And to cap off our amazing trip to Hollywood where we
featured a spare, ten-minute play with neither set nor costumes, we present to
you Malhaar’s epic musical Jashn-e-Awadh, of which Third Half Theatre is as
always happy to be a part.
It’s been five years since we first presented Jashn-e-Awadh,
and its resonance has been deep. The audience response was generous indeed, and
every production we would be asked, “When are you doing Jashn-e-Awadh again?”
As with all Malhaar Productions, the new, more dazzling show
is a meeting ground of ideas, ambition, and some of the finest talent in the
city coupled with professional musicians specially brought in from India.
Prepare to be whisked away into the land of the Nawabs,
where music, dance, and poetry combined to leave a lasting legacy that survives
to this day.
Jashn-e-Awadh stages on Friday September 30th 7:30 p.m. and Saturday October 1st 3:30 p.m at Centrepoint Theatre, Ductac, Mall of the Emirates. Tickets available at the Box Office and online on the Ductac and Platinum List websites.
While Tréteau is still in the reckoning in the Top 30 as part of what has been dubbed 'the toughest week in Short+Sweet history', Janus gets a last minute entry into the Wild Cards of Short+Sweet Hollywood.
Janusis a monologue that attempts to explore the nature of identity. It
deals with stereotypes, reverse stereotypes, and how people aren’t what
you think they are. And how sometimes they’re exactly that, or worse.
It stages at the Stella Adler Theatre on Saturday 24th Sept at 2:00 p.m. and Sunday 25th Sept at 1:00 p.m.
Third Half Theatre is off to Los Angeles! Our wonderful
little Tréteau has been invited to
perform at the inaugural Short+Sweet Hollywood to be held at the prestigious
Stella Adler Academy of Acting and Theatre. Tréteau
continues to be one of our most successful plays and this time it’s off to rub
shoulders with some of the best international and American plays.
The journey has been quite intense, but here we are: Bags
packed, and ready to go. If you are in and around the area, do drop in to catch
us at the Stella Adler Theatre, Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90028.
Needless to say none of this would have been possible
without the great folk at Short+Sweet Dubai which has been instrumental in
fomenting the community theatre scene in the city, and where Tréteau's journey truly began.
Tréteau Writen & Directed by Sanjeev Dixit Cast: Jessica Avedikian, Akanksha Baswant, Minali Patel, Ryden Aranjo, Abdullah Al Qassab, Siddarth Sivaprakash, Dharam Veer Sood
Tréteau is a distillation of the love for the theatre that each performer shares with the audience. An amalgamation of various styles, themes, and genres, it is an attempt to condense the magic of the theatre into ten minutes.
All of us at Third Half Theatre are doubly proud and frankly ecstatic at having won the Dubai edition of the biggest little play festival in the world, and arguably one of the biggest events of the Dubai Theatre Calendar, for the second year in a row.
The Tragic Queen won Best Overall Production and Best Director, while New Year's Eve bagged Best Actor (Eric Dury) and was the runner up in the People's Choice. Both plays, along with the rest of our work during the festival, contributed to Third Half Theatre winning the Best Independent Theatre Company award as well.
We were nominated for almost all the awards of the night, highlights among which were for Best Script (The Tragic Queen), Best Actress (Disha Joseph & Meghana Fareed) and Best Director for Dharam Veer Sood's directorial debut. A round-up of the night and all winners can be found here.
What is both humbling and encouraging is that this year too Short+Sweet was won by an original play, written for and premiered at the festival. Tréteau was the first original Dubai play to win the festival last year, and we are extremely proud to have followed it up with The Tragic Queen—the first musical to have been attempted at Short+Sweet Dubai.
As a group, this year marked another milestone for us: Since the festival's inception, we have always had one of our plays in the Gala Final but this year marked the first time that Third Half Theatre had two, and both did exceptionally well; in fact finishing first and second in the Judges' vote.
All in all it has been an incredible year, topping off a fabulous two year run at Short+Sweet for us. We must thank all the organizers, sponsors, audiences, cast and crew and of course their families, who have all supported us in more ways than can be expressed.
Most of all though, we've had an absolute blast putting up our plays and during rehearsals. You can see how much in a behind the scenes video put together by one of the cast members:
It has been a privilege to perform with some of the best in the vibrant Dubai theatre community which continues to grow at a remarkable pace. To spend time in the green room and share war stories with the best in the community continues to be the highlight of the festival. Here's to the celebration of our particular vice, the theatre.
It's been quite a festival for us: Three out of the four plays we presented this year were original, locally written productions. One of those, The Tragic Queen, joins New Year's Eve in the gala final as the top judges pick of its week, while Janus missed out on being in contention for the Gala by just one point in what was called the "closest vote in Short+Sweet Dubai history".
In a welcome break from tradition, the gala final will this year be held at one of Dubai's most prestigious proscenium venues, The Madinat Theatre. Each of us eleven finalists have been through a month long festival of trials, tribulations (not to mention eliminations) and can't wait to put our best foot forward on the 11th of March. A full list and a write-up on the plays featured in the final can be found here.
Tickets are available at the Madinat Box Office, as well as online for the show starting at 7:00 p.m. on the 11th of March, 2016. Do drop in earlier as well if possible to walk the Red Carpet along with the star-cast from all the plays.
See you there!
Third Half Theatre presents… New Year’s Eve Writer: David MacGregor Director: Dharam Veer Sood Cast: Disha Joseph, Eric Dury
We begin aging and moving towards death from the moment we are born. What then, is the point of it all?
Third Half Theatre presents… The Tragic Queen Written & Directed by Sanjeev Dixit Cast: Shereen Saif, Meghana Fareed, Ryden Aranjo, Assyl Yacine, Kuv Sharma, Sumedh Kulkarni Music composition: Shashwath Sunil Kumar, Cmith Kumar Sarkar, Ryden Aranjo, Meenu Muralee John, Sanjeev Dixit Musicians: Shashwath Sunil Kumar (keyboards), Cmith Kumar Sarkar (bass guitar), Dillon Pink (acoustic guitar) Choir:
Caroline Suvares, Kimberly Aranjo, Meenu Muralee John, Stavros Antypas,
Lovetto Nazareth, all musicians, and cast members as available. Dance Choreography: The Ripple Effect Dancers: Aishwarya Shivkumar, Joshua Johnson, Namratha Sankar, Vivin Oommen Production: Meenu Muralee John, Rhea Dixit, Disha Joseph, Jogiraj Sikidar
For what shall it profit a woman if she shall gain the whole world, and lose her own soul?
And here we are, our final play for this year’s Short+SweetDubai theatre festival.
It’s been perhaps the most fun (and stress) we’ve ever had
at rehearsals. Needless to say, given the size of the team, each rehearsal was
a mini carnival. We’ve had an absolute blast putting this together and can’t
wait to see how it comes across on stage.
When the thought of putting up an original musical, that too
in ten minutes, crossed my mind, I initially dismissed it outright. But the
thought wouldn’t go away. And after a month of some serious scrambling to get this on the road, the result awaits you at The Junction this weekend.
A big thanks to the team whose commitment and belief has
kept the play alive through the nail biting last weeks leading up to the
premiere. Cast changes, cast backing out due to sickness, fervent script
edits to keep it in the time limit, and a million other hurdles were
surmounted by a room full of people with simply amazing creative energy.
Part of Top 40 Week 4, it's on at the The Junction, Al
Serkal Avenue on Friday the 19th and Saturday the 20th of
February, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are available on The Junction website and at the
venue. See ya!
Our third play for Dubai’s Short+Sweet festival 2016 is
again a two-hander called ‘Flare up at 311’.
Based on a short film script written ages (possibly a decade)
ago, we filmed it last year in Dubai as an Absolutelynoscope production. As of
now it’s kind of wallowing in the abyss that is the editing cycle though. We
managed to shoot it over a crazy weekend, but editing the footage is proving a truly
daunting task.
Part of Wildcards 4, it's on at the The Junction, Al Serkal
Avenue on Saturday the 20th of February, 2016 at 3:00 p.m.
Tickets are available on The Junction website and at the
venue.
Third Half Theatre presents… Flare up at 311 Adapted for the stage and Directed by: Rhea Dixit & Disha Joseph Cast: Disha Joseph, Sanjeev Dixit
A typical residential building in a quiet, suburban neighborhood of Mumbai has its stillness shattered by a bit of a flare up at apartment 311.
