Strange Lines

An international multilingual theatre collaboration based on the graphic novel anthology ‘When Kulbhushan Met Stöckli’ at the 12th Bharat Rang Mahotsav organised by the National School of Drama, New Delhi.

Pro Helvetia – Swiss Arts Council presents  
Strange Lines 
an international multilingual theatre collaboration 
based on the graphic novel anthology ‘When Kulbhushan Met Stöckli’   
at the 12th Bharat Rang Mahotsav organised by the National School of Drama, New Delhi  
on Sunday 10 January 2010 at 2:30 pm and 6:00 pm   
at Bahumukh, National School of Drama Bahawalpur House
1 Bhagwandas Road New Delhi 110 001    

Cast 
Amit Saxena & Julia Perazzini    
Concept and Direction 
Amitesh Grover  

Credits
Text Work & New Writing – Amit Saxena, Julia Perazzini and Keshav Kumar 
Video Design – Michel Weber 
Sound Design - Ish S 
Drawing – Dheerendra Dwivedi 
Production – Mukesh 
Documentation & Exhibition – Philippe Daerendinger 
Lights Design – Srikant 
Design & Assistant Direction – Kumaradas T N          

Synopsis 
The departure point of this theatrical collaboration is a comics collaboration – When Kulbhushan Met Stockli - recently released by HarperCollins Publishers, India. It is created by 19 graphic novelists who express the shock, strangeness & humour in encountering the ‘other’ land/people in their stories and drawings. In Strange Lines, two people write letters to each other. They write about themselves, their lives, their cities and their nations. They draw their bodies and imagine the other’s. And then, they meet. The project seeks to play with the young art of graphic novel, the theatricality in drawing and ways in which drawing and theatre can come together to present notions of ‘Home and Away’, ‘Nativity and Foreignness’. Some stories from the book are adapted to form the narrative for the show, while others are improvised from the performers’ own lives.    

Profile of the Director 
Amitesh Grover is a theatre director, multimedia artist and pedagogue. Born 1980, he has created 15 Performances & Mixed-Media Installations, which have taken a total of 85 shows across 6 countries till December 2009. His practice has focused on exploring the live interface between the body and the media in performance. His work has been shown in Switzerland, United Kingdom, China, Romania, Oman and India. He is the recipient of Sangeet Natak Akademi (Bismillah Khan) Award for Theatre Direction (2009), was awarded Pro Helvetia Grant for Artist Residency in Switzerland (2008) and received The Charles Wallace Scholarship Award (2005). He has also been on the jury of TheatreSpektakel’08. A National School of Drama, India alumnus, he completed his MA (Performance Arts) from University of Arts London, UK in 2006. At present, he lectures at National School of Drama, India and is a freelance artist. His work, thoughts & media reviews are available online at http://amiteshgrover.blogspot.com/ 

Entry: 
For tickets contact National School of Drama at 011 - 23073647 or visit www.nsdtheatrefest.com