavour to achieve fame through the resilience and forbearance of a woman.
She is auctioned off to one king after another, to bear each a son in exchange for 200 horses. The raj jyotish examines her body, from her soft fingers and toes to her shining forehead and pronounces her destined to bear only ‘chakravarti’ sons. She wins the love and respect of the kings – after all she will bear the heir apparent to their thrones.
A woman exchanged for horses. Because she must respect the wishes of her father. For she loves Galav, pines for him to be free from his responsibility, dreams of a life with him. She feels for her child, Vasomana. But she must abandon the emotional shackles of motherhood for she is on a mission for the man she has vowed herself to.
A flood that drowns all the horses and Vishwamitra buys the surviving Ashwamedhas. Galav despairs and Madhvi rises once again to meet the blows of life. The woman self-auctions herself to Vishwamitra for the last 200 horses. The last son is born. There is a resonance of gaiety, celebration. The great Yayati will finally give away his Madhvi in a swayamvara.
Madhvi yearns for her life with Galav. She dreams to be free. She has gone through the courts of three kings and the guru himself just for the love of her man. Galav finds her in her real state, wrinkled, tired, middle – aged. He will not accept her without her youth. She feels she is free to be herself at least with the man she has lived her life for. But Galav, is just another ‘man’. He must escape ugly reality. “You have lived with my guru, how can I take you back in my life ?”
Life has come a full circle. Madhvi, the woman, the individual is lost forever. She is alone, she must bear the brunt of living only for others, never for herself. She dawns white, signifying yet another lonesome journey.
A solo performance by Rashi Bunny, directed by Arvind Gaur, based on a Bhishma Sahni’s script was a gripping portrayal of reality. Madhvi is reality. A powerful rendition of 16 roles by Rashi, evoked mesmerised silence and resounding applause from the audience. Recalling her earlier performance in Balaghat (MP), Rashi said, “a lady walked up to me and asked me, ‘can I touch you ?’ after watching the play. I felt so small. I am on a mission, a spiritual journey, I’m not acting.”
Working in two more solo performances, ‘Hidden Fires’ by Manjula Padmanabhan and ‘Walking through the Rainbow’, for Rashi the woman, Rashi the actress, all boundaries fade as she immerses herself completely, unabashedly in her roles.
The play was among the very rare meaningful theatre we get to watch in our city. Thought provoking, overwhelming, it left so many fighting their tears. Each person present would have identified with the double standards of our society, each person sitting there would have felt guilty of having reduced the existence of a woman to a mere object, a commodity. Each woman would have relived some part of her life.


Mita Kapur
Hindustan Times,Jaipur