Abhinaya National Theatre Festival 2010: Equus - English Play: Events in Hyderabad

REVIEW FOR ABHINAYA NATIONAL THEATRE FESTIVAL...

How strange can a young boy's fascination for horses get? Equus shows you just how much.

The Abhinaya National Theatre Monthly magazine, in association with the AP State Film, TV & Theatre Development Corporation, the Department of Culture of the AP Government, and the South Zone Cultural Centre (Thanjavur), is organising the Abhinaya National Theatre Festival 2010, from 16th to 19th August, at the Ravindra Bharathi auditorium.

5 stage plays and 2 street plays from various parts of the country will be staged during the 4-day festival.

"Equus", Peter Shaffer's landmark English play, will be staged by Ranan from Kolkata, on the second day, at 7pm. Directed by Vikram Iyengar, the play is an exploration of normalcy and insanity, passion and pain, worship and religion. Written in the 1970s, inspired by the report of a violent incident, it delves into the mind of 17-year old Alan Strang, who is a boy with a strange fascination for horses, and who blinds 6 of these animals in an inexplicable fit.

Through a series of encounters with a psychiatrist, we come face to face with more questions than answers. What is normal, what is worship, what is passion, what is individuality? Can what is accepted as 'normal' behaviour in society smother a far more spirited and passionate way of being, of experiencing life, of offering oneself totally and unconditionally at the altar of a personal God? Which is being more truly alive - living safely and happily or developing a very personal pain and passion? Peter Shaffer's play throws up all these issues using the mythic figure of a horse as metaphor for worship, passion, pain and danger.

Abhinaya National Theatre Monthly was founded in the 2004 by Gadde Srinivas, a theatre artiste. Srinivas holds a diploma in theatre arts. Quitting his lucrative profession in Telugu movies, he started Abhinaya, a first-of-its-kind magazine in India dedicated exclusively to theatre.

He organises many events throughout the year, like the State Theatre Festival in Guntur, and Padya Nataka Festival and Nataka Rachana Poteelu in Hyderabad.

Please contact G Srinivas at 93911-11622 for further details.