The play was a runner-up at the Sultan Padamsee Playwriting Awards 2016. Shikhandi was also awarded Best Play at the Laadli Media Awards 2017, and Best Ensemble and Best Supporting Actor (Female) at META 2018…reports N. LOTHUNGBENI HUMTSOE
It’s an exciting time as the spotlight is back and shining in its full glory with artists on stage. With a mix of live and screened events in a variety of languages, the NCPA is abuzz with a fantastic line-up of presentations.
The programme ranges from classic plays to new writing, physical theatre, musicals, live and streamed broadcasts, spoken word, classic cinema, and stand-up comedy, created and performed by the very best local, national and international artists.
This is a comic, tongue-in-cheek retelling of the story of Shikhandi. Mixing the traditional with the contemporary, the play questions maleness, femaleness, and everything in between. Shikhandi is perhaps one of the earliest trans characters known in mythology. Shikhandi was meant to be born male to avenge an insult in her past life as Amba. But the bigger karmic game unfolds when she is reborn as female, raised as male, has a sex change on her wedding night, thanks to a Yaksha, and finally fulfills her destiny to be the cause of Bhishma’s death.
The play was a runner-up at the Sultan Padamsee Playwriting Awards 2016. Shikhandi was also awarded Best Play at the Laadli Media Awards 2017, and Best Ensemble and Best Supporting Actor (Female) at META 2018.
English Play (with some Hindi – 90 mins)
Venue Experimental Theatre
Friday, December 2 – 7.30 p.m.
Sunday, December 3 – 5.00 pm & 7.30 p.m.
The play, based on a film that was adapted from Reginald Rose’s teleplay at the time, begins with an eighteen-year-old boy from a slum who is on trial for the murder of his abusive father. A jury of twelve people is locked in the deliberation room to decide the fate of the young boy. All evidence is against the boy and a guilty verdict would send him to the electric chair. But the judgment must be unanimous. Even before they begin a discussion, it is apparent that most of the jurors are certain the boy is guilty. While most jurors have already decided on the fate of the boy, one vote of not guilty opens Pandora’s box and a forced deliberation begins. Slowly, but surely, each member of the jury is forced to confront the facts on hand and open his/her mind to the possibilities that exist outside them and shine a light on the kind of person he/she actually is. Originally produced for Aadyam, an Aditya Birla Group Initiative, this production of Twelve Angry Jurors is presented by a special amateur license arrangement with Samuel French Ltd.
English Play (90 mins with Intervals)
Venue – Experimental Theatre
Sunday, December 4 – 5.00 p.m. & 8.00 p.m.
OCD is a light comedy about a carefree young man and his obsessed OCD-suffering servant. A kind of role reversal where the servant is after a master’s life to keep things neat, clean, and in order. And how in an effort to keep his master’s house in order the servant starts trying to cross boundaries and set his life in order by trying to control his relationship matters. The protagonist is a turbaned Rajasthani butler called OC chacha, who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder. Because of this, he is always striving to keep things ridiculously neat and tidy, which makes him the ideal domestic help on paper.
But that’s not always the case, especially when his idiosyncrasies get in the way of his master Rohan’s lifestyle and eventually relationships. For instance, he believes the furniture in the house should only be arranged at particular angles, doesn’t like even numbers, and is convinced that one should stay away from women because nothing good can come out of associating with the fairer sex! But since OC chacha has been a part of Rohan’s family for years and is an almost treasured heirloom, it is difficult for Rohan to get rid of him.
The play is a funny take on human eccentricities wherein every individual in this world has some or the other quirky habit but he or she feels that the other person is weird and anyone who does not adhere to majority norms is considered a freak. We all want to love and be loved but are afraid of commitments and are insecure about love, life, and everything around us. The play delves into this psyche of human nature.
English and Hindi play (100 mins)
Venue – Godrej Dance Theatre
Saturday, December 10 – 5.00 pm
A theatre company decides to do a play on international woman’s day. The subject decided by the director creates discomfort among the actors. The play evokes laughter at the hypocrisy! A- 2 act play is a compelling watch for all, above 18.
Hindi play (120 mins)
Venue – Experimental Theatre
Saturday, December 10 – 7.30 pm
A world premiere of contemporary dance based on Kathak is going to be performed solo by Aditi Mangaldas called FORBIDDEN on December 4, 2022. The event is commissioned by Aditi Mangaldas Dance Company – The Drishtikon Dance Foundation & co-commissioned by National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai Sadler’s Wells, London.
Female sexuality is private, but still, the taboos around it need and demand that we take a stand on universal, public, and personal grounds. History demonstrates a fundamental disdain for female sexual desire. Why are women across the world, in both conservative and liberal nations, sanctioned, assessed, controlled, persecuted, shamed, and eventually punished for having the courage to embrace their desire? Here is a creative expression- FORBIDDEN which has been released after months of internalization, debate, troughs, and peaks as each collaborator offered nuance to the work. The concept, dance, and choreography are by Aditi Mangaldas.
Venue: Jamshed Bhabha Theatre
Date & Time: December 4 2022 | 6:00 pm
Price: Member Price- Rs.630, 450 & 270/- (Inclusive of GST)
Non-Member Price- Rs.700, 500 & 300/- (Inclusive of GST)
Duration: 75 minutes
Age Limit: 18+
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