Chennai Based Theatre Group Perch Comes to Mumbai...Watch Delightful Staged Adaptations of Basheer's Stories...
December 11, 2009 7:05:05 PM IST MTG editorial
Perch, a Chennai based theatre group is staging two plays in English, MOONSHINE AND SKYTOFFEE and SANGATHI ARINHYA! (Have you heard!) at Prithvi theatre, Juhu, Mumbai from December 15- 20, 2009.
MOONSHINE AND SKYTOFFEE will be staged on the 15th, 17th and 19th December while SANGATHI ARINHYA! (Have you heard!) will be staged on the 16th, 18th and 20th December. The play timings are at 6 pm and 9 pm on all days.
MOONSHINE AND SKYTOFFEE and SANGATHI ARINHYA! (Have you heard!) are both based on short stories by the acclaimed Malayalm writer Vaikom Muhammad Basheer, known for his whimsical humour, idiosyncratic characters and the sharp social comment in his writings.
MOONSHINE AND SKYTOFFEE is an amalgamation of two of Basheer's stories, 'The Love Letter' and 'The Card-sharpers Daughter'. Both explore love in unlikely circumstances. 'The Love Letter' is about the love of Kesavan Nayar, a Hindu, for his landlord's daughter Saramma, a Christian. 'The Card-sharpers Daughter' is about the unlikely love that develops between Sainaba, the daughter of Ottakannan Pokker - a cardsharper, and a lovable rogue, Mandan Muthappa, a pickpocket. How these two couples come together in the face of great odds forms the gist of this story. Both these love stories play themselves out with unexpected twists and turns, all laced with Basheer's sparkling wit and irrepressible humor.
SANGATHI ARINHYA! (HAVE YOU HEARD!)' is an adventurous mix of seven stories by Basheer, all different, but with a common vein of love, humour and pathos running through them. A connecting link in this heady concoction is the character of Basheer himself, who plays narrator, participant and witness in turn. These stories are blended together in a non-linear yet seamless narrative that reveals the extraordinary range of Basheer's writing and experiences. The stories in SANGATHI ARINHYA! (Have you heard!) are The Blue Light (Neela Velicham), Poovan Banana (Poovan Pazham), Walls (Mathilukal), The Chief Mystic of the Place (Sthalathe Pradhana Divyan), The World Renowned Nose (Viswavikhayatamaya Mookku), The Man (Oru Manushyan), and Voices (Shabdangal).
Both plays were part of 'Under the Mangosteen Tree', a festival organised by Perch in Chennai to pay tribute to Basheer in his centenary year in 2008. Since then these plays have toured extensively, from Rangashankara, Bangalore, to 'The Basheer Festival' organised by Mathrubhumi in Kozhikode, to the 'theatre village' Ninasam in Heggodu and national theatre festivals in New Delhi and Thiruvanathapuram. The plays have been directed by Rajiv Krishnan.
