Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell

Our first full length play in a long, long while traces the life and times of one of the most interesting personalities from 60s and 70s' London.

Jeffrey Bernard wrote the column 'Low Life' for The Spectator magazine, before he was fired that is. He was once approached to write his autobiography, and true to form, he put out an ad asking if anyone could remember what he was doing between 1960 and 1974. Fortunately for him, his friend and cohort Keith Waterhouse remembered enough to pen this play on the great Bohemian who frequented Soho back in the day.

Peppered with anecdotes and characters from his life, the play is at once hilarious and poignant, harking back to a time that was stubbornly not-PC. Often when he couldn’t submit his article before the deadline and no substitute was readily available, his long-suffering magazine would print the one-line apology, ‘Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell’.

 As the poet Elizabeth Smart put it:

"Wilde would have smiled
and been beguiled
and bright enough to know
that you had a better
Muse in tow
than he."

Do join us for this hilarious and heady Journey with JB on 9, 10, 11 August 7:30 p.m. at The Junction, Al Serkal Avenue. Tickets available on Platinumlist and at the venue.

 

Third Half Theatre presents…  

Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell
Writer: Keith Waterhouse
Director: Sanjeev Dixit
Cast:Toby Masson, Sarah Potter, Ramya Bala, Greg Lunn, Assyl Yacine

"From that point on, I was never to look... forward."

Going Viral

Well, it's that time of the year again. Now in its sixth year in Dubai, the Short+Sweet Theatre festival is the largest showcase of ten minute plays in the world.

Director Minali Patel has picked a play that questions our digital footprint today and also what it may be like in the future. "By basing it in 2040, I wanted to explore the above as well as how relevant social media would be in the coming years. Would social media fade off, stay with people who are currently using it, or transcend to something else?", says Minali.

Part of Top 40 week 4, it's on at the The Junction, Al Serkal Avenue on Friday the 16th and Saturday the 17th of February, 2018 at 7:30 p.m.

The festival runs from the 26th of January to the 3rd of March and will feature over 80 plays. Tickets are available on Platinumlist and at the venue.

See you there!

 

Third Half Theatre presents…  

Going Viral
Writer: Brandon Crose
Director: Minali Patel
Cast: Arvana Chana, Kailash Nair, Sabiha Majgaonkar

When a couple in a hyper-socialized 2040 sits down with their teenage daughter, things start to get interesting in what turns out to be an awkward, new age, 'parental intervention'.

War/Kiss

Third Half Theatre will be performing at the Alex Broun Play Festival happening this weekend at The Junction, Al Serkal Avenue.

One of Alex's newer plays, War/Kiss is a sensitive deliberation on the vagaries of love in times of war. Ably enacted by a young cast, the play has been put together in record time, even by our highly time-strapped standards.

November was to be the beginning of a long break after an extremely hectic season. However, we are happy to be back in it to support Alex with his first ever festival. Here's wishing him the very best!

Tickets are available online at TixBox. Alternately you can call 04-3388525 to reserve a ticket or get it at the door on the night. Tickets are Aed 80/- per session and Aed 200/- for a Season Pass to the whole Festival which features over 40 short plays.

Our play stages on Fri 18th and Sat 19th November, 2016 at 9:00 p.m. See ya!

Third Half Theatre presents…
War/Kiss
Writer: Alex Broun
Director: Sanjeev Dixit
Cast: Lynn Roger Kakhia, Omar Mohamed Fayek

"But kisses do that. Make you dumb. Make you forget everything."

Malhaar’s Jashn-e-Awadh

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.

See you there!

 

 

Janus at the Adler

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.

Janus is 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.

Tickets are available at the venue and on brownpapertickets.com.

Third Half Theatre presents…

Janus

Writer: Rhea Dixit & Sanjeev Dixit

Director:  Rhea Dixit

Cast: Sanjeev Dixit

A man walks into a grocery store, and it changes his life.

Tréteau in Hollywood

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.

Tickets are available at the venue and at brownpapertickets. Do also read coverage on our trip in the Khaleej Times

 

Third Half Theatre presents

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.

The Tragic Queen wins Short+Sweet Dubai 2016

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.