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Pune’s Natyasattak brings back the euphoria of live theatre
The festival, in its seventh edition, is held every year in January and has been drawing audience for its night-long marathon of live plays and performances
The “Pune Natyasattak”, which has gained popularity as a platform that brings the best of plays on a single stage, started on Friday and will be held till January 25.
The festival, in its seventh edition, is held every year in January and has been drawing audience for its night-long marathon of live plays and performances and this year the organisers have planned to take it to a new level by holding it for two weeks with three days during the first week and four days in second across five theatres.
Theatre lovers in Pune will get an opportunity to experience different forms like “Abhivachan” (reading out loud from the play), children’s play, one-act play, long play, two act play, musical play and silent play in the festival.
A total of 26 groups are participating in the two-week festival, presenting 29 theatre experiments.
Anupam Barve, director of the play “Uchchaad”, said, “Many different genres and content are explored at experimental, but professional level in Pune. It’s a treat for the audience to watch different Marathi plays at one go.”
This year, the festival will be held for seven days on January 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22 and January 25, at Balgandharva Rangmandir, The Base, Yashwantrao Chavan Theatre, Jyotsna Bhole Auditorium, and The Box in Pune.
Actress Parna Pethe, “’Adlay ka’ is an exploration about what art is and what it is being an artist. How and why does art survive in complex times? It is a dialogue between an actor and a lawyer who represent different worlds.”
Avanti Patel’s music programme “O Ganewali”; Natyasanskar Kala Akademi’s “Renovation”; Akanksha Children’s Theatre’s “Paas”; Pradeep Vaidya’s “Beiman”; Kshitish Date’s “Minglish Medium”; Gray Studio’s “Uchchaad”; Lalit Kala Kendra’s “Kamali Ki Satvapariksha”; Mauantar 2022 Winner Team The EQ “The Whole Story”; “Sai Sari” by Mauantar 2021 winner Sangh Kalapini; and “Vincent Van Gogh” directed by Shekhar Naik, written by Madhuri Purandare and performed by Girish Pardeshi, Ashwini Giri, Dhiresh Joshi, Gauri Deshpande were staged on January 13.
Maharashtra Cultural Center produced “Chhipkali”, Purushottam Mahakarandak 2019 winning team “Tumchan Aamchhan Ahmednagar” produced “Lali”, Vinodottam Karandak 2022 winning team Hrsv Dilgh, Chinchwad produced “Na Na Nana”, Nipun Dharmadhikari directed drama company’s “Adley Ka?”, featuring Atul Pethe and Parn Pethe were also performed on Friday.
The first prize winner in this year’s state drama competition and winner of many awards, musical drama “Sangeet Dahan Akhyan” of Pune Institute; “Vaya Savargaon Khurd” produced by Asakt Pune; “Alor Gaan” by Tiny Tales Theatre Company; “Is God a Taoist” and “To PahaTo” by Aipar, two long plays by Rainbow Umbrella; and “Project Aditi” by Grips festival; two children’s plays; performances of Theater Entertainment’s “Ukli”, and Purushottam Karandak 2021 winner “Manjammapuranam” will also be part of the festival.
Natya Rajni will be performed from 9 pm on January 25 to 7.30 am on January 26. The drama will begin with “Priya Bhai...Ek Kavita Havi Hai”, a true story about P L Deshpande and Sunita Bai played by Mukta Barve.
At midnight on January 25, “Kuch To Gadbad Hai”, a new theatrical experiment conceptualised by Niranjan Pednekar and directed by Rishi Manohar, will be presented, while at 3 am, the programme will feature “Ani Kavita”, a regular concert of poetry written by Sandeep Khare and Vaibhav Joshi, conclude at 6 am with “Jaliyeli Lanka”, a Mumbai feature written-directed by Prajakt Deshmukh. There will be some short performances between these events, including Sai Manohar’s satar playing, Baht “Ha Ha Hard” a Marathi standup comedy, and Salil Kulkarni’s son Shubhankar Kulkarni’s “Tale of Melodies”, and a band performance in which Hindi, Marathi and English songs will be performed.
