The farce of Ajmal Kasab's trial, the absurd popularity of TV show Bigg Boss, and airline food are some of the topics One on One teases. Theatrical collective Rage pulled together 9 actors, 7 writers and 7 directors for this bilingual biggie that premieres this Republic Day
The farce of Ajmal Kasab's trial, the absurd popularity of TV show Bigg Boss, and airline food are some of the topics One on One teases. Theatrical collective Rage pulled together 9 actors, 7 writers and 7 directors for this bilingual biggie that premieres this Republic Day
Theatre and film biggies Shernaz Patel, Rajit Kapur and Rahul da Cunha, collectively known as Rage, consider the monologue the most exciting of all theatre formats.
u00a0
"In regular plays, actors speak to each other while the audience watches, as a collective 'third person'u00a0almost looking into the world of the actors.
u00a0
In the monologue, the actor speaks to the audience directly. He is either making a speech to them or confessing to them or asking questions. Either way, they are being spoken to.
u00a0
ADVERTISEMENT
Rage commissioned several of the city's leading playwrights, like Shiv Subrahmanyam and Anuvab Pal, to write short 10 to 15 minute monologues and dualogues.
u00a0
"A dualogue is a variation of a monologue, where two characters address the audience, but never each other," explains daCunha.
u00a0
He has written the witty Instant Behosh, a story aboutu00a0 about a guy who trains in the same camp as Ajmal Kasab (the only terrorist captured alive after the 26/11 Mumbai attack), but doesn't want to be a terrorist.
"Each playwright has written on a topic involving our country, that concerns, amuses, annoys or interests him," says Kapur. So, Pal satirizes Indian bureaucracy in The Bureaucrat.
Abodana by Purva Naresh talks of the disillusionment of Bombay for small towners.
Farhad Sorabjee's speech is about a lamppost outside the Bandra-Worli sealink, watching the country go to ruins. Maia Katrak delves into witchcraft and widowhood.
"There is a dearth of writers for stage. One on One hopes to put the spotlight back on playwrights and encourage more to join the fray," says Kapur who doubles as actor and director. He plays a body to the chief minister in Kachre ki Hifazat by Ashok Mishra.
Mishra was scriptwriter for the Hindi film, Welcome to Sajjanpur. Dear Richard is Kapur's scathing piece on the plight of an airline traveller.
Rage managed a theatrical coup of sorts by pulling in a motley group of directors and actors from various top quarters.
Beside Patel and Kapur, you will see actors Anu Menon aka VJ Lola Kutty, Bugs Bhargava, Neil Bhoopalam, Anand Tiwari, Amit Mistry and Yashpal Sharma.
At the helm are Nadir Khan, Akarsh Khurana, Kunal Roy Kapoor, daCunha, Arghya Lahiri and Pushan Kripalani.
One on One premieres on January 26 at 7 pm at Tata Theatre, NCPA, Nariman Point.
The show moves to Experimental Theatre, NCPA where it will be staged from January 27 to 31 at 7 pm. Tickets priced at Rs 90 to Rs 400. Call: 66223737.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
