PATNA: When it comes to setting standards in theatre, every Bihari Hindi theatre artist or director invokes the lessons learnt at the National School of Drama (NSD), New Delhi. Ironically, contemporary practitioners of Bihari theatre have reservations about NSD performing plays based on Parsi theatre tradition.

Why and how has it happened? “To say the least, the attitude of every Hindi language critic and scholar towards Parsi theatre has been reprehensible,” said senior theatre artist Ajatshatru, adding: “They consider Parsi theatre tradition ‘heya’ and ‘heen’ (low and demeaning). This attitude of the Hindi critics destroyed the Parsi theatre tradition in Bihar.”

Speaking about the contemporary Bihari theatre scene, he said: “Today, the Bihari theatre scene is barren. There isn’t much creativity involved. They talk about ‘nukkad’ theatre. What creativity is that? Overall, there is no discipline, no dedication, no punctuality and no rehearsals,” Ajatshatru said.

The local playwright, actor and director Suman Kumar picked up the gauntlet. He referred to the experimentation and improvisation being done on the Patna theatre scene, which had led to resurgent staging of modern plays, frequent performance of short stories in the Proscenium theatre, sophisticated presentation of plays from the folk theatre tradition and even the nukkad plays, since the late 1970s. “I can only say that Ajatshatru is not aware of it. Nor has he seen perfectly crafted street plays,” Suman said.

Probably, this — a fitting debate on the Parsi theatre tradition and what followed in Hindi language in Bihar thereafter — was what the organisers of Magadh Artists had planned while celebrating its 55th foundation day here on Sunday. The topic of the seminar was: ‘Parsi natak aur adhunik Hindi natak’.

The exhilarating part of the seminar was that the speakers confined themselves to their own contribution to building the Bihari theatre tradition rather than indulging in meaningless talk about what was happening in Delhi, Mumbai or other metros. The other participants were doyens of Parsi theatre tradition in Bihar, Chaturbhuj and Akhileshwar Prasad Sinha, while Vijay Amaresh, Paresh Sinha, Navneet Sharma and Madhukar Singh represented the later Hindi theatre tradition.

Curiously, every speaker pointed that the Parsi theatre style of Chaturbhuj (now 80) had inspired him to practice theatre activities. They called him “Gurudeo”. Chaturbhuj had started his career in theatre around World War II(1945). In due course, having founded his group Magadh Artists in 1952, he emerged as an institution: actor, director, playwright (specialising in historical and mythological dramas) and worker.

Significantly, the frequent complaint of the modernist actors and directors was that “we neither have good plays to perform nor encouraging audience.”

This distinguished those belonging to the Parsi theatre tradition from them. For, they wrote their plays, gained perfection and audience, and showed commitment.

Original article here

Iranian director and actor Qotbeddin Sadeqi plans to stage “The Memoirs of Zarir” at the Chaharsu Hall of Tehran’s City Theater Complex in the near future.

His troupe, consisting of Mikaiil Shahrestani, Amir-Yal Arjomand, Ashkan Jenabi, and several other artists, is currently rehearsing the play, which is written by Sadeqi and based on an ancient Iranian story from the book “The Memoirs of Zarir”. This story is believed to have been one of the sources which inspired Ferdowsi, the author of the epic masterpiece Shahnameh.

The story relates the ancient religious wars of the time of Zarathustra, and recounts the heroic deeds of a champion named Zarir, whom Ferdowsi also mentions but who is otherwise unknown.

Sadeqi has not mentioned exact dates for the performances but has said that they will begin after renovation of the City Theater Complex is completed.

Original article here

To breathe a new life into Parsi theatre in the state, the first ever Parsi theatre academy in the country will start functioning soon in Surat. The academy is expected to play a crucial role in promoting theatre activities, specifically among schoolchildren.

The brain behind the academy, Yezdi Karanjia — who has been staging Parsi plays for decades — told TOI that if all goes well, the academy, located in Muglisara area of the city, will be thrown open to the public on February 27 as part of platinum jubilee of Yezdi Karanjia Theatre Group. Karanjia admitted that with the number of Parsis at large dwindling, the number of Parsi theatre artistes too has declined and theatre activities are limited to Pateti celebrations only.

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Kayhan Irani’s play, ‘We’ve Come Undone,’ has been playing to audiences around the nation since 2003.
From Harlem to the streets of Baghdad, all the world’s a stage for actress, playwright and “artivist” Kayhan Irani — literally.

The dreamy-eyed 28-year-old New Yorker of Indian descent has been involved in dozens of plays and artistic actions advocating social justice. Her celebrated one-woman show, “We’ve Come Undone,” has toured colleges and community centers nationwide.

The series of monologues first staged in 2003 portrays the struggles faced by Arab, Muslim and South Asian communities following 9/11 in a suddenly hostile America. For instance, a young girl experiences bewilderment at her father’s disappearance after being interrogated by the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

After the performances, Irani normally receives the gratitude of audience members for giving voice to their story.

“Ever since I was little, I had this idea that your life is to serve a greater world,” she says in her cozy apartment in Harlem.

“Also, it’s a very important part of my work,” explains Irani, who is a Zoroastrian, a millenary creed founded in ancient Persia. “The tenets are good thoughts, good words and good deeds. It’s not only about having happy thoughts; it has a lot of social justice ethics.

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For Parsis, the New Year play is an annual family tradition…and there’s one enthusiast who’s giving out 500 free tickets!

August 18: Philandering husband Savak finds it tough to manage with wife Lily in one room and girlfriend Lily in the other. In slapstick style he avoids what could potentially be a hazardous three’s company. The flagship scene from Dinyar Tirandaz’s new potboiler Lily Don’t be Silly comes with a high cringe quotient on any given Sunday, but on August 20, Parsi New Year, the actors will play to a full house.

An annual tradition, as old as the origins of Parsi theatre in Bombay, the Navroze natak is typically a light-hearted comedy. ”I tell my regulars, bheja fridge mein rakh ke aana,” says Tirandaz, who’s been performing New Year plays for almost 20 years.

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Throughout Indian Cowboy, performer and playwright Zaraawar Mistry asks us to “connect the dots” of his narrator’s life. Yet the dots don’t necessarily add up in this premiere production at Mixed Blood Theatre. Mistry’s story of an immigrant Indian actor’s drift through modern America has moments of insight and brilliance, but those are tempered by stretches of dry exposition and characters.

Mistry originally set out to tell the story of Sabu Dastagir, an Indian-born actor who worked in Hollywood (as Sabu) in the 1940s and ’50s. While working on that, however, he found that the story he really wanted to tell was closer to his own modern-day experience. He tells this through the eyes of Gayomar Katrak, a Parsi Indian who emigrates to the United States in the early 1980s.

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