Akkas, thangis invited to Rangayana's theatre festival

bangalore: ``ai ladki, why is it dark in here? saving electricity? has it come to that? ``all the lights are on, ammi. even the table lamp. ``so, you think i see darkness where there is light, is it? no, no, i haven't taken leave of my senses yet. but yes, it is a different matter if you people can see silver snakes in the dark. ``why are you silent? afraid of saying something?'' these lines from celebrated hindi novelist krishna sobti's ai ladki reflect the theme of akka, a national theatre festival to be held by karnataka's state-run repertory, nataka karnataka rangayana, from november 18 to 25 in mysore.other than national school of drama's dramatisation of ai ladki, street theatre, all woman productions, one-woman shows, seminars and photo exhibitions will form a ``tribute to the spirit and power of indian womanhood'' to mark the women's empowerment year. the rationale behind the name, according to rangayana director s prasanna: ``the elder sister or akka in kannada, is often surrogate mother to her siblings. we wanted to reflect this as the festival theme.'' akka is also connotative to the great kannada women poet, akka mahadevi, who was akka to the shiva sharana community around the 12th century social reformist-poet basavanna. ``all theatre women are going to be there, from krishna sobti to shabana azmi to meena swaminathan to tripurari sarma,'' prasanna outlined. the festival will be inaugurated by sobti, who has come to represent a major facet of women's activism. union culture minister maneka gandhi and chief minister s.m. krishna have been invited too. rangayana's 13-member acting repertory will perform shivaram karanth's sarasammana samadhi, directed by actress bhagirathi bai kadam in her first directorial venture. the seven-member bharatiya shikshana kendra division of rangayana will perform akka's poetry, directed by sumathi of mysore samudaaya. at least 25 productions will be performed in three theatres of the rangayana campus, the kala mandira, the newly renovated bhoomigeetha and the sriranga studio theatre, along with shows on the streets of mysore. ``and it's not only women, men will also be there,'' said prasanna. naseeruddin shah is expected to bring his ismat apa ke naam pe on eminent writer ismat chughtai, while kavalam narayan panicker will present his new production kalluti. the seminars and face-to-face sessions planned for the eight mornings of the festival will include shabana azmi, nadira babbar, rati bartholomew, malayashree hashmi, prema karanth and arundathi rao. street plays will be performed by ngos, directed by rangayana students. ``we will use the festival as a `big bang' for all the activities we're planning,'' said prasanna. the problem, of course, is the rs 50-lakh festival budget. ``we asked 20 different sources for money. it should work out,'' he added. will bangalore get a whiff of all this seismic women-theatre activity? ``i've spoken to karnataka nataka academy president r. nagesh and the nsd's regional centre to organise shows here too. let's see if it happens,'' prasanna said.