Ekalavya Performing Arts (EPA), a theatre group in Bengaluru, presents Kalakriti 2023 — a collage of mimes and drama directed and designed by theatre actor and director Bodhisatta Sarkar. The two-part festival is called Mute and Unmute. “Some parts are mime and others theatre,” explains the director. The mime will be presented by Suvendu Mukhopadhyay, which will be followed by the staging of a Bengali play, Juddhobaj.
“The play is a socio-political satire on war and its effect. We started without a fixed text and devised it through workshops. We experimented by bringing aspects of proscenium theatre and mime into street theatre format.”
Bodhisatta says there will be three mime acts by EPA, depicting different facets of our modern society. “Suvendu is one of the best mime artistes in India and this is his first show in Bengaluru.“
Still from a rehearsal | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
EPA was formed in 2020 during COVID-19. “We created mimes, short films and cultural programmes and shared them on our social media platforms,” says Bodhisatta, whose theatre journey started when he was nine years old.
“I was influenced by my father who was an active theatre member. I started with mime. I came to Bengaluru in 2010 and was involved in Bengali theatre here. In 2015, a few friends and I came together and started EPA. The aim was to have a mime and theatre festival every year, which we could not achieve due to the lockdown. Now that life is back to normal, we decided to present Kalakriti 2023.”
The aim, he adds, is to promote mime as it is an art form that is not nurtured here. “We wanted to do something experimental and the second mission was to present children to the theatre. Children who are members of EPA will also be performing at Kalakriti 2023”.
Kalakriti 2023 will be presented at Alliance Francaise on April 9, 4pm onwards. Tickets, ₹300 and ₹500, available on BookMyshow and EPA facebook page.
