Source: Hueiyen News Service / Manipur Information Centre
New Delhi, November 27 2009:
The forthcoming 12th Bharat Rang Mahotsav (BRM), the annual International Theatre Festival of India to be held from January 6 to 22 in New Delhi will have four plays from Manipur which can give different special tastes to the theatre lovers.
The Festival will showcase around 50 Indian plays apart from a few selected international plays.
The four plays are the legendary theater director Ratan Thiyam's When We Dead Awaken, M.C.Thoiba's Rajarshi Bhagyachandra, Sanabam Thaninleima's Ashang Eina Aton and Toijam Shila Devi's Black Orchid.
Sources from the National School of Drama, the organizer of the festival stated, "The 2010 Festival aims to showcase the synthesis of experience, tradition, new energy and vision, which infuses the dramatic form while creating a new language that pushes the boundaries of the known, the expected and the usual" .
"A special focus in the 2010 festival will be evenings of theatre music and songs that will include stalwarts like B.V.Karanth, Jagmohan Upreti and Habib Tanvir.
Also, in recognition of the increasing importance played by technology in every area of contemporary existence, including the arts and creative expression, we will be holding backstage tours and technical/sound/light workshops.
These shall be accompanied by exhibitions, interactive sessions with directors, one-to-one meetings for experts on special requests and video screenings, in addition to the performances comprising the rest of the BRM repertoire.
In addition the BRM will also be host to a special round-table conference that will include eminent people from the world of theatre and the allied arts coming together in panels to discuss issues of current interest to practitioners.", it added.
The 70- minute play- When We Dead Awaken to be performed by the Chorus Repertory Theatre is Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's last play which centered essentially on the metaphysical and symbolic aspects of the characters.
Arnold Rubek is a sculptor who has made a name for himself.
However he has distanced himself from his wife who is drawn to Ulfhejm, an uncouth hunter, while Rubek himself gets involved with Irene, a beautiful woman from his past.
As the play proceeds, she leads him to a mountaintop where an avalanche kills both of them as they approach the summit while Maja sings exultantly in the valley below.In the Manipuri adaptation, scenes from the three acts of the original play have been picked up and interpolated without altering the storyline or disrupting the.
continuity.
However, to retain the sanctity of Ibsen no alteration has been made to his dialogues.
Bhogen, Santikumari, Robindro and Indira are main cast of the play.