Two Ninasam plays in Bengaluru next week

Ninasam, the renowned theatre institute based in Heggodu, is bringing two plays to Bengaluru next week. Its Tirugaata (tour) features the plays Huliya Neralu and Aa Laya, Ee Laya.

On November 7, Huliya Neralu will be staged. It is written by Chandrashekhara Kambara, and is based on his collection of poems Helatene Kela. The play, directed by K G Krishnamurthy, seeks to answer the eternal question of “who we are and where we come from”. 

It is about a man, Gowda, who goes hunting for a tiger, and gets killed by it in the process. The tiger goes back to Gowda’s village as him. “After it enters the village, certain things about the village start changing. The changing system is symbolic of how globalisation has affected our country,” Krishnamurthy says.

“Issues like obsession with money and lack of trust are showcased through the plot, which correlates to today’s times,” he adds. The story looks at identity crisis, and how things around us affect our belief and value systems, he adds. 

As it was written in the 1980s, “reimagining it for today’s audience came with its own challenges”, Krishnamurthy adds. 

Aa Laya, Ee Laya will be staged on November 8. It is a Kannada translation of Lewis Nkosi’s South African play The Rhythm of Violence. It was translated by Nataraj Honnavalli. The drama, set in early 1960s’ Johannesburg, is a look at apartheid laws.  

“In the story, a student union tries to protest against the implementation of these laws. The story is not based on violence but is about discussing and protesting the political and social scenario during that era,” says Shwetha Rani, who has directed the play.   

Drawing comparisons between the 1960s and today, she says that such plays will always stay relevant, as even today students in educational institutions like Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University and Jamia Millia Islamia University, “are tackling such issues and their political consciousness is growing”.

Huliya Neralu on November 7 and Aa Laya, Ee Laya on November 8, 7.30 pm, at Ranga Shankara, J P Nagar. Tickets are available online.