CEVA Drama Repertory Company presents "Romeo, Juliet and Seven Clowns" Hindi Play at C. D. Deshmukh Auditorium, India International Centre (IIC), Lodhi Estate > 6:30pm on 29th May 2013

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Time : 6:30 pm

Duration : 70 min. 

Entry : Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served basis)
Note : Call 011-24619431 (IIC) to re-confirm any last minute change or cancellation of the event.

Place : C. D. Deshmukh Auditorium, India International Centre (IIC), 40 Max Muller Marg, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi-110003
Venue Info : Events | About | Map | Nearest Metro Stations - 'Khan Market(Vilolet Line)' & 'Jor Bagh(Yellow Line)'
Area : Lodhi Road Area Events

Event Description : CEVA Drama Repertory Company presents 'Romeo, Juliet and 7 Clowns' Hindi Play. 
Adapted from William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, the play explores the juxtaposition of clowning and Romeo and Juliet’s love story.
The play, Romeo, Juliet and Seven Clowns is an attempt to go beyond the traditional idea of the clown (the white-painted face and red nose that makes people laugh) and to introduce the audience to the contemporary idea of the clown as an essential part of our human soul, that part of ourselves that is ‘naïve’, warm, accessible, eager for life and ‘ready for anything’.
For clowning is not only about putting a funny mask and playing funny tricks, but is about traveling through oneself and searching for one’s authenticity. The clown’s red nose, the smallest mask in the world, is the mask that unmasks. It unmasks the clown within ourselves, in the core of our personality. To discover it requires honesty.
It’s like being in love. For, we are closest to our real, honest self when in love. Clowning and loving have a lot in common. Being a Clown requires acceptance and so do does loving. The clown makes itself vulnerable, attempts the impossible, lives passionately, and ‘love’ makes you do that too. And that is what Romeo and Juliet did. 
In our play, when Romeo and Juliet meet each other and fall hopelessly in love, they discover the clown within themselves. But when Romeo acts out of his ego and kills Juliet's Cousin, he loses his clown for a while and struggles to find it.
The play is devised and evolved by the director and the cast through their own experiences of clowning and loving. We are presenting you the clown's perspective of Romeo and Juliet's story, their emotions and their end. Also culturally, we connect to the clown as we connect with the sufi tradition. Baba Bulleh Shah's poetry in the play underlines the unconditional and shameless love that the clown embodies. Please feel free to join us in singing his poetry during the performance.
The play “Romeo – Juliet and seven clowns” hopes to remind the audiences of the clown that is within each of us , waiting to put on its small red nose.

Designed and directed by Sukhmani Kohli
Director’s note:
This play's journey has been very exciting and insightful for me as a director. The actors went through a month long workshop that helped them discover their own inner clown. 
Facilitating a journey such as this is always a very humbling experience. Then once we decided to take up “Romeo and Juliet”, we improvised continuously, changing the face of the play many times. We had to dig deep and find something that was true to us and our journey together. The actors also went through a training workshop in mime conducted by Shri Niranjan Goswami. What you watch today is the result of that. And so, with that being said, the actors/clowns of this play must be seen as the co-creators of this play.

Performers :
P. Chandershekhar 
Jaswinder Singh
Jasvir Kumar
Karamjit Singh 
Rinku Jain
Abhimanyu

Vinod Kumar

Presented by Purple Mangoes, Chandigarh

Play by : Centre for Education and Voluntary Action (CEVA) Drama Repertory Company

Related Events : Theatre | HindiUrduPlays