Shabd Leela

An experimental venture, this presentation is part biography, part tribute to award winning novelist, poet and playwright Dr. Dharamvir Bharti. First half is an impactful reading of the extracts from ‘Ek Sahityik Ke Prem Patra’ a personal collection of letters between him and his wife. These letters, written in chaste Hindi, takes the audience to the life of Kanta, Pushpa and Dharamvir. The second section has performances from extracts of his works ‘Andha Yug’ and ‘Kanupriya’.

This is an absolute masterpiece on several fronts. The research, the narration, the performances are all top-notch. Luckily for us, Ms. Pushpa Bharti was also with us as audience that night and her praises for the research done for the play knew no bounds. On performance front, Ila Arun’s take on Gandhari is something that audience will not forget for long time to come! One can buy the ticket solely for her portrayal of Gandhari, such is the act! Rajeshwari, Varun and K K Raina also suited their roles to the perfection.

An amazingly researched piece, this falls short from being a must watch for regular audience on two fronts. First, the language – the Hindi used is in pure definitive form, which at times became tough to understand for me as well (I am a regular Hindi reader and still continue to grab a Hindi novel once in a while). Secondly, the pre-interval part with the letter narration seems dragging a bit. What also disappoints a bit is that (unlike Ek Mulaqat where Dipti and Shekhar memorize all words and dialogues), Ila and Varun read the letters on the stage from printout/notes.

Overall, it is a must-watch for the fans of Dharamvir Bharti ji, but the audience with challenges in understanding Hindi can find it little tough to understand the performance (first half in particular).

AglaPlay Verdict: A must watch for Dharamvir Bharti's fans
AglaPlay Rating: 3.5/5
Language: Pure Hindi
Duration: 2 Hours
Writer: Ila Arun 
Director: K. K. Raina
Cast: Ila Arun (Narrator / Gandhari), 
Rajeshwari Sachdev (Radha / Mrs. Bharti), 
Varun Badola, KK Raina, 
Abhishek Pandey

Below are a few relevant links.

Other Links
Full Performance on YouTube
Dharamvir Bharti Wikipedia
Ila Arun Wikipedia

Constellations

This internationally performed play which explores possibilities. Roland the bee keeper, and Marianne the physicist meet at a social gathering, just like any two people meet. And just like any other such meeting, there are numerous possibilities to this. It can be their last meeting, or, they can go on for a few dates and then break-up, or they can get married and so on and on… The actors enact many of these could-have-beens, a spectrum of responses, a plethora of reactions from the same characters in the same situation.

The roles were played by Jib Sarbh and Mansi Multani at NCPA when I watched this performance. The setup by NCPA, which also was the producer, was elegant. Particularly the lighting looked very nice. The actors also performed well. And as I said earlier, this is an internally acclaimed play which demands the best from the best of the performers. Actors like Jake Gyllenhaal had donned the role of Roland earlier and it is far from an easy task to perform in a play like this experimental and it is a unique writing.

Sadly, beyond that experimentation and novelty factor, the play has nothing much to offer. In fact, it becomes boring. Mistake me not, the actors and the producers have put the best of the efforts and the show looks elegant. But the writing is so that it reduces to alternate line-readings to the audience. It ultimately becomes dull and monotonous many times, and annoying at a few instances.

AglaPlay Verdict: Avoid
AglaPlay Rating: 1/5
Language: English
Duration: 1 hour 10 minutes (Approx)
Writer: Nick Payne
Director: Bruce Guthrie 
Cast:  Jim Sarbh (Roland)
Mansi Multani (Mariane)

Below are a few relevant links. The web link to the library touring performance of the play is also provided (without lighting and sound effects).

Other Links
Trailer Constellations
Full Performance of the play
Constellations Wikipedia
Constellations GoodReads