Pune based theatre group Aasakta is scheduled to perform the play MATRA-RATRA at Prithvi Theatre on 28th December 2008 at 11:00 am.
Original Playwright : Bradley Hayward
Translation : Sagar Deshmukh
Direction, Sets, Music Design : Mohit Takalkar
Light Design : Pradeep Vaiddya
Costumes : Kalyani Kulkarni
Stage Manager : Ashish Mehta
Cast
Sagar Deshmukh
Radhika Apte
Duration: 70 min.SynopsisMatra Ratra is an hour long-play produced by Aasakta in Marathi. Aasakta has always experimented with production styles and techniques in each play. The play reveals 13 nights in the life of a modern-day young urban couple Nilu and Anju. When Nilu and Anju manage to escape their annoying roommate Radha and get their own flat, the couple is overjoyed. Anju is a working woman and works for a leading boutique in the city whereas Nilu is a playwright without much success.
Appreciating the fact of having a whole new space for making violent and loud sex, Night after night appears a story of romantic, mush filled love. But the story doesn�t fulfil in true sense and they soon find their bliss is short-lived. Articulating and expressing the love for one another they also whine and complain about all possible issues. Added to it, they also bitch about a close friend supposedly the best gossip monger, cheap rumour spreader in the whole wide world. They also fearlessly express their failures and inabilities in their respective lives. To be precise they ride on all petty seeming issues, which for that particular moment is the most important thing to be addressed and come on cue to say �I LOVE YOU� most passionately. They don�t just restrict to saying this but physically indulge in intense love making.
Coming together till reasons lighter than feathers pull them apart, yelling and cursing each other finally crusading to the cue to say how much they love each other. On one single bed, night after night cuddling in each others arms, finally the questions start popping.
This light veined play examines the age-old questions couples must face every day: Is it better to tell love stories to each other, or just watch TV? Should men be forced to go for shopping? Should the fan be on even though it makes an annoying sound? Does love really exist or is it just a big reasonable nonsense?
About the directorMohit Takalkar has been a film editor, scriptwriter for film projects and documentaries. He had his first exposure to theatre at PDA before setting up his own theatre group Aasakta in Pune. He has been active in various aspects of theatre for the past seven years earning a reputation for the group and him, with his works; widely acclaimed by both the audience and the press. Directed his first play
�Yayati� in 2000 continuing with
�Nanephek� (�01),
�Pratibimba�(�03),
�Chotyashya Suttit�(04),
�Fridge Madye Thevlela Prem� (05),
�Chandalok Complex� and
�Tu� (06),
�Poornaviram� and
�Matra Ratra� (07),
Charshe Koti Visarbhole (07),
Letter to Tendulkar (08),
Bed Ke Neeche Rehnewali (08) and
Chaitra (08)
Directors NoteThese 13 scenes cut out for us, the "sitcom flavoured - Americanized" cross-section of the world of this couple. The technique and the setting are such that the audience too feels as if indulging in voyeurism. The audience almost becomes a "Peeping Tom"!
Set in an urban present, creating this theatre piece, I was strongly tugged by the idea that there was so much that could be discovered in terms of a language of expression when the space was confined to a single bed. The performances amount to the process of discovering oneself, of holding to one�s loneliness and at the same time making a contact with the world outside. It concentrates on the consciousness of a modern day couple or more precisely a man and a woman. Today in this global world love merges into hatred, diametrically opposites are the rule and fragility and uncertainty dominates these prized relationships. Love, fear, joy, hope, trust together intermingle to produce a universe of situations and absurdities camouflaged as a dramatic dialogue that unfolds in a fascinating mixture of the comic and dreadful.
MATRA RATRA has been performed at many festivals through out India.
1. Selected for NSD�s Bharat Ranga Mahotsava, New Delhi, 2009 (Scheduled on 8th Jan)
2. Performed at Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards, New Delhi 2008
Nominated in 5 categories of Best play, Best Director,
Best Actor, Best Actress & Best Stage Design.3. Performed at Bikalpa Theatre Festival, New Delhi, 2008
4. Zee Gaurav Puraskar 2008,
Best Experimental Play, Best Director, Bets Actor, Best Light Design, and Best Stage Design.5. Performed at Vasantrao Achrekar Pratishthan�s Theatre Festival, Kankawli, 2008.
*The above information is courtesy Aasakta. Mumbai Theatre Guide takes no responsibility for change in schedule.Please click here for the Review of the Play
