Mahabharata
Playwright:
Anamika
Mishra
Director:
Anurupa Roy
Language:
Hindi/ English / Kannada
Duration:
1 hr 10 min
The Play
“Human
beings are born for peace; they like to grow up in peace. They like to raise
their children in peace, and they like to say goodbye to this beautiful life in
peace. Then why are we always preparing for war?”
This
seems to be the central dilemma of the Mahabharata. When we block ourselves to
other points of view, narrowing down our worlds to our own version of justice,
are we headed for war? When each person
traps himself within one motive and their version of status quo, are we primed
to kill and die? When the characters of the Mahabharata begin to wage their
personal wars, closing themselves to the consequences of their actions, things
snowball into an apocalypse. Our Mahabharata
explores the inner dilemmas of fifteen characters in the play through a stream
of consciousness narrative of their past and present motives. Does each character’s
single minded and unquestioning loyalty to one belief system lead to the inevitable
conflict? Was there ever a moment when each of these characters could have
averted war by choosing differently? Or are we doomed to make the same choices
eternally?
Director’s
Note
This
performance with puppets, masks, shadow puppets and materials looks at the
Mahabharata as a dynamic narrative which has evolved over a few thousand years
through the sung verses of Togalu Gombeyatta’s Sillakeyata Mahabharta and remains
relevant in the new search of contemporary puppeteers. The story itself is
increasingly relevant in the polarized conflict ridden world of today. The
characters then become archetypes for conflicts small and large whether in
world politics or the family or community and the narrative is an over arching
metaphor for many political, institutional, social situations in the world
today. But our central question is what could have averted the Apocalyptic
Mahabharata war. What choices could each character have altered? And what
choices can each one of us alter? What fixed believes must be question and let
go of to prevent such a war in the future. Can we start by acknowledging that
none will survive such a war and thus it must be prevented?
The
Director
Anurupa Roy is a puppeteer and puppet
director. She has a diploma in puppet theatre from Dramatiska Institute,
University of Stockholm (2001) and has trained under Bruno Leone at the Scoul
Della Guaratelle in Naples, Italy. She is the Founder/ Managing trustee of the
Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust.
The
Playwright
Anamika
Mishra has a Masters Degree in English Literature from the University of Delhi.
She has worked for NDTV’s ‘Gustakhi Maaf’ or Double Take, puppet theatre satire
on the channel. She has worked as both producer and writer. She has been a
puppeteer with Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust from 2000-2003 as a puppeteer and
script writer. Currently, she works as a freelance content writer, script
writer and dramaturg. She has worked on the Mahabharata
performance as a researcher, writer and dramaturge.
The
Group
The Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust started as a small group of puppeteers
and was founded by Anurupa Roy in1998 in New Delhi. Today it is a cultural
trust, registered in 2006, that works more as an ensemble company with
puppeteers, dancers, actors, etc. The group has over 16 productions ranging
from Shakespearean comedies, The Ramayana, shows on global warming and
historical manuscripts like the Humayun-Nama, and experimental
material-theatre using just newspapers to create visuals. The main focus of the
group is to create performances with puppets or animate material, to train
professional puppeteers, and explore the possibilities of using puppets beyond
stage performances.
Cast & Credits
Puppeteers: Vivek
Kumar, Mohammad Shameem, Anurupa Roy, Avinash Kumar, Gunduraju
Original
Music Score: Suchet
Malhotra
Animation: Atul
Sinha
Puppet
Design & Construction: Mohammad
Shameem
Assistant: Asha
Shadow
Puppets: S.
Chidambara Rao
Choreography: Avinash
Kumar
Shadow
Puppets & Script Advice: Gunduraju
Shadow
Puppet Construction: S.
Chidambara Rao
Light
Design: Milind
Shrivastav
Script Anamika Mishra
Design, Concept & Direction Anurupa Roy
Contacts
Ms. Anurupa Roy
The Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust
108 Siddharth Enclave,
Ashram Chowk, New Delhi - 110014
Ph: 011-26345185
M: +91 9810511360
E: katkathapuppet@gmail.com
W: www.katkatha.org
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