MetroPlus Theater Fest 2011 is here...

The seventh edition of The Hindu MetroPlus Theatre Fest 2011 will happen  this August. the Fest — which was launched in Chennai in 2005 and held annually ever since — will run in five cities. Over the month, it will feature 20 performances in five cities.

The 7th Edition features 7 Plays from across the country and the world.... 

Kkok-Du by Creative Group Noni from Korea,
Chasing My Mamet Duck by Evam from Chennai,

The Real Inspector Hound by Quaff Theatre from Mumbai,

The Interview by Akvarious Productions from Mumbai,

The Travelling Circus by Mind Adventures Theatre Company from Sri Lanka

Success by Theatre MXT from USA and

 The Blue Mug by The Company Theatre from Mumbai.

If you are a theater buff, heck if you are someone who has never been to a PLay before, its time you set aside an hour one evening and head over to Sir Muthu Venkata Subbarao Hall in Lady Andal School, Harrington Road!! 

Here is the detailed schedule and snippet on the plays


For tickets, click here

[Theater] 39 steps

Richard Hannay meets this gorgeous woman who out of nowhere pulls out a gun and shoots into the air during a theater performance. She then invites herself over to his house, following which she gets murdered. A murder that Richard is caught into for no fault of his, a series of chaos, clumsiness, and characters is what 39 steps is all about. 

Today, got an opportunity to watch the preview show of 39 steps by Evam and Radaan.  Dint have to do anything, dint have to pay anything, went watched gave my feedback and got back!!

Based on the movie 39 steps by Alfred hitchcock,  which was in turn loosely based on the adventure novel The Thirty-nine Steps by John Buchan.this play went on for over an hour and had us in splits, gaping, wondering and wondering how fine tuned the final show going to be. 

4 actors play more than 10 characters.. switching between roles in seconds, alternating between being a man and a woman, moving the furniture on the stage around... 

Agreed, there were a few things that could be tweaked, could have been made better, but the team has over 2weeks to fine tune and am sure by the time they perform to the audience, it will be near perfect!! 

For information about the play and tickets, click here and here is Evam's Blog 

Need more reason to believe Hitchcock is hilarious?
29th October- 7:30 PM
30th October- 3:30 PM and 7:30 PM
31st October- 3:30 PM and 7:30 PM
Tickets available at all Landmark outlets. Online booking at http://www.indianstage.in/EventDetails.do?eventId=1140.
 
Contact 9840444916, 9840612333 for more details!

[Theater] The Hindu Metro Plus Theater Fest!!!!

Read about the Theatre Fest



Wrote about it...



And finally managed to watch the 1st 2 plays.... the rest of them i dont find too interesting, going by the titles and the subjects.. but i might catch the one on Aug 7th - The Whale

1st day- 1st Aug- Midsummer Nights Dream

 A play that was in korean, with english sub titles(yes, they displayed the sub titles on the screen] had us all absolutely engrossed and enthralled by their acting.. there were about 7-8 actors on stage, who were the actors[playing diff roles], musicians[yes, they would run quickly sit down and start playing their instruments], singers[oh,yes, and they were good] and the ones who had us all completely involved with the act.. there were 2guys, need to make specific mention cos they were simply outstanging[its them in the pic on left side]. 

They did all sorts of antics, and acrobats, also managed to get the crowd involved by throwing out some bangle kinda thingies[well, atleast thats what they looked like from where i was sitting, which was way upstairs...nope, dint get any, but sure enjoyed the evening]... oh, and the best part was , the actors had managed to sneak in a few dialogues in TAMIL [yep, you read it right, and they did it so well, there was no awkward pausing, starin at paper, etc.. they just spoke it.. in pure korean accent, which was damn sweet] ...

Sambar sadam venuma..?

Appuram,

Thayir saadama?

appuram

vaadu manga venuma...? [this was the best of it all]

A wee bit different from the original version by Shakespeare, nonetheless as much funny, if not more, this play by the Yogongza theater group was awesomeeee!!





I was so glad i went for the play!!!

 2nd day- 2nd Aug -- Love Letters

This play was by  an indian production house called Rage, and was directed by Rahul da Cunha... Ages ago, i had been to one of his other plays - Class of '84.. which was quite good.. i remember it was the day before my bday, a treat i gave me and mum, cos it was the day after hers and the day before mine... :D

Anyways, reached the venue a bit early, and was in my seat by 7.20, and on the dot at 7.30 the play began, or rather the MC began his welcome address,etc etc, which took not more than 2mins i tell you...

This play had just 2 people in it.. yep, Rajit Kapur and Shernaz Patel... it was all about the letters that went between them from when they were little till one of them finally dies. The kind of bond they share thanks to these letters is damn sweet and very endearing... the way the letters reflect their lives, what they are going thru and how at times they stop because one of them is upset with the other....the love that grows between them, but which is kept away till late in their years, and what happens at the end has been beautifully narrated... 

The actors  stood on either side of the stage, with a mini make shift seating arrangement, which consists of a bunch of colourful boxes, whcih they rearrange everytime there is a change in their feeling, or just to break the monotony... But i was stunned at the way they were able to keep up with the dialogues, and go on and on without a squeak or shrill in their voice... Hats off to them both!

At the end of the play, with a 10min break in between, the Rajit said this was the 1st time in 16years that they had an audience of over 1000 people... what an honor it was to have been part of that crowd!!!  it was almost like there were too many people as against the seats available, cos some where sitting on the steps and watching the play.... 

Well, now am looking forward to the Whale.. hopefully that should be good!!!

Oh, and they have a Contest running... 2 years back when i had gone for these plays, the contest was to write and send a review in less than 160characters on sms.. and guess what, i won the prize.. it was Rs1000 off on my Airtel mobile bill... :D

This time we have to send in our reviews (150words) by email before 11am the next morning.. and the prize is lunch for 2 at The park.. crossing my fingers to see if i get lucky again!! :D

[Theater] Love in a Tub

My high school friend V called me fri night asking if i wanted to come for a play[Supper theater, yes, you read it right, they give you a performance and feed you afterwards...], it was one of their client's who was organising it.. asked her for the time, since on sat i had a meeting from 3pm... she said "its called Love in a tub, directed by Aamir Raza Husain & Virat Husain, and is only at 7.30, at Park Sheraton, shall sms the details".. i said "vokay, cool... i'll be there"...

Sat dawned, i was a bit nervous about the meeting, but must say it went off quite well! was interesting to see big wigs discuss issues, and how the meeting went!! We wound up around 6.30, and since i was in Adyar, made my way to Anokhi (a lovely quaint place, perfect for a quiet cuppa).. reviewed the notes i had taken during the meeting, sipped on a glass of cold coffee and spent a bit of time by myself!! Around 7.10, got out, made my way towards Park sheraton, which was just a hop skip jump away, and waited for S and V...


Though the play which was to start at 7.30, began only around 8.20.. There were plenty of cocktails, juices, and bites to grab before the show.. we chit chatted, while scanning through the room for familar faces.. i did catch a few, went and said hi... :)

Finally, we were shown to the hall [Mowbray's] where the play happened and must say, it was one hellova stress buster.. had quite a few laughs, it was one of those plays where you dont look for logic, just enjoy it for what it is....

Here is a summary of the play....

Its all about a couple Mr Richard Willey n his wife Pamela Willey[Virat Husain], who book into a room at the Westminister Hotel... Caught in the scam is Richard's colleague/secretary/or whatever they are called in the Brit Parliament, George aka Pigeon[ played superbly by Aamir Raza husain] !!! The plot is all about Richard wanting to meet with Jennifer Brissto for a secret rendezvous, and what happens after wards... How George becomes Dr Santa Christmas and Richard is Sir Charles Easter/Dickie/ and what not... hehehe... one of those mindless comedies, the play had us all in splits everytime there was a goof up.... not to forget the antics of the wacko Japanese waiter who keeps bringing in 6pots of coffee everytime someone orders 1 pot of coffee..
A whole bunch of people, zillions of names, crazy wacko stuff had us going ballistic through the evening....

The surprising thing about this group is that they dont play their stuff to the general public, most of it is for the corporates, their clients and if you know someone in that loop, you get to watch it, like i did!! Aparently they are in town for 5days, a show on each day!!!

After the play, dinner buffet opened.. and the entire 10000 people [okay, i'll admit, am exaggerating, it was probably 100...but sure seemed like a zillion people]... made our way through the queue... ate a bit and wound up for the evening!! :)

Now, am looking fwd to The Hindu Metro Plus Theater Fest beginning Aug 1st!!

Hockey rules.. Chak de...

I had been talking to a friend of mine about this movie and we wanted to go for the 1st day 1st show, and then forgot about it till Aug 10th , wen this friend's mom, also a good friend of mine said that she is trying for tickets for the next day and i jumped and said i wanna come too.. crossed all fingers and toes hoping for ticket, and got it..yipeee.. we were to go on sat, Aug 11th for the 10pm show.. told her i'll stay over at her place and get back home sunday morn..

The day wore on and it was time to leave for the theater... was excited, not cos i am a major SRK fan but jus the fact that i was gonna watch this movie, with friends.... movie started late, we were the 1st few to enter the theater, this friend Preethy stood right outside the door and got in first, hehehe,, she is a crazy SRK fan.... :)
Oh,and then the movie dint begin right away.. there was a surprise for us , the screen lit up, and the words "will everyone pls stand up" popped on, and we were wondering what was going on.. then came the medley of singers singing Jana Gana mana... we all promptly stood up in respect.... and then once that was over, it was straight on to the movie...

Chak De.... directed by Shimit Amin was the director's second venture after Ab Tak Chhappan which was produced by Ram Gopal Varma.

This movie is said to be kinda ased on true story of Indian Hockey player Mir Ranjan Negi. Negi was the unfortunate goalkeeper of the Indian Hockey Team which lost 7-1 to Pakistan in Asian Games Hockey Final, back in 1982. For no fault of his, he was said to be the sole reason for the team's lose... This movie has SRK, who plays the role of Kabir Khan, a hockey player who quits cos he was blamed and called a TRAITOR shaking hands with a Paki player after losing the match... and how he makes a come back after 7yrs and takes on the National Womens hockey team ....

The women players,chosen from states all over India, are a fun lot, including a tomboy (Chitrashi Rawat) whose father fears she will never marry who places the bundle given by her mom as a way of reserving the bed, and has a temper to match; a forward Preeti Sabarwal(Sagarika Ghatge) who reaches late for the 1st day and finally manages to hold her place in the team, whose boyfriend, a cricket superstar, wants her to quit the team and live in his shadow; a newlywed goalie and captain of the team Vidya Sharma (Vidya Malavade) whose in-laws expect her to stay at home; and a haughty, seasoned player Bindia (Shilpa Shukla) who needles the coach and tries getting her own way till she realises SRK is not so bad after all. Not to forget the Punju girl who has a mean temper, picks a fight with everyone and steals the movie, Balbir Kaur (Tanya Abrol) ..

From the minute the girls meet SRK till the last goal, the movie is gripping and its almost like watching a live FIFA world cup match live.. The thrill and nail biting finish, to the unpredictable moves is amazing... Having realised that his team does not need hockey skills, but team spirit SRK goes about getting them to act as a team and the absolutely wonderfully directed scene is the one at McDonalds, the lunch hosted by SRK the day he quits the team cos the girls dont like him. When leering boys at a McDonald’s harass the girls, a girls-against-boys melee erupts, but SRK doesn’t interfere, knowing the team will prevail — and find its spirit. From there, it’s on to the women’s hockey championships in Australia winning over trillion battles, getting over personal differences and coming together as one... :)

The best part about the movie was it was off beat, different from the usual mushy romantic love story, no masala, no fights, no silly side track comedy scenes that make you want to scream.. the Soundtrack is pretty decent, ofcourse the title track by Sukwinder singh has us all tapping our feet, the way the song has been featured is brilliant... a very patriotic movie, that is all about INDIA, togetherness and about how anything can be accomplished if we come together.. this movie is a must watch for all..

So, go on.. have a good time... am sure you will walk out humming Chak de..... chak de india....