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The Peacock Prince
A New Tale of Amba and Shikhandi
Artistes
From the despondency of unrequited dreams, arises the scion of the Panchala kingdom,
albeit in a new birth, unable to shake off the pain and anguish caused to her gender;
the shackling and abuse.
Amba takes birth in Drupada’s palace, a gift bestowed by Shiva. Raised with the garb and education of a boy, she believes herself to be one… and in a chance roll of the dice, transforms into one by an ancient procedure. Now the young prince seeks redemption that can only be granted by the death of Bheesma, her abductor and bete noire.
The play arises from the ithihasa Mahabharata, but chooses to seek answers and resolutions in a modern day society that exposes its confusion, fear, and lack of empathy for those who identify themselves beyond the binary. The play is an attempt to seek new definitions, new meaning to roles and responsibilities that have been historically gender specific.
Please note: The show is only open to audiences aged 18+
Supported by:
Artistes
Anuradha Venkataraman
Anuradha Venkataraman is a Bharatanatyam dancer and a theatre practitioner. Trained under Guru Saroja Vaidyanathana in Bharatanatyam and under V.Balakrishnan is theatre. Anurahda has been performing regularly in India and Abroad. She is an empanelled artist of ICCR and an ‘A’ graded artist of Delhi Doordarshan. Academically Anuradha has completed her MPhil in Cultural Studies in Jain University Bangalore under Dr.Choodamani Nangdagopal. She has been an Artist in residence at TUIDA in South Korea, Rags of Memory by Instabili Vaganti in India and OMI dance residency in New York. She has been part of two international collaborations- Fish Tree Moon a play written and directed by Yosup Bae from TUIDA which premiered in Rangashankara’s festival Bangalore and Dante Beyond Borders by Instabili Vaganti, which premiered in both India and in Italy.
V. Balakrishnan
V. Balakrishnan is an alumnus of Sri Ram Centre for Performing Arts (New Delhi) and the National School of Drama (New Delhi). He is the founder and artistic director of Theatre Nisha (Chennai) and has staged over 130 plays in the past 22 years under its banner. He was awarded the Charles Wallace Scholarship to attend an International Residency for Young Directors with the Royal Court Theatre, London. He has directed over 210 plays, acted in over 160 plays and written more than 15 scripts.In 2017 he was awarded the Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching (FDAT) and returned having completed a 4-month inquiry-based project from Indiana University. His script ‘Sordid’ won The Hindu Playwright Award in 2016, and most recently he jointly won the Sultan Padamsee Award for Playwriting 2022 for ‘God’s Will’. Earlier this year Zero-Degree Publishing published four of his plays – The Curse of Urvashi, The Peacock Prince, Krishna’s Dark Son and Dvijottama; and Dhauli books published a collection of three plays – Sordid, Margazhi and Arundhati.
Srividya Ramnath
Srividya Ramnath is an A graded artist of the AIR, Bangalore and works as the Dir, Dept of Music at Manava Seva Kendra archiving works of its founder.
Rajesh TK
Rajesh TK, a multi disciplinary art practitioner. Pursuing masters in Bharatanatyam, at Banglore university. Holding passion in rhythm, exploring percussion through different instruments .
