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"The play is a retelling of the all time favourite tale of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. The story unfolds on the stage in the form of day dreams of a little boy discovering the 1001 Arabian Nights. ..."
"Second Shift Muster was written in the mid ‘nineties. It was the time when the first effects of the liberalization of the Indian economy were beginning to show. There were the obvious beneficial eff..."
"The characters in the play may be seen as placed in three concentric circles. At the centre are just three characters: Choma, Belli, his daughter and the Drum. The drum is Choma’s trusty companion, ..."
"The play is set in Ujjain, one of the great cities of India a thousand and five hundred years ago. Vasanthasena, a famous courtesan, seeks refuge from prince Sansthanaka’s snare in the house of Char..."
"The story of The Anklet is in one of the best known dramatic tales written by Ilango Adigal, brother of king Shenguttuvan, some time between the second and third centuries AD. The writing contains a s..."
"Early in the History of Ideas programme the plays went beyond a biographic focus to institutional processes that shaped important historical developments. Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee’s Pulitzer award b..."
"Years ago, I was invited to a meeting at the US Consulate office in Madras (now Chennai) for a discussion on a visiting American theatre production. The Officer’s cabin overlooked Gemini Circle, wit..."
"Evening Shadows is an original English language adaptation of Sandhya Chhaya by the Marathi playwright Jaywant Dalvi. The loneliness of an elderly couple is compounded by the son not returning from Am..."
"Readers in South India will not need any introduction to the tales of Tenali Rama. They would have heard innumerable stories from innumerable sources, they would have heard him quoted and would have q..."
"The Magic Drum and Other Favourite Stories by Sudha Murty is a collection of delightful folk tales from many lands. One important objective of the publication is to revive the lost charm of storytelli..."
"Einstein’s Dreams is an original adaptation-dramatization of the highly acclaimed novel by the physicist-novelist Alan Paige Lightman at MIT. It is based on archival material revealing the day-drea..."
"Is it really possible for a play to be relevant – however one might choose to define the term – and still be simple and uncomplicated in both content and narration? The question first occurred at..."
"The play is set in the estate of a landlord in a small town somewhere in the rural north of India. With due adaptation the play can also be set in other parts of India. With some changes in the idiom ..."
"The play has a contemporary setting, seeking the relevance of Vivekananda’s life and work in today’s world. It is an attempt to introduce today’s youth to the significance of Vivekananda’s mis..."
"In the early ‘nineties India opened up its economy and joined the world economic order as a player and thus became a participant in the globalization of trade. That meant conforming to global practi..."
"Arrowheads is an early play. It began as notes from a discussion (in a theatre group exercise) on the increasing rate of divorce in urban India, and then developed into a play. Scene 1 is in the natur..."
"The play can be seen as the third in a trilogy that fell into place largely by itself. The other two plays would be Family Albums, written in the late ‘eighties, and Arrowheads, written in the early..."
"'Corrigendum' is part of 'In Memoriam', a double bill comprising 'Addendum' and 'Corrigendum'. As in the first play, the characters find themselves sucked into the system they have unwittingly steppe..."
"Gold and Silver was written originally as a radio play at the time of an exchange project with the Royal National Theatre. It was required to be within 45 minutes, so it can be called a long short pla..."
"The plays in Volume 6 reflect on the continued Western orientation of Indian communities till today. As a character in Salt Licks says: “Go West, young man, to rediscover the East. And don't be i..."
"The Prophet and the Poet is based on the exchange of letters and articles between Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore over 25 years, with the Indian freedom struggle as the backdrop. The letters re..."
"The epic Mahabharata war has ended. For some it is a triumph, the end of an era of injustice. For others it is the beginning of another long journey in a never-ending cycle of the rise and downfall of..."
"Untitled is part of 'In Transit', a double bill consisting 'Unspoken' and 'Untitled'. The transgender person has both a biological identity and a social identity. While the biological seeks definitio..."
"'Addendum' is part of 'In Memoriam', a double bill comprising 'Addendum' and 'Corrigendum'. The ‘liberated economy’ of developing countries has had compromises in many different ways, especially ..."
"A renowned writer receives a prestigious international award for a path-breaking novel. It is about a group of intellectuals working on a top secret project to develop a suitable technology by which t..."
"In Absentia was the second play in the series that came to be called Tales From the City. The ‘Bangalore phenomenon’ cannot escape attention. The information technology hub of India has clearly co..."
"The story of Lakshmi is based on an actual case of a woman who was sucked into the vortex of a self-fulfilling prophecy, ending in institutionalized psychiatric treatment. The substance of the case ha..."
"'Unspoken' is part of In Transit, a double bill featuring 'Unspoken' and 'Untitled'. A commonly explored (and much exploited) subject on stage is prostitution. It is often romanticized as the world�..."