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SUNAY’HA: INVITATION FESTIVAL 22 – 24 April 2005 @ oh!art, OXFORD HOUSE, BETHNAL GREEN
| THEATRE DIARY | |
| Friday April 22nd | Theatre Space |
| 3.30pm: Followed by post show discussion | TOTARAMA (PARROT-KING) by Sarmad Sebhai. UK collaborator: Rebecca Manson Jones (Almeida Theatre) Set street-side, the Parrot, the omnipresent third eye, selects the fate cards of the characters around him; villagers, children, policemen, sellers of false witnesses, swindlers, con-men, a mad man living in the garbage can and a possessed girl… |
| 7.30pm: Followed by post show discussion | SHEESH MEHAL by Najam Hussain Syed with visiting director Farhan Maqsood. UK collaborator: Dominic Rai (Mán Melá) A hauntingly beautiful verse play, performed in classical Punjabi, by one of Pakistan’s major contemporary poets. |
| Saturday April 23rd | Theatre Space |
| 7.30pm: | TOTARAMA (PARROT-KING) by Sarmad Sebhai. UK collaborator: Rebecca Manson Jones (Almeida Theatre) |
| Sunday April 24th | Theatre Space |
| 6.30pm: | SHEESH MEHAL (HALL OF MIRRORS) by Najam Hussain Syed with visiting director Farhan Maqsood. UK collaborator: Dominic Rai (Mán Melá) |
| DANCE DIARY | |
| Sat April 23rd | Chapel Space |
| 9.15pm | PALLAWI (ODISSI CLASSICAL DANCE) choreographed and performed by Sheema Kermani UK collaborator: Set and video designer Penny Saunders (Forkbeard Fantasy) Odissi/Orissi, an Indian classical dance form from the state of Orissa, is characterized by fluidity of the upper torso. Sheema Kermani is one of the most highly acclaimed classical dancers of Pakistan. Accompanied by a video-art response from Penny Saunders, developed exclusively for Sunay’ha. |
| Sunday April 24th | Chapel Space |
| 7.30pm | PALLAWI (ODISSI CLASSICAL DANCE) choreographed and performed by Sheema Kermani. UK collaborator: Set and video designer Penny Saunders (Forkbeard Fantasy) |
| WORKSHOPS, DISCUSSIONS AND EVENTS DIARY | |
| Friday April 22nd | Theatre Space |
| 3.00pm | FESTIVAL LAUNCH (including Press and Promoters) |
| 8.30pm | SUNAY’HA PARTY with informal poetry readings, performance and song. |
| Saturday April 23rd | Theatre Space |
| 1.00pm | SUNAY'HA INVITES…presentation of artists influenced by Pakistan – artists talk about their work processes and the ways in which their experience of Pakistani culture has impacted on their artistic practice – aesthetically and politically. |
| 4.30pm | A CONTEXT DEBATE: In 2005, what does money, religion and the state have to do with art? A panel of experts discuss the challenges facing contemporary culture. |
| Chapel Space | |
| 12.30pm to 2.00pm: A Workshop | Workshop led by Sarmad Sehbai: Displacing the Colonial Centre of the English Language. The workshop explores this dilemma by analysing the global status of English language, taking references as diverse as MTV, Frantz Fanon, Lord Macaulay and Andhrhuti Roy. |
| Sunday April 24th | Theatre Space |
| 11.00am to 1.00pm A workshop | Workshop led by Sheema Kermani: The Art of Storytelling. Exploring the holistic craft of storytelling derived from the Natyashastra, this workshop attempts to discover the storyteller ‘within’–using voice, body, movement and oral legends. |
| Chapel Space | |
| 2.00pm to 4.00pm: A Workshop | Workshop led by the Farhan Maqsood: Contemporary Folk Interpretations. Exploring folklore as an integral part of every society, revealing perennial human appetites with the power of transcending geographical boundaries. |
| FILM DIARY | |
| Friday April 22nd | Theatre Space |
| 6.00pm to 6.30pm A Film | NO-ONE BELIEVES THE PROFESSOR directed by Farjad Nabi. 1999 Introducing the sixty something year old Orpheus Augustus Marcks a.k.a Professor sahib; actor, poet, philosopher, athlete, hopeful Oscar, Olympics and Nobel Prize winner who walks the line between genius and divine madness and draws both jeers and admiration from his audience. |
| Sat April 23rd | Theatre Space |
| 11.00am to 12.30pm A Film | FANKAR GALI: A tele-film, directed and produced by Sarmad Sehbai.1990 Fankar Gali draws inspiration from the actual Fankar Mandi which comes to life every night in the heart of Karachi’s downtown. Singers, musicians, dancers- and all types of stage performers- await the chance to entertain and earn a livelihood. |
| Sunday April 24th | Theatre Space |
| 1.15pm to 2.45pm A Documentary | LAATOO (A DOCUMENTARY) directed by Faizaan Peerzada and Alix Philippon 2002 A 90-minute documentary on the state of dance in Pakistan exploring the trials and tribulations in the lives of a handful of professional dancers against the underworld dance culture in Pakistan. LAATOO highlights the inherent hypocrisy of Pakistani society where so many dance forms prevail. |
| 3.00pm to 3.45pm A Documentary | MUGHALS OF THE ROAD (A DOCUMENTARY) directed by Sarmad Sehbai 1999 Lavishly decorated trucks, art on wheels, spin a distinct indigenous graffiti. Folk and classical motifs are traced back to the Mughal Empire, through insightful interviews with art critics, drivers and truck craftsmen. |
© Context Theatre MMIV