International Theatre Festival of Kerala (ITFOK) 2014: A state sponsored experiment with hits and misses

Deepa Punjani


	(Above) C SHARP C BLUNT, VIRASAT and MEPHISTO WALTZ (Below) THE KITCHEN

Special Mention

Three other plays that stood out for me at the festival were C SHARP C BLUNT (India/Berlin), directed by Sophia Stepf; MEPHISTO WALTZ (Germany) directed by Anton Adassinsky and EPIC (Slovakia) directed by Josef Vlk. I liked C SHARP C BLUNT for its versatile performance by MD Pallavi and for its tongue-in-cheek, computer syncronised parody of the urbane, modern Indian young man whose App is designed to mirror his ingrained patriarchal and sexist attitudes. MEPHISTO WALTZ after Goethe's FAUST although now too familiar in its production design continues to strike a chord precisely because the stage design and the physical theatre it employs hinges on the primeval and the raw nature of man. EPIC is a finely designed movement piece with a creative stage design that uses shadow work. The play broadly explores class, capital and labour in a style that meshes dance, opera and the films of the twenties and the thirties.

I regret missing BEGUM PANNIKAR, the Malayalam adaptation of Satish Alekar's BEGUM BARVE, directed by Kumara Varma but followed Professor MV Narayanan's conversation with the director. Kumara Varma spoke of how he was able to take off from Alekar's text and root it in its Malayalam idiom by finding parallels in Kathakali where also male artistes assume female characters. Roysten Abel opened the festival with THE KITCHEN and Anuradha Kapur closed it with VIRASAT. Both were sensorial treats befitting the grandeur of the first and the last day that accompany events of this scale; yet both productions are problematic bringing into sharp focus some of the critical issues and dilemmas confronting modern and contemporary theatre in India.

<< BACK | NEXT >>

read / post your comments

Features

- 60 Years of TO MEE NAVHECH (new)
- Tribute to Annabhau (new)
- Satish Alekar's New Play (new)
- A Book On Jayant Pawar's Plays
- Summer Is Here
- World Theatre Day Message
- World Theatre Day After The Unlocking
- Tribute To Burjor & Ruby Patel
- Reopening of Theatre Spaces in Mumbai
- Thespo 23 Digital Youth Festival
- Comment: Tribute to Jayant Pawar
- THESPO AUDIO-TORIUM
- Thespo: Young Live Digital | The light Catcher
- Playwrights & The Pandemic
- Keeping The Show Going

Archives

Discussion Board

International Theatre Festival of Kerala (ITFOK) 2014: A state sponsored experiment with hits and misses

Schedule