Plays for everything

The year was a great one for theatre. While many theatre company organised independent stage festivals to showcase their new plays, organisations like Prithvi and national Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) too played host to many new shows. New is must for change, new plays always bring freshness and difference in the already existing style of performances. And though there were quite a number of fabulous performances this year not all can be enlisted among top 10. A special mention for Einstein (played by Naseeruddin Shah) which though is not in the list, earned rave reviews and respect for one-of-a-monologue performances. Here's the low-down on top 10 plays that premiered this year, made a mark and hopefully will have a successful run for years to come...

Government Inspector (English)
This one is a contemporary spin on Nikolai Gogol's splendid satire on greed, corruption and small town sleaze. A group of small town money-grabbing officials get the shock of their lives when they learn that a Government Inspector is being dispatched to investigate their town and all its local dealings. Thrown into a panic, they desperately struggle to stifle public dissatisfaction whilst deflecting the blame for their various misdemeanors onto each other. But the first question they must find the answer to is, who is the Government Inspector and where is he hiding? Written in 1836, Gogol's classic adapted by Akarsh Khurana is an energetic comedy of manners and errors, with biting satire and madcap twists and turns, exposing the absurdity, spiritual bankruptcy and corruption of any given small town with biting hilarity.

Nani Maa (Gujarati)
What happens when two generations talk? Grandmother Charulata is 87 and grandson Aarish is 30, and when there is such a large age gap, the answer is not all that simple. The two meet accidentally after 20 years and get talking. They realise that they are two simple people living in a complicated world, or maybe, complicated individuals in a simple world. Even if they disagree in all topics from marriage to religion to politics, they agree on one thing—farming. Aatish wants to be a farmer, Charulata is one. So they talk of farming and agree that it is best learnt by doing and not talking. So, they sow the seeds of smiles and reap the love of a lifetime.

Ila (English)
The play basically looks into the gender issues. It raises the pertinent questions like what does it mean to be a woman? And who defines manhood? In today's world the roles of women and men are being renegotiated. The gender narrative is frequently rewritten and retold, sometimes with new belief systems and sometimes with the rediscovery of ancient woman/man wisdom. Inspired by a story from Devdutt Pattnaik's text, The Pregnant King, Ila is a devised piece that looks at gender, its related myths and dilemmas and the importance they play in our lives today.

Ek Mulaqaat (Urdu/Hindi)
Their's was not a simple love story. She was married and already a renowned writer while he was a struggling poet still looking to make grounds in Bollywood. They may have confessed their love to each other, they may have not. Who knows? They hardly met, sometimes talked. But rarely Amrita Pritam and Sahir Ludhianvi's names are not taken in one breathe. The play by Saif Hyder Hasan Ek Mulakat deals with these two eminent poets, played by Deepti Naval and Shekhar Suman. It is a play of unfulfilled love, magical poetry and music. Set on a wintry Delhi evening, the play moves along the path of a love story, a love that could not be realised. While both Naval and Suman are a wonder to watch on stage, it is a writing which is a clear winner in this play. Must watch!

Chapa Kata (Marathi)
Does bringing up our off-spring in the face of hardships, be they emotional, physical or financial, oblige our children to be committed to us? Should we then compel them to live their own lives in our shadow and be at our beck and call? Must the children give up on their individual lives, particularly when a parent is possessive? Does it mean that if children pursue their own lives, they are being selfish? These are some of the questions that writer Iravati Karnik attempts to ask through her play Chapa Kata. Co-produced by Anamika and Rasika Productions, and directed by Sameer Vidwans, this is a family drama dealing with parent-child relationships.

Aaj Jane Ki Zid Na Karo (Gujarati)
Constructed by Manhar Gadhia and Umesh Shukla and directed by Saumya Joshi Aaj, Jane Ki Zid Na Karo is an unconventional love story of a cop and a call girl who met incidentally in railway compartment of mumbai local train, a series of incidents follows and turns their normal life into an eventful journey. The play has array of human emotions imbedded within - humour, romance, rage, thrill and much more, which makes it an interesting play. While the cast is seen as the freshest pair on stage, the play is garnering both rave reviews and good revenues at the critical appraisal front. Go watch!

White Lily and Knight Rider (Contemporary English, and Marathi)
Today's changing social environment continually redefines conventional man-woman relationships. This play uses dark humour to take a hard look at the increasing isolation that technology and rigid expectations are imposing on singletons. White Lily and Night Rider, the chat pseudonyms of a man and a woman in their late 30s, is a laugh riot based on the undertone of mismatched expectations. It promises to entertain the audience, while making them reflect on the changing times. While Milind Phatak, who has been associated with the play right from the time it was conceptualised, the play was probably the platform for Sonali Kulkarni's comeback to theatre after almost a decade.

Nirbhaya (English)
On the night of December 16, 2012, a young woman and her male friend boarded a bus in New Delhi heading for home. What followed, changed the lives of these two people and countless others forever. Internationally acclaimed playwright and director Yael Farber created a searing new work that cracked open the cone of silence around women whose lives have been shattered by gender-based violence. With an extraordinary cast and creative team from India, Farber brought a blistering evocation of that terrible night and the ripples of change it set in motion. Tearing away the shame that keeps the survivors silent Nirbahay is a voyage into a tapestry of personal testimonies that speaks for a nation and world no longer able to hold the tides of change at bay.

Simla Coffee House (Hindi)
It is always a pleasure to watch Rakesh Bedi on stage, add actors like Asif Sheikh, Avtar Gill and SM Zaheer to the play and the treat is perfect. In a small secluded joint somewhere on the foothills of Simla, a coffee house is managed by a waiter called Satish Kashyap. Anup Chander comes to this place often to write his novels. He has been writing a series titled Tere Chhall which is extremely popular. Rahul Verma, an ardent fan of the writer, confronts him at the coffee house, as he does not agree with certain points in the series. The conversation starts at a very cordial note but later takes violent proportions. The waiter also intrudes during the conflict and becomes an integral part of the drama. Written and directed by Rakesh Bedi, Simla Coffee House has psycho-comic moments and tries to depict how society and literature are counter images of each other.

The Buckingham Secret (English)
Buckingham Palace is home to the British Royal Family. But there is a well kept secret for over a century, which only the family Butler knows and it is his job to keep this century-old secret from leaking out. From The Queen to Phillip, Charles, Diana, Camilla and the children... they all portray a Royal image for the public, but, behind closed doors of the Palace, they have another identity which is at risk of being revealed to the whole world. Written and directed by Meherzad Patel, this one is a hell of laugh riot and must watch to those who know something about satire.