ABSURDO - Friday 19th January (Evening)

One chases the enemy, another chases sleep. Somewhere, one devours an entire mountain while the other slurps on custard. Together they try to make sense of what’s between the lines, and the lines start to disappear. They let go of the questions when the answers begin to appear. Elsewhere, a town awakens to a dwindling yet satisfied populace, whilst a couple lay a picnic table amidst the gunfire. At the core of Absurdism is the acknowledgement that human endeavours to find meaning are often met with a universe that remains indifferent, and the search for inherent purpose is akin to chasing a mirage in a desert of existential uncertainty. Imagine a theatrical performance where the script is written in disappearing ink, and the actors are left ad-libbing in the face of an ever-changing narrative.

ABSURDO is a transcultural experiment in absurdism, bringing together 6 stories from 3 Hispanic authors — Enrique Jardiel Poncela (Spain), Fernando Arrabal (Spain) and Virgilio Piñera (Cuba) — on the Indian stage. 

With stories about war, mental health, late-stage capitalism and identity, the performance explores absurdist narratives, using unconventional staging, technology and media techniques. 

Directed and designed by Gaurav Singh Nijjer and Varoon P. Anand, the show marks the 10th year of artistic collaboration between Kaivalya Plays and the Instituto Cervantes Nueva Delhi.

Presented in English, Hindi and Spanish with live subtitles. The duration is 75 minutes. 

Free entry with prior registration. Register at www.kaivalyaplays.org

SCHEDULE

Friday 19th January: Performance at 2pm and 5pm

Saturday 20th January: Performance at 5pm

Sunday 21st January: Performance 2pm and 5pm

RUNNING ORDER: 

INTERROGATORIO from “Cuentos Frios” by Virgilio Piñera

A prisoner is confronted with a fundamental question about identity. Presented In Spanish with English and Hindi subtitles.

YOU HAVE THE EYES OF A FEMME FATAL based on the text by Enrique Jardiel Poncela.

What happens when an all encompassing intelligence delves into the interplay of modern love, desire and seduction? Presented In English with Spanish and Hindi subtitles.

MONTAÑA from “Cuentos Frios” by Virgilio Piñera

Persistence, escape or something else entirely? Bit by bit, witness one’s attempt at a geological upheaval. Presented In Spanish with English and Hindi subtitles.

मांस (Meat) from “Cuentos Frios” by Virgilio Piñera

A famine leads to a town beginning to turn to a very personal kind of sustenance. Presented in Hindi with English and Spanish subtitles.

INSOMNIO from “Cuentos Frios” by Virgilio Piñera

An all too familiar state for so many, but is the escape worth the relief? Presented in Spanish with English and Hindi subtitles.

PICNIC ON THE BATTLEFIELD based on the text by Fernando Arrabal.

A family comes together for a lovely picnic in the middle of the battlefield. They are interrupted by an unexpected guest. Nothing unusual about that, right? Presented in English with Hindi and Spanish subtitles.

CREATIVE TEAM

Directed by Varoon P. Anand and Gaurav Singh Nijjer

Performed by Dhruv Rai, Shubhra Tandon and Ramita Menon

Stage and Production Management by Sukriti and Vidit Singh

Translation, Subtitles and Language Production by Kanva Chaudhary, Aatika Khan, Riddhijit Chattopadhyay, Stuti Kanoongo, Kaustubh Rajwade and others

Documentation, Illustrations and Media by Riddhijit Chattopadhyay and Kaustubh Rajwade

Lights and Technical Assistance by Deeksha Vats and Vidit Singh

Voiceovers by Sukriti, Vidit Singh, Varoon P. Anand, Vidur Sehgal, Stuti Kanoongo

Supported by Instituto Cervantes Nueva Delhi

We would like to acknowledge and thank the administrative staff and the technical team of Instituto Cervantes Nueva Delhi for their support in realising this production.

ABOUT KAIVALYA PLAYS

Kaivalya Plays is a performing arts and production company led by Varoon P. Anand as its Artistic Director and Gaurav Singh Nijjer as its General Manager. Since 2012, they have worked consistently, been very noisy, and built transcultural associations across India and the world. Their artistic work includes original, devised theatre performance which are multilingual, interactive and hybrid, use technology and media on stage as well as are built using techniques of improvisational, documentary and physical theatre. Their training and educational programs span drama and performance, design, production, arts management and applied improvisation to areas like mental health, language learning, business skills and others. They’ve undertaken arts research projects such as the Safety in the Performing Arts in India (www.arts-safety.org) supported by the India Foundation for the Arts (IFA), amongst others. They have received multiple artistic commissions and grants, such as EU MediaFutures Artist for Media grant, Goethe Institut’s Refunction and Gender Bender grants, amongst others. Their recent artistic work includes ABSURDO (2023), Mining Hate (2023), Ollantay (2022), Lifeline 99 99 (2021), Luz Negra (2020) How To Disappear Completely and Never be Found (2020), Unravel (2019), amongst others. Most recently, they received the Creativity Pioneers Fund 2023 from the Moleskine Foundation. Since 2012, Kaivalya Plays has brought works by many Latin American authors to the Indian stage, being the first team from India to perform at the prestigious Classical Theatre Festival in Almagro, Spain. They have frequently collaborated with institutions like Instituto Cervantes Nueva Delhi and the Embassies of Argentina, Spain, Ecuador and Peru in India. They have adapted and staged texts by Julio Cortazar (Goodbye Robinson), Jorge Luis Borges (El Aleph, Blue Tigers, The Sand Book, Funes the Memorious), Pablo Palacio (A Man Kicked To Death), Alvaro Desleal (Luz Negra) and Griselda Gambaro (Say Yes) and ancient Incan epic Ollantay. ABSURDO is their thirteenth project with roots in Latinamerican drama and literature and marks the group’s 10 years of collaboration with the Instituto Cervantes Nueva Delhi.

ABOUT INSTITUTO CERVANTES NUEVA DELHI

The Instituto Cervantes is a public institution founded in 1991 by the Government of Spain, with the aim of promoting Spanish language teaching, and fostering knowledge of Spanish and Hispanic American culture. Currently, the Institute has 78 centers located in 44 countries. Its main headquarters are in Madrid and in Alcalá de Henares, the birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes. The Instituto Cervantes opened its doors in New Delhi in 2007 and since then thousands of students have learnt Spanish at its facilities, in person, as well as through videoconferences. Likewise, it has been an important space in the social and cultural life of New Delhi, offering  a wide variety of exhibitions, concerts, talks, films, etc. ​ The center also has one of the main Spanish libraries in the city, the Juan Ramón Jiménez Library, which offers a wide collection of literature, audiovisual material and films in Spanish. In addition, it has a resource center for learning and teaching Spanish as a second language.