Plays take centre stage at ongoing Gujarat Expo

CBD-BELAPUR: The ongoing theatre festival (September 22-28) at Urban Haat in CBD-Belapur is the centre of attraction of the week-long Gujarat handicrafts exhibition, as 'business' appears to be a trifle slow at the handicrafts expo.
Yavnika theatre festival is part of the exhibition and an initiative of the commissioner and secretary of Kutir and Gamodyog Vibhag, Government of Gujarat, Gandhinagar.
The four theatre personalities behind the festival, Raman Bala, Dr Manu Menon, Dinesh Singh and Dr Ashok Jain, are presenting socially relevant skits, mime, dance and music shows.
"Open air theatre is very rare nowadays for city dwellers. We want to promote it in its simplest form for the common people through local languages," said Singh, a Kamothe resident and a playwright cum director who has contributed to major Mumbai theatre festivals over the last three decades.
Munshi Premchand's Bade Bhaisaab, Vinay Singh's Case No Aalafala, Surindra Verma's Maronopranth are some of the well-known works to be staged at Urban Haat free of cost.
"Bloggers Park will be the concluding drama. It is unique as the blogs written by world famous bloggers will be staged in their unedited forms," said Dr Menon.
"Our next venture will be an ambitious 200-day theatre festival for the theatre buffs in the city," said Bala, an actor from Nerul.
On the other hand, the rush for purchasing items from the handicrafts fair is poor compared to last year. "We keep the prices affordable but the sale is slow," said Sevak Jadav and Madhu Ben who came from Vidyanagar, Ahmedabad, to sell dress materials and handmade leather slippers. Another entrepreneur Kosha Shah is seen selling handmade artificial jewellery like hathdi, kamar-bandh, kandora, dokia, baju-bandh and many traditional Kutchhi and Gujarati jewellery. "Young ladies prefer decorative but cheaper items," quipped ShahBOX:
Maranopranth by Surinder Verma : 26th September | Dedh Inch by Nirmal Verma: 27th September | Children play : 22nd and 28th September | Bloggers Park: Duniya bhar ke tamam Hindustaniyoon ki dil ki awaaz 26th and 28th September.