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'The Invisible River' premiere
Gautam Raja's play
The Invisible River was commissioned by Bangalore-based theatre
Jagriti for the first festival of Theatrescience India. Theatrescience
is a "rolling laboratory of new plays, workshops, performances,
festival, research and exchanges" developed with the Theatre
Royal Plymouth.
Based on an idea by bioscientist Mukund Thattai,
The Invisible River explores the religious and scientific
issues behind bacteriophage therapy.
The play is set by Hinduism’s holiest river,
the Ganga, or Ganges, whose waters are believed to self-cleansing
and purifying. Interestingly, this “blind” religious belief
has scientific basis. The Ganga teems with bacteriophages (viruses
that infect and kill bacteria) that showed marked action against
vibrio cholerae, the cause of that summertime pestilence
cholera. As bacteria everywhere develop resistance to antibiotics,
interest in using bacteriophages as disinfectants and medicine has
grown. But what are the implications of science and religion sharing
the same space on the banks of a holy river?
The play received its world premiere at the Alliance
Francaise de Bangalore on October 26, 2007. The show featured Pritham
Kumar, Sukhita Aiyar, Harish Seshadri, Madhavi Sahu and Joshua Saldanha.
It was directed by Ruchika Chanana.
The Invisible River was performed in London on
July 18, 2008, at the Lilian Baylis Studio, Sadler's Wells.
In
the press
Review
of 'The Invisible River' in 'The Hindu'
If only science had been pitted against
spirituality and not organised religion, The Invisible River
would have been a great play instead of merely a good one.
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'The
Invisible River'
A play for Theatrescience India
that explores the religious and scientific issues behind bacteriophage
therapy.
'Vaidehi'
at Chautauqua
A workshop and performance at
the New Play Workshop by Chautauqua Theater Company at the
Chautauqua Institute, New York.
'Vaidehi'
at the Lark
Vaidehi was one of eight plays to be presented at the
Playwrights' Week at the
Lark Play Development Center, New York City.
'Damini
the Damager and Other Plays'
A collection of plays published by Unisun Publications.
Press quotes
'He has wit and an ear for the spoken
word.'
- CK Meena, The Hindu
'Every passion is scripted with restraint and more significantly,
bittersweet humour.'
- Ramjee Chandran, The Bangalore Monthly
'He has all the ingredients of a good
playwright---an imaginative mind, keen observation, a feel
for the language, a great sense of humour and an intimate
knowledge of the stage.'
- Laxmi Chandrashekar, The Hindu
'In an appealingly blunt, no-frills
tone, the play perceptively looks at the often directionless
yuppy. Given the subject, the play [Pub Crawl] comes
across as surprisingly unstilted and non-simplistic.'
- The Times of India
'Hard-hitting stuff.... He takes a
knife and cuts the cake of life. Day-to-day life. Depending
on how you have understood the cuts, or how close to you he
has cut, you react.'
- Ponappa, The Ponappa Missive (The Bangalore Monthly)
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