Cleopatra in Kathakali avatar at Auroville show tomorrow
The Hindu
Performance will be different from a typical Kathakali act, says Prabal Gupta
Over several years of engaging with the bounded realm of cross-cultural theatre, as performer, choreographer and researcher, Kathakali exponent Prabal Gupta has evolved a repertoire of solo acts in the classical dance-drama form of Kerala.
On Saturday, Prabal’s ‘Cleopatra’, a Kathakali adaptation of William Shakespeare’s ‘Anthony and Cleopatra’, will be performed at the Sri Aurobindo auditorium in Auroville as part of the golden jubilee fete of the Bharat Nivas, the India Pavilion in the international township. The performance starts at 8 p.m.
While there have been quite a few successful Kathakali adaptations of Shakespeare in the past, from King Lear to Othello, Prabal Gupta is blazing a new trail with his Kathakali adaptations centred on solo female protagonists.

The municipal bus stand auditorium in Malappuram was packed. But nobody quite knew what to expect. After all, a new event was making its debut at the State School Arts Festival. The moment V.G. Harikrishnan started his rendition of Pyar bhare do sharmile nain..., everyone was convinced that Ghazal was here to stay. The student from GVHSS, Atholi (Kozhikode), was applauded loudly for his rendering of the timeless ghazal sung originally by Mehdi Hassan.

For the last few weeks, several wards in Madurai city have been getting piped drinking water through a new drinking water scheme. The sweetness of the generously supplied water has led to loss of business to several suppliers of canned drinking water in the city. But, not many know that the water supplied to the houses in Madurai is directly drawn from Lower Dam of Mullaperiyar Dam in Idukki district of Kerala.











