The Blue Blue Sea – Confessions of a Recovering Alcoholic | Sabine Harbeke - Saturday 22nd @ 19.00

“The Blue Blue Sea” explores a dystopian estate in present day Germany. Social housing architecture that conveniences suicide. Drinking buddies that barely listen, neighbourhood kids that make cruel songs. Darko’s alcoholic mind takes one through the underbelly of where the misfits belong - and ‘long’ to belong. Motte -the teenager prostitute, Elle - his excuse for human company, Ulrike - Elle’s younger sister who has a crush on Darko - all of them live and survive in the same Estate. Waiting for death, while liquor gives living some semblance. The hope of a clear, dark night with glowing stars and the much promised ideal of ’the blue, blue sea’ keeps them fighting against the relentless drudgery of the impoverished human condition.  

The director was hooked onto the fact that the original German version was written as a radio play. The soundscape of the estate, the musicality of dialogue, the cyclical rhythms of structure and the succinct brevity of the English translation - all of these made it the most compelling choice. Alcoholism and its aftermath is a universal phenomenon, across classes, cultures and countries. Hence, our adaptation Confessions Of A Recovering Alcoholic where our performers create the soundscape in retrospect, of what happens when one is/was drunk! The actual beverage may be substituted by a mocktail, but what about the addiction to the ‘familiar ritual of not knowing better’?

Satchit Puranik is a Mumbai (& Bengaluru) based, multilingual theatre maker & filmmaker who works in multiple capacities – writer, director, casting director, performer, editor & producer. Born in Mumbai and raised in Baroda, his education at St.Xavier’s College, Mumbai (in Economics & Hindi Literature) & Film and Television Institute of India, Pune (in Video Direction & Film editing) ensured he ended up working and creating in multiple cities, outside Mumbai – Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Amsterdam amongst others in projects ranging in around 9 languages – Hindi, English, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Kannada, Dakhini Urdu, Dutch & French. His filmography comprises of feature films like Court (as director of casting), Ship Of Theseus (as editor), Garbage (as actor), Mr. Ya Miss (as director) amongst others. As a theatre maker, his plays include Karl Marx In Kalbadevi, Ammi Jaan, Loitering, The President Is Coming, Noises Off, Mere Piya Gaye Rangoon, Wedding Album, Brief Candle, Mareez, Bharati Deuxieme – dans le palais des illusions and many more. His tryst with Documentary Theatre began at Frascati Producties, Amsterdam on two projects – Family 81 and Mahabharata along with his double stint at Shakespeare’s Globe, London ensured that he has been performing over 400 shows across a dozen countries in the world. 

German Spotlight was conceived to popularise contemporary German drama in English translation and brings together theatremakers and afficionados to create dramatised, rehearsed readings for local audiences.

@Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan

AND NOW | SURABHI VASISHT - Saturday 8th @ 19.00

and now (und jetzt) written by Sabine Harbeke and directed by Surabhi Vasisht is the third dramatised reading in the series German Spotlight 2019.

Based on the 9/11 attack, the play allows little glimpses into people’s lives with "this is one possibility of how people feel now".

German Spotlight was conceived in 2015 to popularise contemporary German drama in English translation in the form of rehearsed readings for local audiences and is curated by Sandbox Collective.

@ The Bhavan

The Echo Chamber | Ram Ganesh Kamatham - Saturday 1st @ 18.30

'No Such Thing' was a 2-week residency for new and emerging playwrights from around the country held in Bangalore in 2016, in partnership with Ranga Shankara and Yellowcat Theatre. One of the 2 mentors was Lutz Hübner, Germany's most performed playwright. The workshop resulted in 5 new plays, which will be presented for the first time to the public in a series of rehearsed readings. 'The Echo Chamber' by Ram Ganesh Kamatham is the first of the series and will be staged in the Bhavan on September 1, 2018.

Norway Today - Saturday 4th @ 19.00

The play is essentially a conversation between two young people who belong to a generation where most of their interactions happen through technology, mediated by it, and how they almost "re-discover" human contact when they meet someone who is similar, and have one thing in common- a desire to die.

It presents, presumably, the last few moments in the life of a 19-year old boy and a 20-year old girl, as they share their perspectives on why nothing life has to offer interests them, and how “living” is never the same as just “existing”. In a world overflowing with possibilities, it is tough to pick one. So much so, that all choices start to look and feel the same, right up to the point that rejecting one means rejecting them all- and Life itself.

Team: Anup Raj, Ashmita Arjun, Johnny Ambrose

Nightblind - Saturday 21st @ 19.00

https://www.goethe.de/ins/in/en/sta/ban/ver.cfm?fuseaction=events.detail&event_id=21313966

Aha Theatre | Story telling - from Saturday 2nd @ 10.00

Secretive sister | Nilanjan Choudhury - Wednesday 30th @ 19.00