The theatre fraternity of Calcutta has a welcome addition to its fold. Night and Fog, a young theatre production team, led by Avisek Arora, showcased two original works, The Cage (picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya) and The Ragman, at Gyan Manch on September 16.

Conceptualised and directed by Avisek, both plays were in an experimental form, and it was left to the audience to interpret the themes. With live music by Calcutta-based rock band Cassini?s Division, the plays seemed to go down quite well with the audience.

The Cage, influenced by Franz Kafka?s Metamorphosis, had a finely nuanced performance by Dwaipayan Chowdhury, who played a criminal trapped in a cage, which acted as a metaphor for society. The play being in mime form, the performance was commendable.

The Ragman, on the other hand, depicts the story of three different houses that seem apparently disjointed and disconnected, but are conjoined by a deep underlying pattern. Each house delineates the story of a modern human being in dilemma, living under stress and anxiety.

Rock classics like Fade by Staind, All You Need Is Love by The Beatles, Creep by Radiohead, as well as the original compositions of the band, were quite in sync with the flow of the story. The actor who stood out was Shubhayan Sengupta. Tejeswita Arora and Anindya Dutta Gupta, husband and wife stuck together, who realise that they have nothing in common after their only child leaves home, put in good performances as well. And the audience ? the young and the curious ? bodes well for experimental theatre.

Space craft

What happens when the audience is invited to explore the spaces inside a theatre along with the performers? Try out The Merry Go Round, conceived and directed by Ramanjit Kaur. The piece has evolved through improvisations in performance and writing and the events do not follow any sequence.

?This is a site-specific production and we want to explore the audience-actor relationship. It has layers of pain, struggle, love and celebration,? says Ramanjit.

Viewers are led through the nooks and corners of Max Mueller Bhavan for an hour or so. Presented by Creative Arts, the play starts in two phases ? 6 pm-7 pm and 8 pm-9 pm ? on September 24 and 25.

Brooke Shields as Roxie Hart in Chicago

Chicago shining

Blue Lagoon or The Bachelor may not have screamed her histrionic talents, but Brooke Shields is sure compensating on stage. Brushing off Tom Cruise?s nasty remarks on her post-partum depression, Shields is back on Broadway. And this time, she has a more ambitious project than last year?s Wonderful Town.

Shields has stepped into the shoes of Roxie Hart in yet another revival of Chicago. The musical, made more famous by Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta Jones in the Hollywood version, had earlier featured Melanie Griffith as the ?murderous? singer.

The Hollywood beauty has replaced stage actress Charlotte d?Amboise in the Tony-winning Kander and Ebb musical at Ambassador theatre. Shields had earlier essayed the role in the West End production of the musical this April.

The 39-year-old actress had won positive reviews after playing a spunky journalist who never gets her man in Wonderful Town last year. That apart, Shields was also seen in the Broadway productions of Grease! and Cabaret.

Her off-Broadway credits include Eve Ensler?s The Vagina Monologues and The Exonerated. She joined TV much later, in the sitcom Friends and then the hit series Suddenly Susan.

Shields?s big-screen career includes films like Pretty Baby, Endless Love, The Weekend and King of the Gypsies.

Chicago had won the Tony award for Best Revival of a Musical in 1997. The original production was directed and choreographed by the late Bob Fosse.