In 1991, a group of students from Manipal University met and conceptualised a theatre group called Dramanon. It was much later, in 2007, that the alumni of Manipal helped this theatre group spread its wings in Bangalore and Hyderabad. Today, the group is also recognised as one of the emerging young English theatre troupes in India. “We want to change the image of it being an ‘emerging’ English theatre group to one that has arrived. And, I think we are moving in the right direction,” says Sharanya Ramprakash, director of the group’s latest play Elling.
Elling is based on a cult Norwegian novel by Ingvar Ambjornsen and the Oscar-nominated film Elling adapted from this novel, an endearing and sensitive movie about a pair of odd-couple bachelors with difficult backgrounds and strange characters living on the fringe in Norway. Elling and his best friend, Kjell Barnes have just been discharged from a mental asylum and set up an unusual household and experience everyday life.
“We had access to the book, but we didn’t get the translated version. There was no luck even after spending hours on the Internet,” says Ramprakash. “So, we posted a request on Axel Hellstenius’s (the writer of the film) Facebook wall. We were sure that he won’t reply. Luckily, we were wrong.”
Hellstenius, who was also nominated for an Oscar for the movie, replied. “He sent us a comprehensive stage adaptation of the movie,” says an excited Ramprakash
Ask her why Elling, and she says: “Everybody wants to watch their own story in a play. Elling has immense universal appeal, and I’m sure the Bangalore audience will relate to it.”
Elling, a mommy’s boy afraid of the outside world, is played by 26-year-old Deepanjan Dey. A part of Dramanon since 2001, Dey is an engineering graduate from Manipal who now works for a software company in the city apart from doing theatre. When asked whether he can relate to the character he plays in the play, he says: “Not at all. I’m an extrovert whereas the character I play has been brought up in a closed environment by his mother. So, I had to read up quite a lot on people like him to be able to relate to it. However, the difficulty in playing him made the play that much more interesting for me.”
The play will be staged at Ranga Shankara on June 20 at 3.30pm.
