Of absurdity and life

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Nice performance Actors did a good job

The play Woody Allen's God by Samhaara at Nift, Madhapur was enacted by the group and shown as absurd by the characters of the play.

Woody Allen draws heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity and the history of cinema, among a wealth of other fields of interest.

His play God showcases this precisely as the story line which takes twists and turns.

With a nearly perfect grip, the places and people in Allen's God, each acquire an inner meaning to which the audience can relate. Whether it is the absurdity of the God-machine or Zeus, whether it is the boredom or sex deprivation among the actors sitting in the hall or whether it is the final desperate cries from the protagonist as he realises he cannot control his fate, they all present the audience with a concept that deals with itself. This shock of reality is polished and profound.

The play began with two characters Hepatitis and Diabetes in 500 BC at Athens to find an end to the play for an ensuing drama festival.

The characters do manage a finale to the play however, losing out the beginning of the play. Azadeh Mirzaei , the director of the play did a good job of keeping good tempo and ably conceptualized the story, keeping in view the young crowd in mind and involving the audience at the beginning of the play. However, she seemed to have forgotten that in a play there will be mixed age group of audience and one need to take care of this aspect. She brought in local Hyderabad elements into the play and the usage of slang words repeatedly was irritating which robbed the mood of the play in many parts. Her co-director was Maryam R.Q. and assisted by Suzanne Patel.

Special mention

A special mention need to be made of the costumes which was done aesthetically to suit the period of the play.

The actors played their roles to the best of their ability; with Krishna playing numerous roles was outstanding. The ease with which he changed his attire and came back on stage to perform different characters and his sense of timing, needed to be appreciated. Naren Yadav as the king did good justice to the humorous role and the rest of the team complimented each other very well. The chorus girls Supriya, Shalini and Suzanne were bubbly and added the required humour to the play. Rahul as Diabetes was composed and did justice to his role. The cast and crew were as follows - Kanchan, Arjun and Preetam as actors from the audience, Srikanth as God, Vikas as Lorenzo Miller, Zaid asTrichinosis, NarenYadav as the King,Supriya, Shalini and Suzanne as chorus girls, Vanita as Wendy, Krishna as Bob, Messenger, Guard, Keerti as Doris,Abhinav as Hepititis and Rahul as Diabetes. Properties- Nikita and Krishna, Costumes- Nikita, Suzanne Azadhe, Lights - Devendranath. Produced by Rathna Shekar Reddy of Samhaara.

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