Jan 22 2021 to Jan 31 2021 11 a.m.

EVENT HAS ENDED

Where

Ranga Shankara

36/2, 8th Cross Rd, R K Colony, 2nd Phase, J. P. Nagar 560078

Event Description

Staged@RS, Ranga Shankara's signature digital programme supported by Infosys Foundation is back with its monthly offering. "Akshayambara", the much awarded and popular Kannada play will go online between 22 and 31 Jan 2021. The play by Dramanon is written and directed by SharanyaRamprakash. The play will be sub-titled in English. Staged@RS shows and tickets will be available on insider.in. 

A winner at Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards, Akshayambara features sterling performances by Yakshagana artistes Prasad Cherkady and SharanyaRamprakash. 

"While we are happy to see theatre coming back to Ranga Shankara, we continue with our monthly digital programming", says Arundhati Nag, Founder of Ranga Shankara. "Our endeavour is to see audiences far and wide get an opportunity to experience theatre that goes on here. Akshayambara was staged last week to a full house and now, with the sub-titled version online, we hope it can reach wider audiences".

Akshayambara’ is an experimental Kannada play that uses both modern theatrical tools and the dance drama form of Yakshagana to create a contemporary narrative that raises questions on female representation and male ownership. What happens when a woman enters the professional space of a dance form performed by men for the last 800 years? Drawing from research and personal experience, the performance imagines a reversal of roles in the popular Yakshagana plot of ‘Draupadi Vastrapaharana’ (disrobing of Draupadi). A veteran male artist in streevesha (female disguise) plays the virtuous Draupadi, while in a tradition defying move, an amateur woman is cast as chief antagonist, Kaurava. When tradition allows a man to play a woman will the same tradition accept the reverse? How does her entry redefine who is man and who is woman, who wields power, who is hero and antagonist, victim and perpetrator? How far will the traditional boundaries be pushed when an outsider enters the inner circle? What will be its consequences? The performers confront these questions as they shift between stage and greenroom, between male and female, epic and reality, personal and political, their tussle offering radically new perspectives on tradition, gender, power and morality. 

The play was developed through the INLAKS Scholarship ’14, supported by the India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) and premiered at the Ranga Shankara Theatre Festival ’15. It won the Best Original Script & Best Actor (Male) at the Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) ’16. The play has performed about 60 shows across various venues and at festivals such NINASAM Theatre Festival,Heggodu, International Theatre Festival of Kerala (ITFoK), Thrissur, Bharat Rang Mahotsav (NSD), New Delhi, India@UK Festival at South Bank Centre London and KalaaUtsavam Festival at the Esplanade Singapore.