<p>Bangalore Little Theatre’s ‘VP@80’, a three-month-long theatre festival celebrating Vijay Padaki and his works, began on Friday.</p>.<p>BLT is teaming up with many other city-based theatre groups to stage five major full-length productions, four courtyard theatre pieces and rehearsed and short story readings.</p>.<p>This weekend Red Polka Productions stages ‘Touchstones’ and ‘Mrs Moorthy’ at Alliance Francaise, Vasanth Nagar.</p>.<p>Both the plays are directed by Anshulika Kapoor, and she says that her favourite one is ‘Touchstones’, a mother-daughter dialogue written by Padaki, as it carries varied human emotions and delivers a strong message.</p>.<p>She says, “The treatment of the play is challenging as the dialogue happens in current time, but at no point, the mother and her daughter are together on stage; the writing is strong yet simple to present.”</p>.<p>Talking about ‘Mrs Moorthy’, a play written by Madhu Rye and translated to English by Padaki, Anshulika says that it gave her the opportunity to work on finer nuances to keep the audience excited as the character has different layers to be explored. ‘Mrs Moorthy’ stars Shatarupa Bhattacharyya.</p>.<p>Anshulika admits that it was quite a task to direct two diverse plays simultaneously.</p>.<p>“Both being monologue performances, it was important to keep that storytelling compact, precise and engaging. I tried to keep both of them realistic by playing with body movements, space and the use of breath,” she adds. </p>.<p>She also roped in city-based independent filmmaker Prataya Saha to assist her in direction.</p>.<p>Talking further about Padaki’s plays, the Anshulika says, “I find the subject and the treatment of his plays relevant and interesting. His writing is impeccable and relatable as they touch many social issues people face in their lives.”</p>.<p>Actress Samanvita Shetty, who will be playing the role of the daughter in ‘Touchstones’, describes the play that deals with a myriad of emotions of a mother and her daughter.</p>.<p>“Padaki has been able to capture these emotions so beautifully in this play. It is so well written that it becomes relatively easier for the actors to portray the roles and yet difficult to express oneself in such a raw, authentic manner,” she told Metrolife.<br /><br /><strong><span>Event details</span></strong><br />‘Touchstones’ and ‘Mrs Moorthy’ will be staged on June 15 and 16 at 5.30 pm and 7.30 pm at Alliance Francaise, Vasanth Nagar.</p>
<p>Bangalore Little Theatre’s ‘VP@80’, a three-month-long theatre festival celebrating Vijay Padaki and his works, began on Friday.</p>.<p>BLT is teaming up with many other city-based theatre groups to stage five major full-length productions, four courtyard theatre pieces and rehearsed and short story readings.</p>.<p>This weekend Red Polka Productions stages ‘Touchstones’ and ‘Mrs Moorthy’ at Alliance Francaise, Vasanth Nagar.</p>.<p>Both the plays are directed by Anshulika Kapoor, and she says that her favourite one is ‘Touchstones’, a mother-daughter dialogue written by Padaki, as it carries varied human emotions and delivers a strong message.</p>.<p>She says, “The treatment of the play is challenging as the dialogue happens in current time, but at no point, the mother and her daughter are together on stage; the writing is strong yet simple to present.”</p>.<p>Talking about ‘Mrs Moorthy’, a play written by Madhu Rye and translated to English by Padaki, Anshulika says that it gave her the opportunity to work on finer nuances to keep the audience excited as the character has different layers to be explored. ‘Mrs Moorthy’ stars Shatarupa Bhattacharyya.</p>.<p>Anshulika admits that it was quite a task to direct two diverse plays simultaneously.</p>.<p>“Both being monologue performances, it was important to keep that storytelling compact, precise and engaging. I tried to keep both of them realistic by playing with body movements, space and the use of breath,” she adds. </p>.<p>She also roped in city-based independent filmmaker Prataya Saha to assist her in direction.</p>.<p>Talking further about Padaki’s plays, the Anshulika says, “I find the subject and the treatment of his plays relevant and interesting. His writing is impeccable and relatable as they touch many social issues people face in their lives.”</p>.<p>Actress Samanvita Shetty, who will be playing the role of the daughter in ‘Touchstones’, describes the play that deals with a myriad of emotions of a mother and her daughter.</p>.<p>“Padaki has been able to capture these emotions so beautifully in this play. It is so well written that it becomes relatively easier for the actors to portray the roles and yet difficult to express oneself in such a raw, authentic manner,” she told Metrolife.<br /><br /><strong><span>Event details</span></strong><br />‘Touchstones’ and ‘Mrs Moorthy’ will be staged on June 15 and 16 at 5.30 pm and 7.30 pm at Alliance Francaise, Vasanth Nagar.</p>
