QUEEN SIZE
Created in 2016 in response to Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that criminalised sexual intercourse against the heteronormativity defined ‘order of nature’ in India for over 150 years, before it was finally scrapped by the Supreme Court of India in September 2018, Queen-size is a choreographic exploration that takes the form of a detailed study of the intimacy between two men. Played out on a charpoy, Queen-size makes an embodied argument for the fundamental right to love by examining the nuts and bolts of a close encounter between two male bodies. We performed in all the major cities in India as well as in Aizawl, Imphal, Guwahati, Shillong, Ahmedabad, Bhopal and Kanpur to extremely diverse audiences. It also toured in the UK, France, Germany and Switzerland through 2018-19.
Dancers and Collaborators: Lalit Khatana and Parinay Mehra
Choreography: Mandeep Raikhy
Soundscore: Yasuhiro Morinaga
Lighting Design: Jonathan O’Hear
Technical Execution: Govind Singh & Kavi Dutt
Costumes: Virkein Dhar
Production Support: Pro Helvetia- Swiss Arts Council, Japan Foundation, Nishit Saran Foundation & Gati Dance Forum
Photo Credits: Desmond Roberts
NO REST IN THE KINGDOM
No Rest in the Kingdom was born from the desire to embody and subvert expressions of masculinity through the body of a female performer. How might her body, alone, and vulnerable, serve as a metaphor for gender insensitivity and antagonism? How can her body transform into multiple sites of protest and how can humour, irreverence and playfulness become her primary weapons of dissent and opposition?
This show has travelled to find resonance in different countries despite its specific location in India, because its characters are archetypes of ‘Masculinities’ familiar across cultures. It causes discomfort, sometimes skepticism. It breeds introspection and provokes conversations.
Writer/ Director/Performer: Deepika Arwind
Sound Design: Nikhil Nagaraj
Lighting Design: Pritham Kumar
Production: Medha Agrawal
Photo Credits: Richa Bhavanam
An adaptation of “Rosemarie the Cow” written by Andri Beyeler, translated into English by Anne Fritsch and Paul Harman. This was Sandbox Collective’s first production for children and featured the trials and tribulations of Rosamma the cantankerous cow. Set in a world that stretches far beyond a typical farm, the play, filled with puppets, objects, live music, dance, a non judgmental tone and openness allows children to interpret the performance in several ways. We performed over 100 shows across the country, including schools and children’s theatre festivals.
Director: Vinod Ravindran
Art Work: Aruna Manjunath and Rency Philip
Performers: Anirudh Mahesh, Abubaker Siddique, Rency Philip, Shweta Desai and Sachin Gujrale
Lighting Design: Partha S
Production Support: Goethe-Institut/ Max Mueller Bhavan
Photo Credit: Richa Bhavanam
HOW COW
NOW COW
DASTAAN LIVE
Dastaan LIVE is an art-rock project that brings together the world of the aural and the visual to deliver a one-of-a-kind experience for audiences. With music composed by Anirban Ghosh and Sumant Balakrishnan at its foundation, Dastaan LIVE is driven by visuals and poetry from Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Sahir Ludhianvi, Majaz, Nazir and Baba Nagarjuna. Dastaan LIVE has performed at prestigious festivals as well as in intimate spaces to smaller audiences.
Performers: Anirban Ghosh (Composer / Bass Guitar), Sumant Balakrishnan (Composer/Guitar/Vocals) Jagtinder Singh Sidhu (Hindustani Vocals), Nikhil Vasudevan (Drums/Suitcase/Backing Vocals), Subhanshu Singh (Guitar/Backing Vocals), (Vocals/Spoken word poetry), Varun Gupta(Percussions), Ankit Pandey (Spoken Word Poetry),
Visual Design and Live Projections: Yashas Chandra
Visual Documentation: Anant Raina and Shupriyo Moitra
Lighting/Space Design: Tech Quartet
Photo Credit: Mahindra Sanatkada Arts Festival
1..2..TREE
This was Sandbox Collective’s second performance for children.
In a not so far-away land, a plant sighting is a rare and exciting event. Pao, a 7-year old boy, and his cat, Bruce Lee, have befriended this plant. They must now protect it if they want to save the world. From sinister scientists to grumbling goons, every powerful grown-up in the city seems to be after the plant. Will Pao and Bruce Lee win the war against the scary adults?
Director: Anurupa Roy
Puppets: Md. Shameem
Performers: Medha Agrawal, Rency Philip, Shreekanth and Shrunga BV
Sound Design: Nikhil Nagaraj
Lighting Design: Partha S
Production: Debosmita Dam and Shruti Rao
Set Execution: Satish Kumar, Monish, Shruti Gopal, Pratyangira Kashyap and Karuna Chandwani
Photo Credit: Richa Bhavanam
RAMANAYA
A contemporary exploration of the fundamental Indian epic- the Ramayana, through movement, sound and video art. Two performers begin a discussion about the Ramayana and find that there are as many differences as there are similarities in their versions.
Through their playful banter, they enter the space occupied by the epic only to get carried away by the force of what unfolds. The visual narrative expands, growing more complex and takes the two storytellers deeper into a surreal stream. As they journey in this stream, they find new and contemporary perspectives in this abstract world, and the epic reveals itself to them in many new and unexpected ways.
Director: Felix Ott
Performers: Puja Sarup and Vinod Ravindran
Video Art: Benjamin Brix
Sound Design: Nikhil Nagaraj
Stage Design: Felix Ott
Lighting Design: Felix Ott and Bharavi
Production: Bharavi and Deepankar Pai
Production Support: Goethe-Institut
Photo Credit: Benjamin Brix
PARK
Park is a comedy about three men in a park fighting for their individual space. The playful banter turns into a serious skirmish escalating into violence as questions of ‘space, territory and ownership” become fraught with tension
Playwright: Manav Kaul
Director: Nimi Ravindran
Performers: Ashish D’ Abreo,
Deepak Subramanya and Jimmy Xavier
Lighting Design and Operation: Bharavi
Sound Operation: Medha Agrawal
Photo Credit: Richa Bhavanam
KOOGU
Koogu, the Kannada word for ‘call’ or ‘shout’, is a solo performance comprising a series of vignettes based on real events, some that occurred in the performer’s life. Born out of a series of conversations between a Bangalore based theatre worker, Anish Victor and Michel Casanovas, a dancer and choreographer from France, the dialogue revolved around the question – ‘what does one stand and fight for?’ Koogu performed at diverse venues – living rooms, terraces, kitchens, office-spaces, basements, a Sal forest, as well as regular auditoria – across India and at the SAMOSA festival in Kenya.. Koogu was Sandbox Collective’s first production.
Performer/Writer/Director: Anish Victor
Movement Dramaturgy/Lighting Design: Michel Cassanovas
Production Manager/ Sound Operator: Aruna Manjunath
Photo Credit: Aruna M
TRIVIAL DISASTERS
A series of comic sketches that take banal events and situations from everyday life and turn them upside down- eight rib tickling sketches that play out human absurdities. As part of our ‘home theatre’ program we performed Trivial Disasters in people’s homes, cafes and bars in order to demystify theatre by performing in informal and non-theatre spaces.
Playwright: Ajay Krishnan
Director: Nimi Ravindran
Performers: Anshul Pathak, Ashiqa Salvan, Bhavana Rajendran, Deepika Arwind, Rebecca Spurgeon, Swetanshu Bora and Vinod Ravindran
Lighting Design: Bharavi
Photo Credit: Lekha Naidu
A LITTLE CALM BEFORE THE STORM
Three actors prepare for a panel discussion about playing Hitler and discuss the limits of the theatre as a form of art. Since the moderator is late, they start talking. Two of them have actually played Hitler on stage, while the third has performed Goebbels in a movie. Slowly, with perfidious wordplay and black humor, a clash between cultures emerges between the old and the new. The play was first performed as a dramatised reading as part of the German Spotlight 2016, a collaborative theatre project by Sandbox Collective and the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore that brings new writing from Germany to Indian audiences. Based on the German play Ein bisschen Ruhe vor dem Sturm by Theresia Walser.
Playwright: Theresia Walser
Director: Vandana Prabhu
Performers: Kanchan Bhattacharya,
Kinjal Majumdar, Roy Sinai
Production: Debosmita Dam
Production Supported: Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore
Playwright: Vaclav Havel
Director: Sachin Gurjale
Performers: Ravindra Vijay,
Rency Philip and Vaishakh Shankar
Photo Credit: Lekha Naidu
Unveiling tells the story of a seemingly happy and modern couple who have taken great pains to redecorate their home. They invite a friend for an ‘unveiling’ of their renovated home but unwittingly unveil a lot more than just their new home! This adaptation of Unveiling is a dark comedy about the lives we live, the spaces we inhabit and our need for clutter and approval. Performed extensively as part of ‘home theatre’.
