Dear All (the cognoscenti, the dilettante, the miffed receiver who has not subscribed to our service, the newly initiated and the many other sub-species of the theatre),

In October 2010, audiences in Bangalore at the Rangashankara festival were awed by a man all of eighty years. The man in question was lokshahir Vithal Umap, and the performance which held his audience spellbound was JAMBHUL AKHYAAN.

Indeed, LOK MAHABHARAT ARTHAAT JAMBHUL AKHYAAN (the full title of the play) had put the shahir virtuoso into the limelight. The production, which premiered in 1991, brought much fame to Vithal Umap and his team, who had crossed more than 500 shows by the time of the two shows at the Rangashankara festival. The production, based on an episode from the Mahabharata, and which uses the folk form of the Gondhal, is quite simply, a wonderful piece of Theatre.

Last month, lokshahir Vithal Umap passed away. As Prashant Pawar reminisces this People's Poet through bits of conversation that he had with him, we discover the spirit that this great folk artiste embodied, and stood for through his life. More in ourFeatures' section.

It is theatre festival time in Mumbai with one festival after the other. As Jana Natya Manch's 'Sarkash: A Theatre Festival of Alternatives' draws to a close (be sure to participate in its finale this weekend), Thespo has begun with its different workshops, and next week onwards, it will feature its festival productions for this year at the NCPA Experimental and at Prithvi Theatre. Lillette Dubey's PrimeTime theatre company will also be celebrating its 20th anniversary festival.

New plays include IT'S A KIND OF MAGIC (English) and TAMNE MADI NE ANAND THAYO(Gujarati). Sai Paranjpe's Marathi play SAKKHE SHEJARI has been revived, and is apparently doing quite well. Our Review for this week is Mumbai based Working Title's DIRTY TALK, which was also part of the recently concluded Atelier Youth Theatre Week. Other updates include the Mahindra Awards for Excellence in Theatre (META). META 2011 is inviting entries.

Cheers

Deepa Punjani.

Editor, www.mumbaitheatreguide.com
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