The idea started to evolve; instead of just performing, why not make the setting a kind of Shakespearean village where the scenes were performed in different parts of the school? Of course, logistically, the scenes would have to be on the same floor, but the idea was interesting. And why not follow the Hamlet format of a play within a play? Hamlet could address all the actors at the beginning, and then the plays would begin. But what could be used to tie all the plays together? The answer came quickly, a narrator was needed, someone related to the Shakespeare world, but who was dynamic and entertaining.

As the pieces of the play were slowly put together, the main issue that needed to be addressed came to light, the costumes. How in modern day India is it possible to find the materials to put together a full Elizabethan costume? We must remember that in the day, the society was extremely conservative and has a different perception of beauty. Waistlines were tiny, faces were white, hips were huge and the dresses were layers over layers over layers. Finally, even that problem was resolved, thanks to Minoo Joshi (MYP 5 teacher) and a very interesting trip to the Sindhi bazaar.

Slowly, the production came together, with music, lights, costumes and props. The play turned out to be a success, with the audience giving extremely positive feedback to all the actors. But it is not the only actors, who were to be commended, but also the MGIS staff, especially Bharat bhai, Shankar bhai & Manoj bhai as well as Seher Hashmi of grade 10 who helped out with makeup and backstage. The last thank you goes to Ms. Anju Musafir, the DP2 theatre teacher and the principal of MGIS. For all those showed up, thank you and for those who didn’t, feel free to look at the video clips and the albums!

This was the culmination of a month long workshop, in which the students learned the nuances of Commedia, and began to apply them to small skits, which they later executed in the production.

The first thing you would need to know about Commedia Dell’Arte, is that it is an Italian theatre form, which laid the foundation for many others since it began. It places a huge emphasis spontaneously improvised actions and dialogues in small settings such as a street, as opposed to written and memorized scripts and their execution. It is visual theatre, that has variations on a simple plot, and stock indestructible characters.

These characters are the ones that our students had to become. Firstly, there was the miserly Pantalone, an old feeble man who thinks he is god’s gift to women. Then there was his servant Arlecchino, whose bumbling and erring ways provide the comic timing in almost every skit. There was also the “brave yet cowardly” Il Capitano, who fears no man, or atleast tries to seem that way! The flirtatious Columbina provided the last component.

The play started out with a short introduction to Commedia, in the form of typical humorous banter between the narrators, that was partly rehearsed, partly memorised. They eased the audience into the details they would need to know to fully appreciate the play.

The first skit was called, “Whose Banana is it Anyway?” Pantalone and Arlecchino spotted Columbina in a supermarket, and misunderstandings and hilarity ensued, mostly revolving around the phallic mis-representation of certain fruits. The scene’s fun element reached its pinnacle as Il Capitano saw the servant-master duo eying Columbina, a jealous fight between Arlecchino and Il Capitano took place, where both fought with bananas instead of swords.

The second skit was called “The brave Il Capitano”. This skit was an extension of a simple concept, mainly the killing of a pesky fly. Il Capitano and Arlecchino fought in an attempt to woo Columbina, and laughter followed as they failed in various ways.

The last and final scene was one in which Pantalone and Arlecchino had Columbina over for dinner, and their antics as they both plotted to ruin the other’s chances, provided the comedy element for the scene.

The skits were interspersed with the narrators providing accreditation, and the play’s energy was kept going by the cheering audience.

It was a typical day at MGIS, but the theatre class of DP2 provided the teachers and students with a hearty dose of mid-afternoon laughs.

(See following slideshow)

Diploma students are gearing up for their final production, in which they tackle Commedia Dell’Arte. This theatre style has been the origin of many others, and apart from being a part of theatre students’ theoretical component, it is also preparing them for a key theatre style. Improvisation.

Taking the basic plot, inspired from a traditional Commedia Dell’Arte street play, student’s began rehearsals, and found that the plots create themselves.

The production is still a work in progress, but is scheduled to premiere in late December. Audiences are promised a play on a proscenium stage, deviating from the conventional street play method, vibrant costumes, and excited actors. Be there for all the action! Watch this space for more.

The play was performed at a central spot within the CEPT campus, over the course of two days. Fellow MGIS students, teachers, and others came to watch the performance, and lauded their brave effort.

The cast and crew consisted of:
Direction: Gargi Katikithala
Lights: Aman Bardia
Sound: Anmol Jain
Props: Palaash Tarapore
Set: Rukmini Kaji, Sanaa Kocchar, Uttara Thakore
Costumes: Yesha Sanghvi
Actors (in alphabetical order): Aman Bardia, Ayushi Toshniwal, Chandrika Makwana, Mahi Baid, Palaash Tarapore, Rukmini Kaji, Sanaa Kochar, Sarit Derasari, Uttara Thakore, Wafa Refai, Yesha Sanghvi
Watch the video and pictures from rehearsals (See below) and all the fun, hard work, and craziness that went into the making of the play
Watch students in rehearsal, download the video. Or watch below!

Click here to view the embedded video.

The play was performed on 17th October 2010, in the art gallery of ‘Lokayat’ and was a huge success.

Photographs Coutesy: Smit Shah, Grade 11 student participant in the play. He clicked pictures from an insider’s perspective during the play. His role as an actor was to click pictures when he was not delivering his dialogue.

“Our only prior theatre workshop was A Country of a Thousand Deaths with Nandita (Dinesh)”, said Gitanjali Kaji, a DP 1 theatre student, “So this was a whole new experience in terms of being our first director-run play.” The students unanimously agreed that it was an extremely enlightening experience, and broadened their exposure to a vast spectrum of theatre styles.

Ashini Jagtiani DP 1 said, “Improvisation was the keyword in this production.” She described how most of the physical movements in the play were a culmination of random exercises they did in the workshop. “The idea was to create a message from normality, and depict that message, but it wasn’t necessary that they (the audience) understand that message explicitly.”

The audience, incidentally, was a key component of this particular production. “You are a part of the audience,” said Parnab Mukherjee, when asked why the setting was so (see pictures). “The concept of physical theatre requires that you push boundaries, literally and metaphorically. It was difficult to do this, while compressing a 150 years of Tagore’s brilliance, and its consequent impact, into a 55 minute play.”

The play’s base consisted of excerpts from Tagore’s work, specifically “On the seashore”, “Sleep stealer” and the main work, “The wicked postman”. It also incorporated inspirations from Mukherjee’s travelogue’s to Iraq and Africa, and his other other philanthropic endeavors.

A few key phrases from Tagore’s works periodically reappeared throughout the play. It was later explained that this was for emphasis, and lines like “People just float away like paperboats”, rang in people’s minds as they exited. The students also incorporated a Gujarati poem, for lingual diversity, as well as to subtly bring to the audience’s attention to socially relevant issues like The Ayodhyaya Verdict, as well issues of racial discrimination, as highlighted by the video that opened the show.

It was widely acknowledged as a brilliant start to the students’ IB theatre component, and as a production for them to be extremely proud of. The students have, since the performance at Natrani, toured extensively with “The Parable of the Last Post Office”.

Photography from miscellaneous sources.

The play opened the Literacy Festival, inaugurated by the Honorable Minister of Education Shri. Kalicharan Saraf on 19.11.2010. In his speech, he appreciated the play’s attempt to portray a lesser known aspect about Tagore and his world view.

Mahatma Gandhi International School is the first school to have touring theatre performances across the country. After the premiere at Natarani, the play which commemorated the 150^th centenary celebration of Rabindranath Tagore also traveled to Pune, where it received rave reviews.

Photograph Courtesy: Smit Shah, Grade 11, MGIS

“Aspersion bound by narrow vision can’t represent a nation”, “no society can afford to not test the profession of religion”, “shed community bigotry!”, “on the seashore of endless worlds is the great meeting of children”,  these wise words of Rabindranath Tagore were brought alive on the occasion of his 150th birth anniversary in a performance titled ‘The Paragon of the Last Post-Office’ at Natarani. The play was inspired from Tagore’s travel diaries to Iran, Iraq and Italy, and was put together by grade 11 students of Mahatma Gandhi International School under the direction of alternative theatre activist, Parnab Mukherjee.

“The same student is in a seashore, when she/he logs on facebook and becomes just a dot or a digital island and the same student is in the seashore when she/he is in a sense of a slice of humanity in school or college. So which seashore are we talking about? This is the beauty of Tagore’s poetry, it lends itself to several interpretations”, exclaimed Mukherjee in an informal post-play discussion.

The multi-media play included videos of Satyajit Ray’s 1961 documentary on Tagore, resistance documentaries from Manipur and Irom Sharmila, a rap song inspired from Plato’s writings, songs from John Lennon, Bob Marley, installation art, physical theatre, disturbing photographs of the Iraq war… Performed at entrance of Natarani instead of the proscenium theatre on 11 October, in memory of another great Indian thinker, Mahatma Gandhi, this play marked the relevance of creating a platform for debate about violence that surrounds us, violence that goes unnoticed, violence that has insidiously crept into our daily lives…

As images of smiling children playing with toy guns in Iraq, student performers walking with shackled hands behind their heads listening to the thought-provoking lyrics of Bob Marley, “Only ourselves can free ourselves from our minds”, the spectators watched on with uneasy countenance.

“I was touched. We’re just not aware about these issues, some of which get manipulated and suppressed from becoming public!”, said one spectator Ms. Gurneesh Anand after the play. “I do not condone portraying violence in the name of peace, it defeats the purpose “, said a miffed spectator who chose not to be named. This raises an important question about violence in art- ‘Are we perpetrating violence by depicting it?’

“There is one thing called watching violence and there is another thing called violence. It is easy to get copted to the cult of violence, but within the context of physical, intimate theatre which treates every interesting architectural space which could be a backyard of a garbage dump or an organised auditorium as a studio space, the objective is to objective is to make the viewers feel the pain, and make the actors literally em-body it. Hence, it is not  voyeuristic “, explained Mukherjee. Tejdeep Singh, a parent whose child was performing in the play said,  “Showing violence to create a titillating effect, glamorizing it to sell more is not correct. But showing violence to understand the poignancy of violence is important to shape an understanding of the other side of violence. If my child sees films like Salt, Dabaang that glorify violence and normalize killing and arson, then she must also to exposed to this kind of education.”

Anju Musafir, founder of Mahatma Gandhi International School  concluded, “it is important for today’s generation to connect to lived histories by going beyond Text-Book sanitized history.” After the play, Ashini Jagatini shared her experience, “I didn’t expect this, I expected days and days of rehersal but the core of the work were discussions and readings and re-readings of Tagore’s work, visiting the museum, understanding larger national and international geo-political issues that continue to plague the fabric of society.” S.D Desai, an established art critic working with The Times of India was “amazed at the passion Parnab created in the children for this issue and this kind of theatre. The magic of experience was recreated.”

Deeply ingrained in the words of Tagore and the sub-text of the play was the importance of being earnest in being inclusive, to attempt and overcome the ‘us’-'them’ geo-political, moral, societal divide that have been the motivation for mindless violence.

By Lissa Chazot

Mulot came to India on holiday with some friends, and decided to stay. During the course of his travels in India, he has been inspired by the vibrancy of Goa,Varanasi and Mumbai, and performed a staged monologue with Fanny Gloux. His diverse acting experience has instilled in him the desire to share it, and his class was representative of that.

His class entailed a great deal of improvisation, physical activities, and short on-the-spot skits that helped the students of theatre develop their acting skills. The students were jolted out of their daily theatrical activites, and enjoyed the class immensely.

This performance is part of the students academics. It comes within the purview of the activities of the Theatre Arts classes with Anju Musafir.

Read below the play reviews published in DNA and TOI on 12 and 14 October respectively.

Tagore brought to life by school children

DNA : Daily News & Analysis; Mumbai, Oct 12, 2010 | by Chaturvedi, Devika

It has been 150 years since Rabindranath Tagore was born and there have been very few people who have had as much an impact on the culture of India as him. The country has been celebrating the great man’s works throughout the year. Mahatma Gandhi International School (MGIS) presented a play on October 11 at Natrani theatre.

Based on Rabindranath Tagore’s travelogues titled ‘Parable of the Last Post Office’, the play was a homage to the great poet and his life. The English language play is directed by Parnab Mukherjee who explores Tagore’s Persian and Iraqi diaries; he also relates them with the current social world scenario.

The play is a reflection on Tagore’s journey of life. He travelled around the world throughout his life. From 1878 to 1932, he visited more than 30 countries. Many of these trips helped in educating the non-Indian audiences about his works and making them aware them about his political ideas.

When asked about the kind of historical research involved in understanding somebody’s life?, Parnab said, “I believe in people oriented research where I go and ask people about their knowledge because people’s history does not match with the text book history.” In 1912, Tagore started touring countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, where during his tour, he  stayed in Butterton, Staffordshire.

From 1916 till 1917, he conducted lectures in Japan and the US. In 1926, Tagore reached Naples, Italy, where he met Benito Mussolini in Rome. They fell out when Tagore attacked the Italian dictator on his views on nationalism.

In 1927, Tagore began his four-month tour of Southeast Asia, where he visited Bali, Java, Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Penang, Siam, and Singapore. In early 1930, he left Bengal for a yearlong tour to Europe and the US.

He toured Denmark, Switzerland, and Germany. In 1932, Tagore was invited by Reza Shah Pahlavi of Iran. Tagore’s last travels abroad included his visits to Persia, Iraq and Ceylon, which reinforced his strong opinions on nationalism.
Source: Click here

Innocence trapped in barbed wire

Santana Pathak, TOI, Oct 14, 2010

“Behind the books, there are barbed wires. Have you seen them?” the students of Mahatma Gandhi International School (MGIS) in the city asked this question to a world preoccupied with violence through their performance of “Parable of the Last Post Office” – a play based on the travelogues of Rabindranath Tagore and directed by leading alternative theatre activist from Kolkata Parnab Mukherjee.

The students’ performance in the well created experimental drama format captivated the audience. Tagore’s selected travelogues from Persia, Iraq and Italy were juxtaposed against images of violence on people, races, and communities presented in a multimedia format. This was sprinkled with repetitive rendition of poetry, depicting the mind and the emotions of the child.

The play raises relevant questions about innocence in a world where violence is the order of the day. “It is important to ask questions, and to ensure that students are exposed to violence in a structured, guided way so that they understand hell and empathize with the victims in solidarity”, says the director, who also pays a tribute to the Nobel Laureate in his 150 birth anniversary year.

The students, studying in standard X and XI responded to the play’s challenging performing techniques with élan, and showed an ownership of the concept through captivating body language that was helped by minimal props like paper boats, ribbons, and a few chairs.

“The form of theatre is also the message that you want to give”, said Anju Musafir, founder and director of MGIS, describing the performance format as “poor man’s theatre”, where the proximity to the audience is the key to delivery.

Source: Click here

Recently, the current batch of DP2 Theatre students finished work on their individual productions and performed them for the public: A total of four plays were put up in succession over a period of a couple of weeks, and each and every performance was orchestrated by the students themselves. Apart from working on the actually plays, they also handled constructing the sets, managing the lighting and sound effects, and even organizing the events and invitations.

The different plays that the students performed were:

“4.48 Psychosis” – Directed by Sripal Shah

A rendition of British playwright Sarah Kane’s last work, the play centers around its protagonist’s struggle with extreme clinical depression and contemplations of suicide.It is an intense and controversial but equally poignant script that deals with the human psyche in its most fragile state.

“Nagamandala” – Directed by Sharmeen Attarwala

Written by Girish Karnad and based on the folk tales of northern Karnataka, the play is the tale of a young neglected bride, who in an occult attempt to win her husband’s affections, entices the King Cobra instead.

“Life, Smiles and Tears” – Directed by Kanisha Modi

A student production all the way through- script included. The play is an abstract combination of mime, dance and monologue that deals with themes of prejudice and terrorism, and the recent Mumbai attacks in particular.

“First breath after Coma” – Directed by Zara Desai

Another completely student-conceived script, and an experimental theatre concept. ‘First breath after Coma” is a play that consists entirely of recordings and footage, and has no designated stage or actors. It is a deliberation on conformity that takes the form of a conversation between a recently awakened coma patient, and a mysterious, anonymous voice.

The script was based on the book ‘The Shadow of Imana’ by Veronique Tadjo which the students had studied earlier in the year. This particular module resonated with the students, and eventually led to the idea of presenting the series of events in dramatic form.

The production itself was a tremendous success, garnering much applause and possitive feedback. Well done, students!

Using their own bodies, and a handful of props, the students create minimalist, symbolic images to represent some of the concerns of today: the peril of  the Iraq war, the struggles in aceh, Bhopal’s decadence, and so on.

The play was screened twice at MGIS, and then subsequently at the Darpana Academy on the 21st of July. The audience response at all the performances was great, and the play also received much favorable coverage from  the press:

Article one

Article two

Pictures from the play and preparations:

The play was put up for three consequitive days (starting from the 6th of september) at the Ahmedabad ni Gufa and, despite it’s darker leanings, recieved a tremendously possitive response; with many veiwers remarking particularly on the maturity of the script, the quality of the sets, and additional innovations – projecting footage for flashback scenes, the idea of a moving audience – that were integrated into the performance.

Here are some pictures from the event:

Credits:

Direction: Zara Desai
Actors: Sharmeen Attarwala, Parin Sanghvi, Shriraj Sagara, Aakash Sharma, Janvi Karval, Kanisha Modi, Shripal Shah, Aditya Prasad, Zara Desai, Nandita Dinesh
Sets: Sharmeen Attarwala and Parin Sanghvi
Production Manager: Kanisha Modi
Stage Manager: Janvi Karwal
Lights: Shriraj Sagara
Media: Shripal Shah
Music: Aakash Sharma
Posters and Guidance: Aditya Prasad
Teacher: Nandita Dinesh

Mahabharata

Written, produced and directed by-

Archita, Happy, Divye, Tuheena, Olivia, Trupti, Ayushi, Gautam, Vaidehi, Aditya

With Anjou Maam and Nandita Maam

Invitation and Brochure by Aditya

Photography by Lissa maam

The theatre of the absurd is a term coined by the critic Martin Session for the work of a number of play-writes, mostly written in the 1950′s and 1960′s. Some of the famous play-writes are Samuel Beckett, Arthur Adamov, Cugene Ionesco, and Harold Pinter. The genre of theatre was strongly influenced by the traumatic experience of the second world war, which showed the total impermanence of any values, and highlighted the precariousness of human life and its fundamental arbitrariness. The absurd theatre can be seen as an attempt to restore the importance of myth and ritual to our age, by making man aware of the ultimate realities of his condition. Absurd plays assumed a highly unusual, innovative form, directly aiming to startle the viewer, shaking him out of this comfortable, conventional life of everyday concerns.

Student comments-
“We have learnt to laugh and we have learnt to cry in life that constantly changes. The Theatre of the absurd explores these ideas in an innovative manner, which at first sight may seem weird however the deeper you dive into it the less absurd it seems and it tends to become a reflection of our modern lives. Opposing normal plays it does not have a linear story nor a conventional plot but is random and discusses the subconscious of the human mind. Samuel Beckett was known to be one of the most famous playwrights in this style of theatre and Waiting For Godot was part of the most appreciated pieces of work. Critics described this Waiting for Godot as a tragic comedy in which ‘Nothing Happens Twice’…

On the occasion of world theatre day DP 1 has brought to you one of the most bizarre play of a lifetime , So sit back and have an Absurd Time where Hope Is all that one has to pass time!”
- Sharmeen Attarwala (anchor, art director)

“During our production we followed one main rule: To always have a reason behind everything we did. In a play like ‘Waiting For Godot’ you discover something new every time you read it or watch it. We want the audience to think and reflect to find that every part of our production fits together – like a puzzle.”
- Lena Mallmann (director)

“It was wonderful to have such a challenging production in the first year of the diploma programme. I’ve bonded in a special way with my classmates and the production was possible through the team effort that was put in by the entire class, not only the theatre students. I’ve learnt a lot about acting and dramatic performance.”
-Zara Desai (lead actor)

‘Waiting for Godot’
Venue: Mahatma Gandhi International School
Date: 27 and 28 March Time: 7:00pm

DIRECTOR: Lena Mallmann (exchange student from Germany)
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Kanisha Modi
STAGE MANAGER: Janvi Karwal
SET DESIGN: shripal shah, sharmeen attarwala
PROPS: Kanisha Modi
LIGHT AND SOUND: Sharmeen Attarwala, Akash Sharma
ACTORS: Zara Desai, Shriral Sagara, Krina Prajapati, Parin Sanghvi, Akash Sharma
COSTUME AND MAKE UP: Pooja Shah

TEACHERS: Anjou Musafir, Nandita Desai
PHOTOGRAPHY: Lissa Chazot
VIDEOGRAPHY: Benjamin Mailian

The Play
Hayavadana is a play written by Girish Karnad, originally in Kannad and later translated in English. The play’s plot comes from Kathasaritsagara, an ancient collection of stories in Sanskrit. Drawing on Thomas Mann’s play “Transposed Heads”, Karnad adapted the play to approach the problem of identity in a world of tangled relationships.

SCROLL DOWN FOR SLIDE SHOW…

The Plot
The play opens with Devadatta and Kapila who are close friends. Devdatta is a man of intellect and Kapila is a man of great physique. Their relationship gets complicated when Devdatta’s newly wedded wife Padmini falls for Kapila. While attempting to resolve this conflict, the two men behead themselves. Padmini is contemplating suicide when Goddess Kali intervenes and endows her with the powers to revive Kapila and Devdatta. In reattaching their fallen heads, Padmini transposes the heads onto the wrong bodies. An identity crisis ensues. Hayavadana explores the dilemna of physical versus intellectual appeal, and how it defines us.

The Sub-plot
The sub-plot of ‘Hayavadana’ follows the horse man’s quest to shed his horse head from his human body as he seeks to become complete.

Credits:
Devdatta: Savera Mehta – Kapila: Divye Ratna Dixit – Padmini: Mehr Seth – Hayavadana: Yohan Marshall – Bhagvata: Chetasi Kane – Kali: Happy Vyas – Actor 1: Rajit Arya – Actor 2: Gautam Sinha – Doll 1: Avani Tanya – Doll 2: Amanda Raine – Child: Tara Chazot

Directed by Avani Tanya & Gautam Sinha – Costumes by Chetasi Kane, Happy Vyas & Divye Ratna Dixit – Lights by Avani Tanya – Music by Gautam Sinha & Yohan Marshall

CLICK ON THE FIRST THUMBNAIL TO SEE THE SLIDE SHOW

Photo credits: Benjamin Mailian

Click on the pictures below to view them as a slideshow…

Read the invitation card…