Du and मी & Guest is God - Friday 5th & Saturday 6th

Du and मी & Guest is God

Double Feature from single script

Theatre for Children & Youth

05.06. - 06.06.2015
Ranga Shankara

Tickets: Rs. 200 per head at the Bhavan, Ranga Shankara
and online at bookmyshow.com

WIN free tickets in a Lucky Draw! Complete the line "German boy meets Indian girl and ..." in fewer than 5 words and send it in with name, mobile number and show date/time to: arts@bangalore.goethe.org by June 4, 2015.

Age: 14 years and above

Marathi / German with English surtitles 

Du and मी
05.06.2015, 7.30 p.m.
by Maharashtra Cultural Center
Directed by Srirang Godbole and Vibhawari Deshpande
 



Guest is God
06.06.2015, 3.30 and 7.30 p.m.
by GRIPS Theatre Berlin
Directed by Mina Salehpour



Two sides of the same coin
Post-performance Interaction with the authors and directors of both plays
06.06.2015, 5.00 p.m. in the foyer

We are proud to present in Bangalore the outcome of a unique collaboration between Germany’s most performed playwright Lutz Hübner and reputed Indian dramatists Srirang Godbole and Vibhawari Deshpande. The so-called Author Project, supported by the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Pune is a novel concept where both Indian and German writers worked on developing a “common script”, through interactions and improvisations with artists in Germany and India.

The ensuing productions, Du and मी (the Marathi version) & Guest is God (the German version), premiered in 2013 and 2014 respectively and have since been staged several times in India and Germany. In Bangalore we offer the opportunity to watch both and appreciate the differing nuances in theatrical perspective in the two approaches.

The theme is universal. The story is woven around the relationship between two youngsters – German exchange student Boris and the daughter of his Indian host family, Radha. After some initial disinclination, they become close friends and fall in love. However, Radha’s family is neither excited nor happy about the relationship. The narrative focuses on rejection and mutual understanding, the dichotomy of traditions and advancements towards an uncertain future. ‘Globalisation needs such relationships, as well as acceptance towards being different and the audacity to try something new’. This is the implicit message.

The GRIPS connection
GRIPS Theater, Berlin and Maharashtra Cultural Center, Pune enjoy a long collaborative association starting in 1986 when Max Mueller Bhavan and Theater Academy, Pune collaborated to produce the first GRIPS play “छान छोटे वाईट्ट  मोठे” (Chhan Chhote Vaitta Mothe). With more than 1500 shows of 13 productions in the last 26 years, it is one of the strongest Children and Youth Theater movements in India.

In Bangalore, GRIPS has inspired several productions including Gumma Banda Gumma and Gagrayyana Friendsu. Both plays ran for more than 75 shows with about 150 children attending each show, filling every row of the auditorium. Not to forget the big success of the two productions being staged in Mumbai as well as taking part in Prithvi Children's theatre festival.

Du and मी
A play in two acts in Marathi with English surtitles
Duration: 120 minutes
Production: Maharashtra Cultural Center, Pune
Script: Shrirang Godbole, Vibhawari Deshpande and Lutz Hübner
Direction: Shrirang Godbole and Vibhawari Deshpande
Music: Rahul Ranade
Cast: Aroh Velankar, Ashwini Phatak, Radhika Ingale, Devendra Saralkar, Harshad Rajpathak
Technical Direction: Amit Patwardhan
Costumes: Amruta Kakatkar
Lights: Vikrant Thakar and Sachin Lele
Audio-visual: Himanshu Binekar

Guest is God
A play in German with English surtitles
Duration: 75 minutes
Production: GRIPS Theater, Berlin
Script: Shrirang Godbole, Vibhawari Deshpande and Lutz Hübner
Direction: Mina Salehpour
Cast: Esther Agricola, Robert Neumann, Katja Hiller, Roland Wolf
Set: Jorge Enrique Caro
Costumes: Maria Anderski
Music: Markus Hübner       
Dramaturgy: Stefan Fischer-Fels
Theatre Pedagogy: Susanne Rieber
Nominated for the Friedrich-Luft-Preis 2013

The authors
Lutz Hübner was born at Heilbronn in 1964. After studying German, Philosophy, and Sociology at Münster University he trained as an actor at the Saarbrücken Staatliche Hochschule. There followed engagements as an actor and director in Saarbrücken, Aachen, Neuss, and Magdeburg. Since 1996 Lutz Hübner has worked as a freelance author and director. He lives in Berlin.

Shrirang Godbole, an engineer by education, worked in the engineering industry for more than fifteen years before he shifted to the media industry. He has been an active member of the experimental theater group 'Theater Academy' for more than ten years as a writer, director and actor. He is one of the pioneers of GRIPS theater activity in India and has been involved with the movement as a playwright and director since 1986. He has written and directed more than ten plays in Marathi, Hindi and English.
Shrirang now heads the media companies Indian Magic Eye as well as Indian Magic Eye Motion pictures. He is a leading producer, writer, director and lyricist in Marathi television and film industry.

Vibhawari Deshpande, a graduate in psychology and post graduate in communication studies, has been involved in theatre for the past 18 years. She has worked with various theater groups as a writer, actor and director. She is associated with GRIPS Theater since 1996 as a playwright, actor and director. She has written and directed more than 6 plays in Marathi, Hindi and Kannada. And is a well-established actor and writer in the theatre as well as the Marathi film industry.

What is GRIPS?
Grips is the founder of »emancipatory theatre«. It was the first theatre worldwide to deal socio-critically with the lives and living conditions of children and young people and to incorporate this in original humourous and musical plays. GRIPS is a theatre for all generations, cultures and classes of society. It deems itself anti-elite and anti-pompous, a form of modern popular and political peoples’ theatre.

GRIPS is especially an ensemble and writer’s theatre. Its founder and longtime artistic director, Volker Ludwig, has written over 43 plays for children, young people and adults and continues to work at the theatre as author and executive director. The continual work with authors such as Lutz Hübner and directors such as Franziska Steiof and Frank Panhans is an integral feature of GRIPS Theater. The promotion of the “next generation”  is crucial to the Grips philosophy.

The current artistic director is Stefan Fischer-Fels continues is to maintain the basic ideas of GRIPS Theater to tell strong relevant stories, and also to be open to new narrative styles and contemporary aesthetics with a continuing awareness of childhood and adolescence today.