This week will be one full of theatricals of sorts. Coming to enthral theatre lovers this week are two plays that promise to make you think, laugh, cry and ponder over larger-than-life questions on life. Presented by Perch, an active theatre group based in Chennai, along with Rafiki, a theatre group based out of Bangalore, How to Skin a Giraffe and Jujubee will be performed for an entire week at Ranga Shankara from July 22 to 27.
Perch, that became famous with the multilingual play Ms. Meena along with Bangalore-based theatre group Rafiki, has been touring since 2010. Plays director Rajiv Krishnan tells MetroPlus that he and the team are as excited as the audience to present their plays in the city.
He explains that Jujubee is about a kingdom of rules and an evil king and how, by a kind of quirk of fate, a little girl comes into the kingdom and changes everything.
Giraffe is about two people who decide not to follow their destiny and challenge it, but somehow finally end up where they began.
Rajiv says they premiered Jujubee in February 2012. “We hadn’t done a play for children and we hadn’t worked with masks so this seemed very interesting to do. With children, the key is to keep them engaged. Interesting images and action can engage them better than a barrage of words so it was exciting to use masks and puppets.”
He further explains that both plays have been devised by the team.
“While Jujubee was completely written by us, How to Skin a Giraffe is inspired by Leonce and Lena , a play written by the iconic German playwright Georg Buchner. Last year was the 200th year of Buchner so the Goette-Institut asked us to work on this piece. The play was inspiring -- though Buchner died at the age of 23, he is regarded as the most outstanding German playwrights in history. The play has a lot of quirks in it blending with absurd out-of-the-ordinary touches. We took inspiration and reworked on it creating many new characters and approached the play very originally. It was a collaborative effort along with Bangalore-based theatre group Rafiki.”
Both plays have a message about the world we live in, points out Rajiv.
“ How to Skin a Giraffe talks about the kind of automated life we lead without questioning how destiny or fate is steering us and how we are not really in control and locked in a kind of routine. We have reworked the play and changed our approach to the script. So it’s got a fresh vibe even for people who’ve seen it earlier.”
Looking ahead, Rajiv says they will be taking Jujubee to Sri Lanka next month and are keeping themselves busy with several plays and projects and will keep performing Ms. Meena , our longest running play since five years.
To summarise, How to Skin a Giraffe is about two dynasties; a son, a daughter and a marriage of convenience. Can fate be challenged or will destiny prevail?
Find out at the play which will be performed from July 22 to 25at 7.30 p.m. and July 27 and 27 at 3.30 p.m. and 7.30 p.m.
Catch Jujubee - a kingdom of rules with an evil king and an unlikely heroine – with all its colour, music and puppets from July 25 to 27 at 11 a.m. Call 9845602265 or visit > www.perch.co.in for more details.
