The closest we came to Malgudi was when the tele-serial created for us a picture of colonial India with missionary schools, steam engines and the grand dreams of three children. The Madras Players and Landing Stage have brought the book to the stage, allowing us to experience the simplicity of Malgudi in a whole new way.
“Swami And Friends”, the play, has been touring in Chennai and Coimbatore for over a year and will be a part of the line-up for the Metro Plus Theatre Fest which will debut in Bangalore this December. Adapted from the first R.K. Narayan book to go international, the play revolves around a 10-year-old Swami and his friends Rajam and Mani. The play stays close to the book, steers away momentarily with sufficient reason before coming right back.
The play brings to the stage the whole multitude of landscapes that is the town of Malgudi, and takes the detailing seriously.It has has been adapted from the original by Manasi Subramaniam and directed by Aruna Ganesh.
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The Madras Players have completed fifty golden years of theatre in 2005 and they continue to entertain audiences with some of the finest productions. Landing Stage on the other hand is a theatre group that is entirely youth run and provides a platform for students to be a part of theatre.
The lines are rendered rather than read which is where the experience is going to differ from the book. Travel back to the landmarks that were Lawley Extension, Ananda Bhavan and Truth Press with “Swami And Friends”.
Watch “Swami And Friends” when they arrive in Bangalore on December 4 at 7.30 p.m. at the Jnana Jyothi Convention Centre, Central College Campus.
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