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| Mike Daisey at Rotary Sadan. Picture by Anindya Shankar Ray |
Theatre today is fighting the tyranny of the written word,” says Mike Daisey, the autobiographical monologue artist from New York. He was in the city to present an early show of his latest work, The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, at the Rotary Sadan on August 23.
Sitting on a table, his face lit by stage lights, Daisey narrated not just the story of Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ meteoric rise and his obsession with industrial design, but also of the oppression behind each iPod and iPad.
Daisey followed no prepared script. His performance, marked by sudden flashes of humour and pathos, drew inspiration from real-life experience.
“I spoke to child labourers (at Foxconn Company in Shenzhen, China) and met people whose spines had begun to fuse, because of the kind of work they do, or whose hands had been crushed in the machines,” he said.
At the United States Information Service (USIS) the following day, Daisey said he chose this particular form of theatre because he wanted to do away with all the barriers between actors and audience.
His training in acting and narration skills helped, but he didn’t want to use any of the archaic tools of theatre.
The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs opens formally at the Seattle Repertory Theatre in spring.
Dadagiriparichay
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More than 150 years after Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar penned the Barna Parichay, the Bengali language primer, there is a new kid on the block with lessons of a different kind, but in the same format. Sourav Ganguly is on the cover of Dadagiriparichay — a press kit to mark the second innings of the hit quiz show on a private television channel. Inside is a full parichay of the rounds of the 90-minute show. What would Vidyasagar say?
Bound by marigold
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| The 60ft sculpture of Mangal Madhav |
The soaring 60ft granite sculpture of Mangal Madhav was installed in the lawn of the Birla Academy of Art & Culture in the early 1990s, and since then, many cultural programmes have been held there. The statue itself, created by a master sculptor from south India, has been transformed into another work of art.
Debesh Goswami, an artist who was trained at the Rabindra Bharati University and who lives in Paris now, did just that. Goswami has held several exhibitions in Paris where he would ritually cover the bodies of human beings and idols of deities with garlands of marigolds. He records various stages of these acts with a video or a still camera and displays them in exhibitions. Goswami is here to participate in an exhibition of the works of 18 Indian artists who live in Paris organised by the Birla Academy of Art & Culture.
He says he has chosen the marigold because it is a tough flower and does not wilt fast. Besides Goswami, there are also some other participants who are originally from Calcutta. Among them is the Rabindrasangeet singer Sharmila Roy, who had recorded for Peter Brook’s Mahabharat.
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What’s in a name? Lots, if that’s all you are putting up on the shop front as a message to your customers. One roadside shop near Entally market on Girish Chandra Road has got it spot on. A seller of fast food, it calls itself Chokher Khide (temptation, but literally, hunger of the eyes). Amidst a flood of English names for fast food eateries, this Bengali phrase is rather unusual, and apt, for a snacking habit.
If Chokher Khide has got it right, another shop seems to have got it so wrong. Near the crossing of Bentinck Street and Ganesh Chandra Avenue, this shop sells shoes but chooses to call itself Anan. The word in Bengali signifies face. What would Anan juto (Anan shoes) mean? A face like a shoe or shoes like a face?
