Theatre Adda : The Body Alone

Alliance Francaise du Bengale & Culture Monks presents Digambarim: The Body Alone : an interdisciplinary storytelling performance by Katha’Koli storytelling school at the Theatre Adda : The Park Street Sessions, this October, on the eve of Kali Pujo.

Duration : 40 mins

Language : English & Bangla

Performers : Susmita Chatterjee , Janardan Ghosh, Pradip Chatterjee,  Vidyapati Chakraborty & live musicians.

Script & Direction : Janardan Ghosh

Video : Sudipta Dawn

“She is dark as soot, always living in the cremation ground. Her eyes are pink, her hair dishevelled, her body gaunt and fearful. In her left hand she holds a cup filled with wine and meat, and in her right hand she holds a freshly cut human head. She is naked with a smile on her face .” or is she the one on whose body I walk, and run across her sacred ground. Is she the one that leaps beyond the sea and fly the sky above?  Is she the one who nourishes me? Delightful, crazy, naked mother, I know, I know her breast, her body. flooded with memory “.

This is a journey of being the devotee of mother and being the mother of the devotee. Her relationship with her body and the body of the goddess! It will try to fathom the resonance of that un-bodied joy in her body, while she practices her sādhana and transcends to the undifferentiated plasmic body of the goddess. The rise of Kundalini and the Big bang! The narrative will explore Kali as the physical manifestation of the psychic mind: The form that defines the formless phenomenon.

We explore the body in various spaces as in the current global political situation and the emerging philosophies around the theme of Kali through this performance.

The Katha’Koli school of storytelling  is engaged in a research on interdisciplinary & cross cultural storytelling performances. The theme of this performance is ‘Kali’,  something which we have previously explored in our performance titled ‘Kali & the Sick Dancing Princess’ with Butoh artists, jazz musician and visual artist. Or past performances also include the recent  ‘Waking in Dream Bodies’, at the Merck Tagore Awards, with movement artists from Italy & Portugal and electronic musician. We have also explored Jibananda Das’ poetry – Bonolata Sen with a sufi singer and movement artist from Pakistan, in the performance called ‘Trunk Call’. We also performed ‘The Horse Tale’, at the commemorative exhibition on 100 years of M F Hussian.

Theatre Adda : The Park Street Sessions is a monthly session of performances and other creative presentations. It is hosted by Alliance Francaise du Bengale and Culture Monks.