ISSUE
Friday, August 22, 2025
Volume 16 . Issue 73
An innovative Auckland Indian theatre group is next week staging its latest play – an usual mix of street theatre, children’s story telling, politics and live music.
“Its a simple play but with many elements,” Rahul Gandhi, director of Beyond the land of Hattamala: A tale of two thieves, says.
The play comes from the growing repertoire from Prayas, a theatre group made up of mainly Indian migrants to New Zealand offering this country an insight into the culture of their homeland.
Dr Gandhi, who otherwise is a house surgeon at Auckland Hospital, acted in Prayas’ big success last year, Khoj: The Search, which won good reviews and big audiences.
Hattamala tells the story of two thieves, Kena and his bumbling apprentice, Becha. They see robbery as their road to riches and happiness, but as Dr Gandhi says, they end up after one bungled heist finding themselves on a different kind of road.
By chance they are taken to a land where money and possessions are not so widely sought after or guarded. While the story is told in a simple fashion, it offers the actors a chance to explore economics and politics.
Anybody will enjoy it, the story does not preach, it is fun and it has laughs, lots of laughs.
For Dr Gandhi, who is also a musician, the play has also the change to expose Auckland audiences to Sufi music. An ancient form of Islamic devotional music, its distinctive sounds are now heard across Asia and occasionally even make it into Bollywood films.
Hattamala was written by influential dramatist and theatre director Badal Sarkar, now 85. He has written around 50 plays, many of them in a pioneering street theatre style. Sircar is also one of India’s most translated playwrights.
He describes himself as “just a theatre person who began with acting, then directing and because I wanted plays to my liking, I started writing.”
Hattamala is being preformed on TAPAC in Western Springs Road on May 28, 29 and 30. More details can be found at http://www.prayas.co.nz
An innovative Auckland Indian theatre group is next week staging its latest play – an usual mix of street theatre, children’s story telling, politics and live music.
“Its a simple play but with many elements,” Rahul Gandhi, director of Beyond the land of Hattamala: A tale of two thieves, says.
...
An innovative Auckland Indian theatre group is next week staging its latest play – an usual mix of street theatre, children’s story telling, politics and live music.
“Its a simple play but with many elements,” Rahul Gandhi, director of Beyond the land of Hattamala: A tale of two thieves, says.
The play comes from the growing repertoire from Prayas, a theatre group made up of mainly Indian migrants to New Zealand offering this country an insight into the culture of their homeland.
Dr Gandhi, who otherwise is a house surgeon at Auckland Hospital, acted in Prayas’ big success last year, Khoj: The Search, which won good reviews and big audiences.
Hattamala tells the story of two thieves, Kena and his bumbling apprentice, Becha. They see robbery as their road to riches and happiness, but as Dr Gandhi says, they end up after one bungled heist finding themselves on a different kind of road.
By chance they are taken to a land where money and possessions are not so widely sought after or guarded. While the story is told in a simple fashion, it offers the actors a chance to explore economics and politics.
Anybody will enjoy it, the story does not preach, it is fun and it has laughs, lots of laughs.
For Dr Gandhi, who is also a musician, the play has also the change to expose Auckland audiences to Sufi music. An ancient form of Islamic devotional music, its distinctive sounds are now heard across Asia and occasionally even make it into Bollywood films.
Hattamala was written by influential dramatist and theatre director Badal Sarkar, now 85. He has written around 50 plays, many of them in a pioneering street theatre style. Sircar is also one of India’s most translated playwrights.
He describes himself as “just a theatre person who began with acting, then directing and because I wanted plays to my liking, I started writing.”
Hattamala is being preformed on TAPAC in Western Springs Road on May 28, 29 and 30. More details can be found at http://www.prayas.co.nz
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