G5A Hosts Rehaan Engineer's SOUNDING VANYA This December

G5A began programming Performance Long Runs this Season, to allow not just audiences the chance to experience and engage with interesting work more deeply, but also for artists to engage with and adapt to the space, allowing the piece to breathe differently with each show. With this aim we are having a five-show run of Sounding Vanya, premiering in Mumbai at the G5A Black Box on the 20th of December, with more shows on the 21st & 22nd of December.

Rehaan Engineer's Sounding Vanya is an experimental piece that reinterprets the 120 year old classic - Uncle Vanya - by Anton Chekhov. In his Director's Note, Rehaan quotes Chekhov himself, "The drama must either degenerate completely or take a completely new form. We cannot even imagine what the theatre will be like in a hundred years." Rehaan's contemporary take on the piece is further "dismantling and rebuilding it to allow it to sound differently". Keeping true to his style of performing the plays not more than once, this will be the only run for Sounding Vanya in Mumbai.

Associate Artistic Director of G5A, Ishan Benegal shares insight into their curatorial process, adding, "Our focus is to create a space for our city to engage with the contemporary arts by showcasing work and supporting artists who are not only pushing the boundaries within their own discipline but also of the form itself. We're excited to have Rehaan present his work at G5A again."

Kalki Koechlin who will be performing in this play adds, "This is an interpretation of Chekhov's 120-year-old play 'Uncle Vanya' told through the actors' various modern mechanisms and a live music performance. The audience can expect an experiential evening rather than a traditional play setting."

Sounding Vanya will open at the Serendipity Festival in Goa this month followed by shows at G5A in Mumbai from December 20-22, 2019.

Sounding Vanya - After 'Uncle Vanya' by Anton Chekhov
Presented by Little Productions
Commissioned by Serendipity Arts Foundation
Supported by G5A

Show Dates:
December 20, 2019 | 9 PM
December 21 & 22, 2019 | 5 PM & 9 PM

Venue: G5A Foundation for contemporary culture, Mahalaxmi

Duration: 2 hours 30 minutes (3 intervals)

Language: English

Age Limit: 12 years and above. Parental Guidance advised

Description: In 'Sounding Vanya', a pianist and a group of actors will interrogate Chekhov's 120-year old text, dismantling it and rebuilding it to allow it to sound.

Directed by Rehaan Engineer

Performed by: Abir Abrar, Anna Ador, Aarti Aney, Guy Hershberg, Ira Dubey, Kalki Koechlin, Meher Mistry and Puja Sarup.

Director's Assistant - Vrinda Kacker

Original Music - Guy Hershberg

Original Light Design - Arghya Lahiri

Assistant Light Design - Gurleen Judge

Costume Design - Nakul Sen

Executive Producer - Sachin Kamani

Production - Hussain Zaidi

Publicity Designer - Suhani