MUMBAI The city which has a story lurking in every corner of its streets seldom comes out with gripping theatre scripts that put this potential into plays. But Writer's Bloc is set to alter that. Theatre person Rahul da Cunha talks about it as the Woodstock of Indian theatre. The British Council-Royal Court Theatre's playwriting project has thrown up an engrossing theatre festival. Under the aegis of Writer's Bloc, nine new playwrights join nine directors. The result is nine plays in 27 performances featuring 40 actors.

A still from Subramanyam's play Clogged Arteries

The festival is the result of a playwriting workshop held in September 2002, a collaboration among the British Council, London-based Royal Court Theatre (RCT), Rage Productions and Jindal Art Foundation in which 13 writers participated. The final scripts, completed in workshops last year, were worked upon by RCT's distinguished playwrights and directors. Shiv Subramanyam presents Clogged Arteries, a play about traffic jams, bad sex, job appraisals, masturbation, Kafka, premarital pregnancies, etc. Sandesh Kulkarni writes and directs Pahila Vahila, a Marathi tale of a small-town boy in the big city. Sculptor Arzan Khambatta takes a shy at set-designing for Hard Places written by Farhad Sorabjee. Writer Anupam Chandrashekhar debuts on the Mumbai stage with Acid about an acid attack victim, following reports in newspapers about such heinous attacks and the growing coverage in the media about personal grooming.

Da Cunha feels such workshops could be the answer to the frustration that directors face over the dearth of provocative scripts. "Paucity of plays written in English has been one of the biggest problems," he says. Writer's Bloc has taken care of that. At Prithvi Theatre, April 9 to 18 and at the Experimental Theatre, NCPA, from April 20 to 29.

-By Kimi Dangor

artefact
Baron Buys History

BANGALORE After 200 years, Tipu Sultan's sword is back in its real scabbard-the soil of Karnataka. Beer baron Vijay Mallya, who bought the legendary sword at a private auction in London in September 2003, unveiled it last week in Bangalore. The sword, one of the most coveted war trophies to be auctioned in recent years was part of the personal arsenal of the Lion of Mysore and was taken by storm in 1799 after the fall of Srirangapatnam. It was then presented to Major General Baird by those serving under him. "It is an overwhelming feeling to restore this legacy to the people of Karnataka," said a beaming Mallya who admitted to buying it for Rs 1.57 crore. The sword, says Mallya, will be displayed for public viewing for a week every year on the occasion of Tipu Sultan's anniversary at his dargah at Srirangapatnam.

sculpture
Weight of Water

DELHI Few have forgotten artist Hemi Bawa's 8-ft-tall sculpture commissioned by Coca-Cola for the 1996 Olympic Games. What may now become another lasting impression of her work is her latest collection, Luminous Phenomenon.

Bawa's favourite medium is glass, and in this case, luminosity dominates. The absence of burden in her work weighs you down. Naked glass with fragile human forms allows distorted rectangular blocks of sunlight to filter through it. Bawa portrays the dramatic intercourse between light and space. "I use textures that do justice to my work," she says, looking like a mild-mannered mum who should be having a Sunday brunch on a sailboat rather than an obsessive genius. Bawa's acrylic on canvas uses linear techniques disguised in bohemian forms with an uncluttered mix of colours. From the bloody red spread with tiny dots to the black with white inkjet droppings, it is a visual imagery trek. She says, "If I were a painting, I would be the red one." At Palette Art Gallery till April 17.

— By Supriya Dravid

film review
Derailed Plot

MURDER
Director: Anurag Basu
Cast: Mallika Sherawat, Emraan Hashmi, Ashmit Patel

The good news is that Murder isn't as cheesy as it looks. In fact, as long as director Anurag Basu follows the original-Adrian Lyne's Unfaithful-the film stays on track. A bored housewife has an affair. There is plenty of necking and even a few naked backs on display.

Trouble starts when Basu gets original. There is a bizarre blackmailing track and a strange policeman in a chef's headgear. Of course, in due course the wife regrets crossing the "Lakshman Rekha". Still Sherawat is the hero of the film where the lover and the husband are alternately stiff and shrill. Though, as New Yorker critic Anthony Lane said of Elizabeth Berkley in Showgirls, "her breasts are more expressive than her face".

— By Anupama Chopra

recommendations

Members of Mrigya band (left); New mocktail by Berry

FESTIVAL To celebrate the bewitching appeal of the "land with the long white clouds" the New Zealand High Commission is holding an exhibition of works by New Zealand artists. Indian band Mrigya too will perform a concert of fusion music in a unique blend of blues, funk, rock, jazz and Indian classical music. Till April 28 at India International Centre, New Delhi.

FOOD It has neither the tang of jal jeera nor the subtle sourness of a Bloody Mary. But it tastes better than both. This refreshing mocktail, an innovation of Sameer Berry, at Noida's Chor Bizarre has orange juice, black salt, mint leaves and a dash of garam masala in it. Just the right spicy accompaniment for the palak patta chaat (spinach leaf pakoras).

music
Waves of Fusion

Colours of India; Music Today; Rs 75	Akhand; Kosmic Music; Rs 50

The violin is popularly considered a direct import from the West. But according to references in history, it was first introduced in the court of Travancore during the rule of Maharaja Swati Tirunal. Unfettered by historical baggage, violinist brothers Ganesh and Kumaresh have created a style of their own with Colours of India, a fusion presentation with a tinge of western influence. It is an assortment of six pieces recorded live at Swar Utsav 2003. A brilliant rendition.

Akhand, on the other hand, cashes in on the mantra magic. It is a collection of ancient Vedic chants sung by Bombay S. Jayashri, P. Unnikrishnan and Krishanrajji in Carnatic style and harmonised to western instruments like the keyboard. It is an elevating album.

— By S. Sahaya Ranjit

parsi theatre
Stage Revival

DELHI The 150-year-old Parsi theatre, an almost forgotten genre, got a grand revival recently at the annual theatre festival at National School of Drama (NSD). In fact, Yahudi Ki Ladki, featuring 68-year-old actor Mohammed Ahmad Dalvi and staged in the traditional style of theatre, left the audience speechless with its wit, warmth and performances. Dalvi, who wore theatre costume after a gap of 12 years, made the NSD's effort to bring back old, professional Parsi actors on stage a worthwhile project.

It had been long since theatre enthusiasts had watched a play that was structured on Urdu poetry and rendered with perfect pronunciation. There were Parsi costumes and props. A veteran journalist hugged Dalvi saying, "You have helped me relive my father's memories." The rapport that actors struck with the audience was quite unusual, so much so that the rhythmic dialogues were occasionally being completed by the onlookers. The Parsi theatre community, excited by this response and the NSD's eagerness to offer them more opportunities, is planning to stage the plays, including Yahudi Ki Ladki, in Delhi again this month.

— By Sheokesh Mishra