- Event:
- The Invisible River
- Start:
- October 5, 2012 8:00 pm
- End:
- October 14, 2012 6:30 pm
- Cost:
- 300
- Category:
The Ganga: key to the hearts of 80 percent of India’s population. A goddess revered, a goddess defiled. Does science always oppose religion? Is there a scientific basis for the sacredness of the river Ganges? If so, what would the politico-religious nexus do with this information?
A colourful cast of characters including a self-promoting priest, a scheming politician and a canny street urchin, reveals that in India everything is interconnected, and nothing is as simple as it seems.
More on The Invisible River.
When Uma, a young scientist from Bangalore, arrives in Allahabad to investigate the possibility that the Ganga could be a starting point of a new era of disease eradication, she sets off a ripple effect that impacts the lives of several people. Dr. Ajay, a government doctor and staunch believer in cleaning up the river, represents the conventional wisdom of the medical profession entangled with his personal demons – a mother obsessed with religion, dying slum children, and a government that just doesn’t care.
Playwright: Gautam Raja
Director: Vivek Madan
Cast ( in order of appearance )
Ajay’s mother: Anumeha Fatehpuria
Young Ajay/Anwar: Aryan Jagtap
Dr. Ajay: Sachin Gurjale
Jayant: Jimmy Xavier
Dr. Uma: Archana Srivatsan/ Rebecca Spurgeon
Padmadevi: Poile Sengupta
Stage manager: Rituparna Bhattacharya
Lighting designer: Gautam Raja
Set designer: Shubhra Nayar
Assistant SM: Renzin Khan
Technical assistants: J. Raj Manoj Kumar, Binod Mishra (Babu)
Music composition, programming, instruments, recording and production: Vamshi Raghu and Rajesh Mehar
Male vocals: Prakash Sontakke
Mixing and Mastering: Christortion Studios
It is rare for an avid reader of heroic fantasy to be able to quote from his favourite books in a Director’s Note. But that’s before I directed The Invisible River. A Goddess who walks among us? Holy rivers? Myths and legends about her limitless healing powers? A perfect place to use a couple of the Wizard’s Rules from Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series.
The first one says ‘People are stupid, they will believe something because they want it to be true or because they’re afraid it might be true.’ Children getting heads tonsured, upanayanams, funerals, satyanarayan pujas, are they necessary? Do we only believe in it because it’s easier? Convenient?
And the sixth one, possibly the most pertinent to this play, ‘Faith and feelings are the darkness to reason’s light’. How far can reason and logic and science take you? What happens to leaps of faith? What happens to sentiment and emotion? Do we hold on to either beliefs or logic to the detriment of ourselves and our loved ones?
The play takes all of these essentially human elements and sets them on the banks of India’s holiest river. And with that title, comes the attendant agenda-driven nexus of crusaders, all with their own beliefs, whether for the greater good or their own.
Belief. Faith. In oneself. In others. In the system. In legends. Is that The Invisible River – the divide between those that believe and those that don’t? How many dare cross it? Will Dr. Ajay?
The Playwright’s Acknowledgements (Gautam Raja).
The Invisible River was originally written in collaboration with Theatrescience UK as part of its ‘Imagining the Future India’ project.Theatrescience is a rolling laboratory of new plays, workshops, performances, festivals, studies and exchanges. It works with scientists and artists in schools, communities and academic and cultural organisations.
The central idea of the play was suggested by Mukund Thattai of the National Centre for Biological Sciences, and the dramaturg was Jeff Teare of Theatrescience. Oh, and “obnoxious and boring” is by Triumph the Insult-Comic Dog (and originally referred to French-Canadians).
Invisible River/Jagriti at TheatreScience 2008
Reviews
…seasoned actors for a brilliant script…time-tested formula for success. – Vijay Sai, City Express
…acidic, witty, honest and passionate…could not have been tighter – C.K. Meena, The Hindu
