GREEN and ACTION PACKED

Bangalore Times - Nirmala Govindarajan

THE SHAH MAN

The New IndianExpress - Indulge - Aishwarya Subramanium

Read one on one with the man himself - Naseeruddin Shah about directing By George

SHAH BRINGS SHAW ON STAGE

MID DAY - Priyanjali Ghose

Read the preview here : http://epaper2.mid-day.com/sho

 wtext.aspx?boxid=9051428&paren tid=147685&issuedate=17082011& edd123=bangalore

Read Anand Tiwari's Interview for BY GEORGE - a collection of three comedy pieces written by George Bernard Shaw.

WATCH IT, BY GEORGE!

DECCAN CHRONICLE- Divya Sehgal

Theatre festival to go paper-free in Bangalore

 NEW INDIANEXPRESS- Zoya Philip

 Going eco-friendly seems to have become the latest trend and mantra in the city. Trees huggers and dirt worshipers have never been as popular as now. Corporate giants and individuals collaborate on different levels to organise events that spread awareness and impart ‘nature-education’.

In a bid to do their bit in being eco-friendly, Indianstage, an art and culture portal is organising an eco fest, ‘Be Green at Home’. The first of it’s kind, the theatre festival is a paper-free festival.

Read More on Express Buzz 

 

 

 

Where 8,000 children bond with the best..

 

 

As the electronic media found its way into young hearts, story books and the conventional edu-tainment took a back seat. The children’s theatre festival organised by Indianstage at Alliance Francaise de Bangalore was designed to expose children to new forms of edu-tainment that goes beyond the class room and playground.

Eight thousand students participated in the festival. Part of the festivities were the plays A special bond 1 and A special bond 2 based on stories by one of the most popular children’s favourite author Ruskin Bond.

The plays were enacted by a Mumbai-based theatre group, Akvarious. The group that specialises in children’s theatre is spearheaded by  Akarsh Khurana son of Akash Khurana (actor).

The idea of directing and staging children’s plays materialised in Akarsh Khurana’s mind almost four years ago. “It was in the year 2007 that I had decided that I would like to do plays for kids. While we were looking out for children’s stories, something with rock solid principles, we  zeroed in on Ruskin Bond.

Read More

 http://expressbuzz.com/cities/bangalore/Where-8000-children-bond-with-the-best/299728.html

 

A Special Bond 2 by Akvarious Productions

Ranjani Krishnamurthy- Freelance writer

Last week, I had a chance to watch Special Bond 2 on stage – a collection of Ruskin Bond’s short stories rather well enacted in stage. The adventures of three children in the hills of Dehradun were definitely a delight to watch.   

 The play is technically not strong at all. The lighting was average and the sounds were just suitable. The whole show was on the shoulders of the actors who took the comedy forward by dialogues alone.

I’ve always believed playing the role of a child is very difficult. When adults play the role of children, they seem and sound like ‘mad’ adults. This play was different. The actors did a fantastic job in playing children and portray childhood very innocently. Laudable effort.

Each episode (a short story) was very compact, 10-12 minutes at most. A nice collection of stories (Ruskin Bond’s of course) put quite well together made for happy viewing. At least the children in front of me laughed and clapped to their heart’s content

 

Read one on one conversation with Akarsh Khurana

http://kranjani.wordpress.com/

 

With everyone hooked on to internet all our needs have become just a click away. Working your way to the top at work and no time to grab a bite? simply order food online. Looking for an apartment but do not have the time to go house hunting? Pick your choice of house online. It’s a relaxed weekend and all you’re craving for is to unwind, you’re thinking ‘may be catch a play or attend an unplugged concert’, then voila! Book your tickets online.

IndianStage introduces cash on delivery. You don’t need a credit card or any other cash cards to book tickets online. Come to IndianStage.in pick your favourite show and order for cash on delivery. Wherever you are, we ensure your tickets are delivered to your doorstep.  

The steps are very simple

The following is an illustration of cash on delivery process.

Step 1- Choose your show - click on buy tickets

Step 2 - Select Cash on Delivery

Step 3- Choose your seats and enter contact details - Confirm order

Step 4 - Order Confirmation

An order confirmation will be sent to you via email as well and your tickets will be delivered to your address.

Life’s easy at IndianStage!!!

 

To experience hassle free ticket booking come to IndianStage -  Your destination for live entertainment.

Visit: www.indianstage.in

 

 

A big thank you to our fans to have made the RD Burman tribute show a great success. Here are a few press clippings and photographs of the show

A trip down memory lane -TIMES OF INDIA - July 8, 2011

Tune into 80's with Amit - DECCAN CHRONICLE - July 8, 2011

EVERGREEN BURMANS - TRIBUTE TO RD & SD BURMAN - Featuring Amit and Sumeeth Kumar ( Sons of Kishore Kumar) - July 9, 2011

In a generation where PS 3’s and online games are a means of entertainment for children, creative and innovative edutainment have almost become an unknown concept. Theatre is one such creative form of edutainment that opens our mind to the world of imagination and broadens our perspectives. Children have an innate love for stories, drama motivates children; it helps them develop language, cooperative and problem solving skills, it improves emotional literacy and listening skills. Enactment of a story increases attention and induces interest and excitement. It is thus essential for children to explore this unique art form.

 IndianStage.in brings to Namma Bengaluru “Children’s theatre festival”. Children across various schools are invited to participate in this festival to experience the magic of theatre. Famous comic characters & classic stories of Ruskin Bond that we’ve enjoyed reading will be brought alive on stage.

The children’s festival concept was designed to expose children to new forms of edutainment that goes beyond class room and play ground. We create an outlet to break away from conventional forms of entertainment and open doors to the world of theatre. Children’s theatre festival is an annual event conducted by IndianStage. It saw a huge success in 2010 and is back again with its next installation this July and this time it’s bigger and better.

Children’s theatre 2011 is a weeklong festival where some of the all time children’s classics will be retold on stage. The best performers in the country are handpicked by IndianStage to perform in front of our energetic young audience.

 “Akvarious”, a Mumbai based troupe led by Akarsh Kurana will be the group that will be performing this year. The troupe specializes in children’s theatre and will be enacting ‘A Special Bond and A Special Bond 2 based on stories by Ruskin Bond. The festival has both private & public shows. The private shows will be staged on weekdays exclusively for schools in Bangalore and the public shows will be held at Alliance Francaise during weekends where the children can be accompanied by their parents and relatives.

According to Akarsh Kurana “Watching Makarand Deshpande’s play about young people’s obsession with cricket, I laughed as much as the kid sitting next to me! This taught me that a children’s play need not be childish. It can be family entertainment, with humour and substances for all age groups”.

Every individual at some point in his life has cherished reading stories of Ruskin bond and one can never get bored of these stories. Despite what age you are, these stories can still engage and entertain you. The public shows are specially designed keeping this aspect in mind. Parents can become a child once again and travel back in time with the stories of Ruskin Bond.

Children’s theatre festival is a unique format that will ignite the spark of creativity in a child and wake up the child inside an adult.

Come be a part of Children’s theatre 2011, let’s bring color, fun & joy in the lives of our children. Let us sow the seeds of imagination & creativity in the young minds of our nation.

 

AKVARIOUS

Akvarious Productions was founded by noted actor (film and theatre), screenwriter and director Akash Khurana in the early 90s. Its purpose was to groom and promote new talent in the fields of screenwriting and theatre. Since 1997, the founder’s son, Akarsh Khurana, has spearheaded Akvarious. 

ABOUT THE SHOWS

Based on stories by Ruskin Bond

 A SPECIAL BOND (English, Hindi)

A boy from the city goes on a journey into an ancestral world in a hill station, where he has many adventures and makes new and interesting friends. Peppered with song, dance, and lots of laughs, A Special Bond transports the audience into another world, and is an exciting, enjoyable and special experience for children... of all ages, shapes and sizes

A SPECIAL BOND PART 2 (English, Hindi)

This exciting sequel filled with Ruskin Bond’s stories returns with Ranji and a whole new set of magical adventures in the hills. Take another trip up north to see some of your favourite characters return, and discover some new interesting ones including a crazy queen, a sinister gypsy and two ghost children.

Join us, again, to watch some more of Ruskin Bond's unforgettable stories unfurl on stage.

 

 

DETAILS Date: July 24- 30, 2011 Visit: www.indianstage.in CONTACT Divya Rao Marketing Manager Ph: 080 42064969

 

It is a dream come true for Arundhati Raja and Jagdeesh Raja, the proud owners of Jagriti. Jagriti is a brand new theatre hub that will see its grand opening on Jan 12. The calm and serene atmosphere of Whitefield (the eastern wing of Bangalore) is the birth place of Jagriti.

This 200 seater state of the art auditorium aims to be a hub for the performance arts with support events for the visual arts. 

The first premier show of Jagriti is Nine Faces of Being by Anita Nair. Nine Faces of Being revolves around three main characters; Chris, Radha and her uncle who is a famous kathakali dancer.

When Chris arrives at a riverside resort in Kerala to meet Radha's uncle, the famous Kathakali dancer, he enters a world of masks and repressed emotions. From the first moment of their meeting each other, Radha and her uncle find themselves strangely drawn to the thoughtful young man and his incessant questions about the past.

In the weeks that follow, his presence seems to tear the veil off the silent blankness of their lives: Radha's relationship with her husband Shyam comes to an end when she falls passionately in lust with their secretive young visitor; Uncle who watches the Radha-Chris love affair unfold seeks to caution them of passion’s turbulent path by retelling the astonishing tale of Angela and his love affair, and in the process is forced to confront his past.

Moving seamlessly from one voice and experience to the other, this ambitious new play written in nine scenes is a deeply affecting exploration of the search for meaning in life and in art.

Come be a part of Jagriti! Buy your tickets now for Nine Faces Of Being.

Event Details: http://www.indianstage.in/events/nine_faces_of_being.html

Visit: www.indianstage.in for all upcoming Jagriti events

 

About the founders of Jagriti

Arundhati Raja

Artistic Director

Arundhati Raja exemplifies variety. She has juggled performances on the Bangalore stage from 1977, with a career in teaching French, Biology and Drama, and the launch of Artistes' Repertory Theatre in 1982. She continues to skilfully balance acting, training and direction. She conducts workshops in Drama for all ages and from disparate socio-economic backgrounds, and has directed over 30 major productions as Artistic Director of ART and JAGRITI.

Jagdish Raja

Director, Development

Jagdish Raja is a graduate member of the Communications, Advertising and Marketing Society (M.CAM) London, and has worked in India, Europe and the US. He has also devised, written, directed and presented programmes for radio, TV and corporate and promotional video capsules. He is a sought-after narrator and can be heard at the Nehru Planetarium.

Jagdish has acted in and directed many plays for ART and other theatre companies in the city. His film credits include parts in The Jewel in the Crown for Granada Television and David Lean's A Passage to India.

Sukhita Aiyar

Sukhita Aiyar is almost always in rehearsal for a theatre production, onstage or off.

Sukhita's foray into theatre started in school, with the title role of Cinderella in Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes, in Standard 6. She spent a considerable amount of time trying to fool herself by joining the corporate world, and finally gave in to her first and enduring passion: Drama. She has 20 years' experience on stage and behind the scenes, and wears many hats at JAGRITI

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remember the time when you were at the edge of the seat with eyes wide open and chewing your nails desperately in curiosity and anxiousness. A time that exposed us to the genre of thriller and made us all Sherlock Holmes. It's time to experience that era once again.

All those people who grew up with stories of Alfred Hitchcock here's a treat that we offer. IndianStage in collaboration with Evam Entertainment brings you for the first time in Bangalore The 39 Steps, a Broadway adaptation of Hitchcock's movie. This production has seen a runaway success in Broadway and The West End. It earns the reputation as the longest running Broadway play in seven years. The play has also bagged the Tony awards in the Best Play and Best Direction category. 

The highlight of this play is four characters playing 140 roles in one and half hours. This form of theatre is first of its kind in India and a performance that is never seen before. It is a thorough entertainer and runs at a breakneck speed that will keep you in splits.  

The 39 Steps an absolute master piece of visual humour and a fantastic comic timing.  Come celebrate the season of joy Hitchcock style! 

Show: Dec 25& 26

Venue: Chowdaiah Memorial Hall

Tickets: http://www.indianstage.in/EventDetails.do?eventId=1297

 

 

A lazy wintry evening. Coffee House in Hazratganj, Lucknow. Two of Junoon’s actors discuss essentials of life. They concur that they should “do theatre together”. That was 1977. Thirty-two years since then, Naseeruddin Shah and Benjamin Gilani have a big reason to celebrate. Their Motley theatre group completes 30 years and continues to be the forerunner among Indian theatre groups.  They have performed solo plays like Julius ceasar, Katha collage etc.  

 Theatre is a stimulating experience, believes Mr. Shah and it has taught him a great deal. Inspired by Jerzy Grotowski  concept of poor theater, that said poverty of resources should be our strength and defined ideal theatre as one actor, one audience, Naseer has began to gravitate towards this type of theater . Ismat apa ke naam is one such product. 

 Ismat apa ke naam stories are monologue based and the audience is captivated by a solo performer on stage. Ismat apa ke naam is based on the stories written by the famous Urdu writer Ismat Khanum Chughtai and is highly acclaimed.  It is one of those plays that cannot be missed.

Gear up this December as we bring you the man himself Naseeruddin Shah at your door step. It gives Indianstage immense pleasure to join hands with the legendary Naseer saab to present to you ‘ISMAT APA KE NAAM’.