March 26th, Monday
FRAGILE

Conceived, written, and played by Swetta Keswani, Tom Alter, and Avantika Akerkar

Language: English

They meet at a Bombay bus-stop on a rainy, restless afternoon � strangers � In a city where no one is a stranger. He is searching for his daughter, lost in the horrible floods of three days before � She � young enough to be his daughter -- works in the very hospital where he has just gone to identify a �body�. They meet � and share lifetimes in an afternoon�s rain � Her bus arrives, and she vanishes -- That evening he jogs up nine flights of stairs to meet a woman � Eager strangers, the two of them � and wanting to be so much more. It is still raining � They share, they laugh, they wonder � even as distances call -- Desire is like a tender leaf, over which the cold, clear water of a mountain spring flows � Fragile.



March 27th, Tuesday
BINODINI

Researched, conceived & directed by Prabal & Kumkum Majumdar

Played by Kumkum Majumdar

Narrated by Uday Chandra

Language: Narration in English, songs in Hindi & Bengali

A musical docudrama brought alive with live singing and slides, based on the life of the first actress ever to be seen on the proscenium stage in India � an actress so beautiful that there were actually swordfights on stage to woo her, and a theatre built in her name that runs to this day � Binodini.



March 28th, Wednesday
WHATEVER YOU SAY

Written & Directed by Shivani Tibrewala

Played by Tom Alter, Mona Ambegaonkar & Shivani Tibrewala

Language: English

A play about a couple who one day discover that they have run out of conversation. What do two people who have nothing left to say to each other, when they are together? As X and Y laugh and bicker and try to rediscover the meaning in their meaningless existence, Z enters their lives... You can�t win � no matter what you say�or don�t say. But you might as well enjoy the ride while it lasts.



March 29th, Thursday
RADHA NIVAS

Written by Makrand Deshpande

Directed by Teddy Maurya

Played by Mona Ambegaonkar

Language: Hindi

It is the story of Radha and her obssesion with her ancestral home and everything in it, including her husband who moved in after their marriage. It is the story of Radha and her twisted advocate husband who vents his impotent rage on their home when they are unable to have off-spring. It is the story of Radha and her affort to hang on to the only anchor she knows, her childhood home now slowly falling into ruin, when life's journey is at an end....It is the story of Radha Nivas.



March 30th, Friday
BAAT BACHPAN KI

Written by Urmila Pawar

Translated & Narrated by Meenal Patel

Language: Hindi
An evening of story-telling, this is a glimpse into Urmila Pawar�s life, taken from her autobiography wherein she relives her childhood and her relationship with her mother, revisiting her suffering in a lighter vein. A commentary on her Dalit background and the impact it had on her. And finally, a journey from hopelessness to hope.



March 31st, Saturday
RETELLINGS

Based on the short stories An Afternoon With Shakuntala by Janaki Srinivas Murthi (Vaidehi), Asoka and Mother Clan by Sarah Joseph (translated by Vasanthi Sankaranarayan)

Adapted for the stage by Shivani Tibrewala

Directed by Scherazade Kaikobad

Played by Amrita Puri and Vandita Vasa

Language: English

It is a truth universally acknowledged that �history�, �irrefutable facts� or �absolute truths� are nothing more than fiction, stories that change with every telling depending on the perspective of the storyteller. And sometimes people � whole communities, even � get trapped in stories that are not of their own making, stories that misrepresent them to the world�Shakuntala, Sita and Surpanakha. Three women who have been mythologized in stories that have been told and retold in countless versions down the ages. They now find themselves trapped in specific versions that bear the stamp of their storytellers� gender and racial prejudices. So here they are, attempting to retell their own stories, to present their point of view�



April 1st, Sunday
WHAT IF

Written and directed by Shivani Tibrewala

Language: English

What if they had met at a different time in their lives? What if they weren�t married? What if they had met when they were younger? What if they had admitted the truth instead of remaining silent�No matter what. Somewhere � all choosing converges to one eventuality. There is only so much free will � and only one destiny. They have to live it. They meet always in the same place. Railway platform, bench, train about to arrive. The circumstances change, the words change, the attitudes change�but the end is always the same. They cannot help but part.

Venue:
Rungta House, Ground Floor, 68-A Nepean Sea Road, Mumbai 400 006. (Rungta Lane, opp Regency Hotel)

Please Note:
All performances will begin at 7:30pm sharp and are approximately 45 minutes in duration. There will be no late admittance since it disturbs the performers.

Please call on 98201-27247 or email us at [email protected] and let us know in advance which shows you plan to attend, and if you plan on bringing a guest, since we can accommodate only upto 40 people for each show. Seating on a first come first served basis.

Entry by invitation only. Rights of admission reserved.

*Mumbai Theatre Guide takes no responsibility for change in schedule.