Play it up!

Play mask

Premchand and Manto take the stage
Bhopal-based theatre company, Parag Theatre and Welfare Organisation will present a Hindustani play titled Batwaara, based on short stories by Munshi Premchand, Saadat Hasan Manto and the director, Parag Dubey.

The one-and-a-half-hour long production depicts the painful history of the Partition, and revolves around characters living in Lahore during that time.

The first story Rubina, written by Dubey is about a young Muslim girl who saves a Sikh child during the riots.

The second story is Manto's Toba Toke Singh, which looks at the partition from the point of view of a mentally challenged man.

The third story is an adaptation of Munshi Premchand's Bade Bhaisahab.

"The play was originally set in 1932, I have reworked the story to present what would happen if these characters lived during the partition," explains Dubey ON October 9, 5pm, October 10, 7.30pm

Seaside story
Mumbai-based theatre director Omkar Bhatkar has come up with a new production, called Song of the Blue Sea, which will be presented by the Metamorphosis Theatre Group. Set against the backdrop of the expanding sea, the play uses poetry to raise and answer questions about love. "The story is about cracked relationships. It looks at the fact that when we say love is over, is it really? The characters use poetry instead of dialogue to communicate with each other," shares Bhatkar. "The treatment of the play is dreamy. The story revolves around the protagonist who meets two men she had fallen in love with in the past," he adds.