BENGALURU: After many months of no plays, no distance seems too great for the love of art. Theatre enthusiasts in the city can now take a short drive to Mysuru for this upcoming event. Mysuru-based Rangayana is preparing to bring popular novel Parva, written by noted novelist S L Bhyrappa, to stage on March 12, 13 and 14. The play will be staged over a 7.5 hour-long duration. While the initial release is in Mysuru, it will also be staged in Bengaluru and other cities after a few months.
Noted actor and theatre personality Prakash Belawadi who has taken up the responsibility of adapting the novel into theatre, on Wednesday, revealed that over 40 artistes will be part of this play. He also said over 13 artistes from Rangayana, 17 amateur actors and over 10 technicians are involved in the production and several rehearsals have already been done.
In order to attract audiences from other languages and make them understand the Kannada play, they are also coming up with subtitles for dialogues in the play. These will run on a screen fixed on the stage.
“Bhyrappa’s Parva is a modern rendition of the epic Mahabharata, which has already been translated to several languages. During a conversation with a few filmmakers recently, they shared that they had read the novel in Marathi. As we are bringing the novel into theatre, we thought it would be good if we feature live subtitles played on a screen alongside the performance on stage,” said Belawadi.
Rangayana has previously staged a five-hour long play Ramayana Darshanam. But this time, Parva is seven-and-a-half hours long and would be one of the lengthiest plays to be staged in recent time.Rangayana director Addanda Cariappa said S L Bhyrappa had expressed happiness with the way the play was shaping up and had taken part in the rehearsal sessions.
“As a prelude to the main event we have planned a seminar ‘Parva: Virata Darshan’ which will be held on February 21, where novelist S L Bhyrappa himself will talk on Parva,” he said. “The seminar will be inaugurated by scholar Dr R Ganesh while Prakash Belawadi who has adapted the novel for theatre will throw light on the challenges and explain the process,” Cariappa said.