THE DIRECTORS' FORUM: 2. Laboratory Session with Ralf Richardt Strøbeck

The main focus of the Forum centred around eight 3-day Laboratory sessions conducted by directors from across the world. The Labs ran in two groups: 4 in each (9 to 11 April and 13 to 15 April), so one could choose two out of the eight. My choice for the first round was Ralf Richardt Strøbeck. Ralf, till recently worked with Hotel Proforma, Copenhagen and now heads his own Loop Group. I had seen some of Hotel Proforma’s work on video at an earlier seminar in Aberystwyth in 2003, and was struck by their spectacularly visual productions involving installation, live performance, astonishing sound score and hi-tech design. Every bit of their work is premeditated down to the second, so much so that each performance exists as a graphic diagram plotting time against event (performance, video, design). Some of these Ralf showed us in his presentation on the first evening of the Forum. In his Lab, though, Ralf had chosen to explore something completely different, something he had never attempted before as a director, and an area he was keen to transfer into.

REFLECTIONS ON 'THE DIRECTORS' FORUM': Vikram Iyengar

In late 2003 I started work on Ranan’s first dance and theatre experimentation: Crossings, exploring the facets of Lady Macbeth. It was first produced as a workshop production in April 2004 and went through several re-writes and versions before crystallising in December 2007.

These experimentations with classical dance meets text-based theatre continued with the short-lived Nagamandala in 2005 and Chitra in 2007, which had a slightly longer life. The culmination for me, so far as a theatre director, has been Equus – which we produced in April 2009. I personally feel that this production marks a sort of arriving at the beginnings of the form I have been searching for.

But Equus has also brought home to me very strongly how large the divide is between my training and instinctive understanding of dance and choreography and drama. To direct is a whole different ball game, and involves a whole different set of skills which I must develop. In this context, attending the Directors’ Forum at Aberystwyth, Wales – a place which is almost my second home by virtue of doing my MA there between 2000 to 2003 – was a God-sent opportunity. Richard Gough, my professor and dissertation advisor, who saw Equus at the Prithvi Festival in Mumbai, proposed that I attend this Forum organised by the Centre for Performance Research which he heads, and the British Council, Kolkata came forward to support my travel costs.

ANKUR 2010: Call for Applications

Committed to nurturing new talents in and new audiences for Indian performing arts, Ranan initiated ‘Ankur’, an annual event for emerging talent in the Indian classical dance, in 2004.


‘Ankur 2010’ is scheduled for 10 September at Gyan Manch, Calcutta this year and will form the second evening of the annual programme of Brindar - Ranan’s Kathak training wing.
Applications for solo recitals only are invited from prospective participants between the ages of 18 and 30 as on 1 July 2010.
Applications will be screened by an expert committee and the two selected candidates informed by end-July. Established professional performers will not be considered.

The last date for receiving applications is 30 June 2010.
Further details below: 

EXPLORING SHAKESPEARE ON YOUR FEET: a workshop led by Rebecca Gould

Date: Sunday, 16 May 2010

Venue: Ranan, Calcutta

Time: 10am to 5pm

Registration open

Where are we???

Before you think that we have completely disappeared, here we are !
All of us have been spending time figuring out several things about Ranan - where are we headed? What do we want to do? How do we achieve what we want?
And one of the things we want to do is to definitely breathe life into this blog ...so soon you will be hearing a lot more from us.
For starters, here is where Vikram is :
http://thedirectorsforum.blogspot.com/ , attending a Director's Forum at Aberystwyth organised by CPR.
You can read his comments and several interesting discussions on the blog.

Equus at NSD's Theatre Festival

Ranan's Equus will be staged at NSD's Bharat Rang Mahotsav - NSD's Annual Theatre Festival. Tickets for all performances : Rs.100, 50, 30 & 10 -- available at NSD.

For Enquiries contact : The National School of Drama, Bahawalpur House, Bhagwan Dass Road, New Delhi 110001. Tel : +91 11 23383420 / 23384531.


For more details about this year's Festival, http://www.nsdtheatrefest.com/

Happy New Year

Ranan wishes everyone a very Happy New Year...we begin this year on a good note. Ranan's Equus has been invited to the 12th NSD Theatre Festival - Bharat Rang Mohotsav. We shall be performing on 16th Jan.2010, 9:30pm at Abhimanch.