ho sakta hai do aadmi do kursiyaan

Written & Directed by Vinay Sharma

A Padatik theatre & rikh- presentation

Language – hindustani

Duration – 75 minutes (Without Interval)

cast & credits –

playwright, design & direction – vinay sharma

cast – vinay sharma & ashok singh

synopsis

the play is an exploration of stillness and silence, word and image, inscapes and instresses. Zooming in on fragments from individual lives, the play uses an ironic juxtaposition of humour with the tragic, as two actor-protagonists tell a number of apparently unconnected stories linked by the emotions born of love, loss and absence.

their two chairs become a mercurial, ever changing metaphor as the play intersects urban relationships and makes the implicit statement that we are given life to experience compassion not to inflict violence or to succumb to an inner decay.

director’s note

in this play each scene is open to questions and interpretations. the chairs in this play could be anything, these men could be anyone, these events could all have happened on the same day or be spread over a nation's history.......

......though each scene is complete and stands by itself, there is also a meaning or two implied in the order in which the scenes are arranged. as the play intersects random personal fragments from within the individual and the crowd, it indicates a movement between idealism and decay, between hope and rage, from viewing to taking action.

change the order of the scenes and it could all seem different.

about the director – vinay sharma

Vinay Sharma is an actor, theatre director, writer, scenographer active in Calcutta theatre since 1981. He is currently Artistic Director, Padatik.

He has received critical appreciation for leading roles under renowned directors including Shyamanand Jalan, Rodney Marriot, Usha Ganguly.

His directorial works have toured in India and abroad and to most major Indian theatre festivals. His production of ‘Atmakatha’ starring Kulbhushan Kharbanda featured at the 8th Theatre Olympics. 

From 1987-2003 he co-created plays for children at Happy Hours- an institution exploring alternative approaches to education. He is also known for his performance art in installations by the artist Chittrovanu Mazumdar.

Plays written & directed by him include ‘ho sakta hai do aadmi do kursiyaan’, ‘camera obscuras’, ‘yahan’ and ‘diversion slash just joking’. In 2018, he performed the Solo Act ‘Mark Twain: Live in Bombay’. Vinay was shortlisted for the TLM New Writing Award 2006 and The Bridport Poetry Prize 2017.

“Yahan” and his most recent work “PIECES” (English) had their Mumbai premiere at Prithvi Theatre in November 2019. 

about the group - Padatik

Padatik, Kolkata is one of the premier institutions in the field of performing arts in India, especially in theatre . It was founded in 1973 by Shyamanand Jalan, Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Chetna Jalan.

Padatik’s productions have toured extensively all over India & internationally. It has produced over 70 plays in Hindi, English and Bengali working with more than 25 directors from across the world.

Major plays directed by Late Shyamanand Jalan include Evam Indrajit, Sakharam Binder, Hazar Chaurasi Ki Maa, Shakuntala, Panchi Aise Aate Hain, Uddhwasth Dharamshala, Janata Ka Shatru, AdheyAdhurey, Lahron Ke Rajhans & Madhavi. 

Other notable Padatik productions  include Gali Chahat Wali, Yeh Zindagi Aakhir Kiski, Wada Chirabandi and Late Lateef (Dir: Late Kunaal Padhi) and Ek Anarchist Ki Ittefaqia Maut, Godot ka Intezaar Karte Huye…, John Gabriel Borkman, Weekend and Janch Partal  

all directed by Padatik’s current Artistic Director Vinay Sharma.

Eminent Guest theatre directors at Padatik over the years include Satyadev Dubey, Rajinder Nath, Fritz Bennewitz, Ranjit Kapoor, Anmol Vellani, Vincenzo Cozzi, Rodney Marriot, John Britton and Wlodzimierz Staniewski.

Padatik, houses two intimate performance spaces, where in house performances are staged regularly as well as works by pan-Indian performance groups.  

about rikh-

Vinay Sharma’s theatre initiatives go by the name of: rikh-

rikh-" to scratch, to tear up (the ground), to draw, to engrave, inscribe, trace a line, to delineate or outline...........the earliest meaning of rikh-, to scratch, to tear, occurs in the Rg veda where it involves a violent action."