| On
Stage
Silence of Bardiya
A play on wild life conservation
at 5:30 p.m (sharp)
from July 2 to 11, 2008 (Asar 18 to 27, 2064)
at Rimal Theatre
Gurukul, Puranobaneshwor, Kathmandu
tel: 4466956/2101332
email: gurukul@wlink.com.np
Entrance: Rs.100/-, 50/- and for students 25/-
Nyayapremee:
(Les Justes/ The Just)
- Playwright:
Albert Camus
- Translation:
Kalpana Ghimire
- Direction:
Sunil Pokharel
- Cast:
Dr Sanjeev Uprety, Dil Bhusan Pathak, Sunil Pokharel, Nisha
Sharma, Basant Bhatta, Prabin Khatiwada, Bishnubhakta Phnuyal,Sarita
Giri, Saugat Malla, Suresh Chand, Ramhari Dhakal.
- Date:
Saun 26 to Bhadau 22, 2064/ August11 to Sept 8, 2007
(Except Monday and Wednesday)
- Time:
5:30 p.m. (Sharp)
Rimal Theatre
Gurukul, Purano Baneshwor, Kathmandu
 Aarohan
adapted some of the great plays of the world to the Nepal context.
We have performed Sophocle’s Oedipus, Moliere’s Scapan,
Jean Paul Satre’s The Man Without a Shadow and The Respectable
Prostitute, Camus’ The Just and The Outsider, Brecht’s
The Good Women of Sichuan, Alexandre Vampilov’s The Elder
Son, Junji Kinosita’s Yu-Juru as well as a number of Indian
plays.
We regularly perform plays by Nepal’s own playwrights such
as Govinda Bahadur Gothale, Bijaya Malla, Abhi Subedi, and Ashesh
Malla.
Storylines of some Nepali plays:
"AGNI KO KATHA"
Fire in the Monastery
 AGNIKO
KATHA or A STORY of Fires is a set in a certain monastery of the
Tibetan Buddhist order in the mountain of Nepal. The scenes and
other details are supposed to have semeiotic and symbolic rather
than naturalistic representation. It is play about concept, quest,
queries and quirks that the characters show during the course
of the action. A constant tension between a fixed space and spaces
not seen takes place in the play. Human beings are caught between
rigidity and movement. Characters disturbed by their information
about the fire that consumes an old library somewhere in the precincts
of the monastery, try to read more meaning in the simple event
than it is necessary. The fire only works as a catalyst that brings
different modes imagination together. The over interpretation
or the misreading of the letters consumed by the fire, the letters
the monks and the nuns have not seen or read, comes like a stone
in the calm lake casting ripples. The play bring together the
sense of insecurity caused by fires and the uncertainties that
pervade the minds of the acolytes, nuns and poet living under
different conditions in different monasteries, and meeting only
occasionally. The overall climate of uncertainty and burning prevailing
in the region and in the space where it is set, adds poignancy
to the drama and characters' action.
WE HAVE THE SAD MEMORIES OF THE DAMAGE CAUSED BY FIRES IN THE
TYANGBOCHE MONASTERY AT THE FOOT OF MT. EVERST IN 1989, AND LIBRARIES,
SCHOOL/COLLEGES AND PLACES OF LEARING. DRAMAS HAVE BEGUN AND ENDED
AROUND ALL THESE EVENTS.
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"AARUKA PHULKA SAPANA"
Dreams of Peach Blossoms
 This
short poetic play is written by a well-known poet and art scholar
Dr. Ahi Subedi, who has been long associated with both the teaching
and interpretation of drama and theatre. This play tries to capture
the indigenous tradition of drama and music in a symbolic form
through the use of poetic language and images, and projects the
complex and sombre story broken with a jerk by the tourist guides
who dramatize our own relationship with the cultural heritage
and the maketisation of the serious ideas and icons of time and
place.
Sunil Pokharel, a very well-known Director of Arohan Theatre Group
established in 1982, has sought to capture the ethos of the Newar
culture that surrounds the play, the human stories behind the
facade of the cultural heritage of this country, that is also
highly used to marketise the indigenous narratives and their iconic
representations to a large group of foreign visitors to this city
where stoned, wooden artifacts and courtyards are replete exquisite
patterns of arts-carvings, sculptures and images. Pokharel has
played in and directed many plays written in foreign languages
rendered in Nepali and street theatres over the last two decades.
Aarohan is one of the few vibrant theatre groups well recognised
both in Nepal and outside. In this poetic play Pokharel has experimented
with dramatic presentation and techniques. The cast include some
very well-known theatre artists and directors.
Rachana
Under the name Rachana Aarohan presented three stories (on the
stage of) the Sama theatre on 13th Ashadh. The first story of
the series was Sacred Secret acted by Nisha Sharma Pokharel and
Aruna Karki. The story and the concept of this piece were developed
by Prabesh Gurung. The story shows difficulties faced by a lady
of an aristocratic family. The second story to be performed was
Half kya bi by the renowned story writer Rajav presented by the
students of Gurukul. The corruption in Nepalese government offices
and the pathos of a low-level official was presented sarcastically
in this story. The third piece in the series: Negotiations was
a story by Kumudini Shrestha. Acted by Nisha Sharma Pokharel it
was the story of the writer herself. The play shows the mental
state of a wife, whose husband works in a foreign country and
her anxieties are all embraced in this story. In the presentation
of these three stories, it was refreshing to experience two new
story writers and the effort of the student artists.
Aarohan in Norway
Aarohan theatre group participated in another international
theatre festival this July. The Nepali version of the renowned
play A Doll's House was performed by Aarohan at the famous old
government theatre 'National Theatre' in Norway.
Ibsen festival is organized once in every two years and the festival
organized this year is considered to be the greatest after 1996.
Five other countries, among the twelve participating in the festival
also performed their version of Ibsen's A Doll's House in their
own language and styles.
Poem Performance
Aarohan performed poems on stage this shrawan. Aarohan and some
other theatre groups have been performing poems on the stage even
in the past and this performance was continuity to it. But the
performance this time was slightly different from the past performance.
Eleven contemporary poets-The name given to this performance was
'Kabita Manch'. The performance over for two days. An intonation
on contemporary poetry and theatre was conducted among the artists
and the poets.
Agniko Katha in monastery
Agniko Katha (Fire in the monastery) was performed in the premise
of Shechen Gumna (monastery) Baudha on 24th ashwin 2061. The play
was in a huge stage front of the main gate of the gumba and more
then 1200 audiences, many monks of Baudha area and foreigners
were present. After the performance 'Khempo' shefchen Gumba(Khenche
Narbu) honored the artist with kheda and presented a Buddhism
book 'Bothisathya Abhyash'
The performance was organized by shechen clinic aarohon for the
help of shechen clinic. This play has already performed 94 times
including Denmark, Masco, India and in Kathmandu.
Dashin Tika of Theatre artists
Theatre artists celebrated dashain in their own different way.
Culture expert Satya Mohan Goshi, senior theatre artist Bekhanarayan
Maharjan, singer and senior artist Hatriprasad Rimal, theatre
critics Keshavprasad Upadhyaya, Playwright senior artist Prachanda
Malla, playwright Abhi subedi and senior artist Hatihar Sharma
put the Dashain Tika on the forehead of theatre artists and other
participants. The programme was arganised by Aarohan and dabali
theatre Group and was held in the premise of Gurukul theatre school.
The Programme was followed by a traditional feast.
Current Performances:
A Doll's House
 A
Doll's House traces the awakening of Nora Helmer from her unexamined
life of domestic comfort. Ruled her whole life by either her father
or her husband, Nora must question the foundation of everything
she believes in when her marriage is put to the test. Having borrowed
money from a man of ill-repute named Krogstad by forging her father's
signature, she was able to pay for a trip to Italy to save her
sick husband's life (he was unaware of his condition and the loan,
believing that the money came from Nora's father). Since then,
she has had to contrive ways to pay back her loan, growing particularly
concerned with money.
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