India’s sole entry at the Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre 2010 to be held from October 10 to 20 is caught in uncertainty due to lack of funds. City-based theatre group Shabdamegh’s Jhimmad has been selected for the festival. But the members of the group are busy arranging for funds when they should be rehearsing their dialogues.
“Cairo Festival is one of the biggest festivals in the world and we are the only group from India to be selected. We are a team of 11, including five actors, one music director, two for light arrangements and three for backstage. We received a mail five days ago and the officials have conveyed that the festival will bear our expenses during our stay. However, we will have to take care of the travel expenses — to and fro — which amounts to about Rs 5 lakh,” said Swanand Barve, director, Shabdamegh.
Barve, who has conceptualised and directed the play has been associated with Mohit Takalkar’s group and has been to Cairo Festival in 2007 for Tu, a play by Takalkar’s Aasakta theatre. “It was a great learning experience visiting the festival last time. Their approach towards experimental theatre is different. Content, expression and theme are some of the factors we get to compete on when we go there,” added Barve.
Jhimmad, based on 52 Marathi poems of the likes of Aruna Dhere, Na Dho Mahanor, Mangesh Padgaonkar, Shirish Pai and others, has completed 11 shows at Sudarshan Bhavan, Prithvi theatre, Mumbai and a few others. “The concept of rain poems is new to them. This year, there were about 2,000 entries from across the globe out of which only 20 are selected. The fact that it is a Marathi play is a matter of pride for all of us,” said one of the members of the group.
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