Saying it with letters Performed by Mumbai-based company Rage, Love Letters is perhaps India’s longest running English play. Successful the world over, this endearing play (written by A.R. Gurney) has, in fact, been performed by many theatre groups the world over since its debut in 1988, besides being nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Offering a heart-warming look at friendship and love, it is the story of two very different people — told through their letters. Andy Ladd III and Melissa Gardner write letters to each other over a period of 50 years. Childhood friends, Andy, who is a serious, down-to-earth attorney, and Melissa, a lively, free-spirited artist, are total opposites in terms of character and temperament. Yet, they share a lifetime of experiences through a voluminous series of letters and notes written from the age of six to 60. Poignant, romantic, heart-breaking and frequently funny, their correspondence follows a bittersweet path of boarding schools, marriage, children, divorce and missed opportunities. It’s the life journey of two soulmates enacted through words, both written and unsaid, who share the greatest gift of all — love. Starring: Rajit Kapur and Shernaz Patel. Direction: Rahul da Cunha. Presented in aid of Concern India Foundation in association with Anamika Kala Sangam. Event: Play in English, Love Letters, produced by Rage, Mumbai When: Today at 6.30 pm Where: Kala Mandir

ART

Till August 14 (except Sundays & public holidays) at CIMA Gallery, Sunny Towers (2nd floor), 43 Ashutosh Chowdhury Avenue, #2485 8717 / 2485 8509; Mondays: 3 pm - 7 pm, Tuesdays - Saturdays: 2 pm - 7 pm: Summer Show 2010. Featuring works by Manas Acharya, Akhilesh, Rashmi Bagchi Sarkar, Ramananda Bandyopadhyay, Sumitro Basak, Shipra Bhattacharya, Bhuribai, Tapas Biswas, Sakti Burman, Jayasri Burman, Shreyasi Chatterjee, Jogen Chowdhury, Sougata Das, Chandan Das, Meera Devidayal, Anju Dodiya, Debraj Goswami, Ramendranath Kastha, Bhupen Khakhar, Goutam Khamaru, Bimal Kundu, Subrata Kundu, Paresh Maity, Chittrovanu Mazumdar, Asim Pal, Niranjan Pradhan, Mona Rai, Satyajit Roy, Suhas Roy, Sarbari Roy Chowdhury, Kingshuk Sarkar, Ajit Seal, Shakila, Lalu Prosad Shaw, Shuvaprasanna, Mayank Kumar Shyam, Paramjit Singh, T. Vaikuntam, Yusuf and others. Till August 14 (except Sundays & public holidays) at Studio 21, 17L Dover Terrace, #2486 6735; Mondays: 3 pm - 7 pm, Tuesdays - Saturdays: 11 am - 7 pm: Monsoon Mix — an exhibition of prints and sculptures. Featuring works by Gauri, Sourav Chatterjee, Sougata Das, Sambaran Das, Goutam Khamaru, Sujit Karmakar, Anup Mondal, Sayak Mitra, Harish Ojha, Sunil Chandra Paul, Anand Prakash, Hemant Rao, Satyadheer Singh and Rahul B. Wagh. July 23 at Experimenter, 2/1 Hindusthan Road, #4001 2289 / 2463 0465; 6 pm: Inauguration of This is Unreal, a contemporary art exhibition by Raqs Media Collective, Susanta Mandal and Yamini Nayar. The show will be on view till September 4, except Sundays, between 11 am and 7 pm. Till July 24 at Harrington Mansions, Suite 5+25B, 2nd floor, 8 Ho Chi Minh Sarani, #22829220/21; 12 noon - 8 pm: The Harrington Street Arts Centre presents Writing Visuals, an exhibition of drawings curated by Adip Dutta. Featuring works by Vivan Sundaram, Jogen Chowdhury, Partha Pratim Deb, Kishore Chatterjee, Jayashree Chakraborty, Samir Roy, N.N. Rimzon, Dilip Ranade, Alex Matthew, Sudhir Patwardhan, Mithu Sen, Adip Dutta, Debnath Basu, Paula Sengupta and Manisha Parekh. Till July 25 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture; 3 pm - 8 pm: Svikriti, a group exhibition of the works of award winners at the Annual Exhibition 2010 of BAAC. Participating artists: Amit Kr. Debnath, Chandraval Mukherjee, Kalyan Chakraborty, Kaushik Raha, Manidipa Saha, Sayantani Datta, Sujit Das and Sushanta Kumar Maharana. Till July 25 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture, 4th floor; 4 pm - 8 pm: Mood presents an exhibition of watercolours by Arup Lodh. Till July 28 at Academy of Fine Arts, North Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: A group show of paintings and sculptures by Bengal Painters. Till July 28 at Academy of Fine Arts, Central Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: The second solo exhibition of graphic art (digital) by Biswatosh Sengupta. Till July 28 at Academy of Fine Arts, New South ‘A’ Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: An exhibition of paintings by Lopa Mondal and Gopal Chandra Naskar. Till July 28 at Academy of Fine Arts; 3 pm - 8 pm: Paintings by Nageshwar Sharma. Till July 31 at Art Walk, South City Mall; 12 noon - 8 pm: Impression of Minds — an exhibition of paintings by Shyamal Sikdar. Till July 31 (except Sunday) at Ahuja Museum for Arts, 26 Lee Road, #40034974, 2289 4745; 12 noon - 7 pm: Indian Masters II — works by Ashoke Mullick, Biren De, Gagendranath Tagore, Ganesh Haloi, Gopal Sanyal, Jamini Roy, Kanchan Dasgupta, Katayun Saklat, L.M. Sen, Nandalal Bose, Nikhil Biswas, Paritosh Sen, Partha Pratim Deb, Prakash Karmakar, Rabin Mondal, Samir Aich, Sanat Kar, Shipra Bhattacharya, Subrata Saha, Subrata Gangopadhyay, Suhas Roy, Sunil Das and Wasim Kapoor. Till August 5 (except Sundays) at Ganges Art Gallery, 33A Jatin Das Road, #24653212; 11 am - 7 pm: In Search of the Exquisite — contemporary miniature art from Pakistan. Till August 8 (except Mondays) at Shree Art Gallery, 11 Gurusaday Road, Kusum Apartment, Flat no. 61, #30222040; 3 pm - 7 pm: Monsoon Melodies — an exhibition of paintings by renowned artists. Till August 14 (except Sundays) at Weavers Studio Centre for the Arts, 94 Ballygunge Place; 10 am - 7 pm: An exhibition of artworks by 52 leading contemporary artistes featured in the book, Faces of Indian Art, through the lens of Nemai Ghosh.

DRAMA

July 23 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: Sayak presents Jnan Biksher Phal, based on Tolstoy’s Fruits of Culture. Playwright: Chandan Sen. Direction & performance: Meghnad Bhattacharya. July 23 at Sisir Mancha; 6.30 pm: Anya Chetana presents Haribansha. Direction: Sankar Bhattacharyya. July 23 at Girish Mancha; 6.30 pm: Nandipat presents Shrinwantu Comrades, directed by Bibhas Chakraborty. July 23 at Minerva Theatre; 6.30 pm: Sudrak presents Purbo Nirdharito.

PERFORMING ARTS

Till July 26 at Sree Satyananda Devayatan, 1 Ibrahimpur Road, Jadavpur, #24120769; 6.30 pm: Programme to mark Devayatan Foundation Day and Guru Purnima. Today at 11 am: Special Puja, Hawan, Paath & Bhajan on the occasion of holy birthday of Sree Archana Maa. At 6.30 pm: Nrityanjali by the students of Sree Satyananda Sangeetpeeth. July 23 at Weavers Studio Centre for the Arts, 94 Ballygunge Place; 6.30 pm: Faithful Follower of a Living Legend — an evening of evergreen Bengali and Hindi songs of Manna Dey to be rendered by Dr Rajat Shubhro Banerjee. July 23 at Plush, The Astor, 15 Shakespeare Sarani; 10 pm onwards: Havana Club presents From New York to Kolkata with international music maestro DJ Aaron James. July 24 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 6.30 pm: SAIL presents Bhoomi’s 11th anniversary concert. Also featuring Sraboni Sen.

TALK

July 23 at Ramakrishna Mission Insititute of Culture, Shivananda Hall; 6 pm: Swami Atmapriyananda will speak in English on Kena Upanishad. July 23 at Bidhannagar Ramakrishna Vivekananda Kendra, DD-44 Salt Lake; 7 pm: Dipak Ganguly will speak on Swamijir Patravali.

LAUNCH

July 23 at Bangla Akademi; 6 pm: To mark Nandimukh’s golden jubilee, Parbati Mukhopadhyay will release Nandimukh 50 Shilpakala Sankalan. Also, felicitation to Rabin Mondal, Bijon Choudhury, Prakash Karmakar, Ganesh Halui, Anita Roy Choudhury, Jogen Chowdhury and Parbati Mukherjee; a discussion on Aamar Chhobi, moderator: Manasij Majumdar; and Tagore songs by Anindita Basu Sanyal and Sukanya Nath.

SCREENING

July 23 at Nandan II; 6 pm onwards: Films Division, Government of India and Nandan, West Bengal Film Centre jointly present Classical Singers on Celluloid - IV, featuring documentaries on great Indian classical singing forms: Tarana by Rajat Kapoor at 6 pm; and Setu: The Bridge by Bhimsain at 6.25 pm.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Till August 1 (except Sunday) at Seagull Arts and Media Resource Centre, 36C S.P. Mukherjee Road; 2 pm - 8 pm: War and Forgiveness, an exhibition of photographs by Ryan Lobo. Hosted by Seagull Foundation for the Arts and Tasveer.

WORKSHOP

July 24 at Objet ‘D’Art; 11 am - 5 pm: Workshop on precious & semi-precious stones, jewellery designing and manufacturing. For details, call 98312 00077. July 24 at 8 Camac Street, Shantiniketan Building; 4 pm - 6 pm: Zee Institute of Creative Arts (ZICA) is organising a workshop on Japanese Manga Art. For registration, call 22820123 / 9331720675.

EXHIBITION

Till July 23 at 70A Block ‘D’, New Alipore, 2nd floor, 9836090947, 9831255658: Lollipop presents an exhibition of kidswear like tunics, lehngas, saris, salwar suits, and party frocks. Also, Lollipop Jewelz showcases costume jewellery and accessories like hairclips, bracelets, earrings and gift items. Till July 24 at 78 Manoharpukur Road, mezzanine floor, #9903643844, 9831323299; 11.30 am - 8.30 pm: Swati Guha’s exhibition of exclusive saris, cotton block prints, tangail and jamdani, tasar, muslin, tasar print, pashmina, crepes and chiffon. Till July 31 at Cottage Emporium, 7 Jawaharlal Nehru Road: Central Cottage Industries Corporation of India is holding an exhibition of jewellery items from different states. Till August 7 at Sasha shop, 27 Mirza Ghalib Street; 10 am - 7 pm; Sunday (10 am - 1 pm): Sasha presents Out of Africa — African artefacts including a wide range of musical instruments, masks and other interesting crafts.All those who wish events to be included in this column should write not less than a week ahead to: Time out, The Telegraph, 6 Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta-700 001; Fax: 2234-8244

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All those who wish events to be included in this column should write not less than a week ahead to:

Time out, The Telegraph, 6, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta-700 001;Fax: 2234-8244