The Death of Galileo

The Death of GalileoWednesday, 25th November, 7.30 p.m. - 8.50 p.m.Language: HindiAbout the PerformanceThis play is an adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s Life of Galileo. Using a non-linear theatrical structure, it connects Galileo’s struggle to contemporary realities.The play unfolds at night inside a museum, where a group arrives to demolish its collection of cultural and collective living memories and objects. Among the artefacts, they discover a telescope, which becomes the point of departure for the story of Galileo — his discoveries, struggles, confinement and unceasing search for truth. As the night progresses, Galileo’s time and the present time begin to unfold simultaneously, revealing parallels between social realities in two different historical moments.The members of the demolition group are themselves caught between disillusionment, violence and self-deception. Their encounter with the museum and with Galileo stirs their conscience, and while one group remains adamant, the other begins to question its reasons for wanting to destroy the museum. An internal conflict begins, between the path they’ve chosen, to raze the museum for their pride, and the path their conscience wants to guide them towards. Experimental music anchors the play in the present moment, voicing the characters' contradictions and a call to act for co-existence.The performance draws on Brecht’s distancing effect alongside character expression, an actor-development process emerging from Rajkumar Rajak’s research.CastGalileo Galilei: Ramratan GugaliaAndrea and Roman Pope: Mohit VaishnavVihan and Barberini (Narrator): Adnan KhanYoginder and Hitler: Aftab NoorVijay and Sipahi: Ashish DhapBalveer and Roman Sanyasi: Chitaranjan NamaDhyan and Astronomer: Karan Kumar and Shubham MeghwanshiBruno and Ludovico: Aman TaseraBruno’s Mother and Hamid’s Mother: Raina Raha RajakPeople of Rome and Chorus: Rajwanti Tamoli, Vijaylaxmi Tasera, Niana Raha, Ayush KesarwaniCrewDirector: Rajkumar RajakMusic Design and Composition: Garvit GidwaniMusic Assistants: Aman Tasera, Chitaranjan Nama and Harmendra SartaajLighting Design and Operation: Ravi Kumar Pathak and Harmendra SartaajCostume Design: Shubham Meghwanshi, Raina Raha Rajak and Aftab NoorProps Design: Firoz AlamProduction Managers: Raina Raha and MohitProduction Supervision: Ajeet BahadurProduced by: Ex-tra An Organisation and Community Theatre TonkAbout the ArtistsRajkumar RajakRajkumar Rajak is a theatre artist whose practice connects theatre with education and with communities. His artistic journey has been shaped by a persistent curiosity about the relationship between the actor’s body, mind and emotions, their socialisation, and how these shape their character and performance. Much of his theatre practice has grown through working with non-actors from rural and small-town communities who, through sustained engagement in his productions, have evolved as actors and, in some cases, developed their own content and language of theatre.Rajkumar has been finding his own pathways for actor development through experimental rehearsal processes. His practice-based research, Actorgy, explores the actor as a social-historical body and the development of character through relationships, interaction and performance. His directorial work includes Suraj Ka Satwaan Ghoda, Hawalaat, Bhukhwasi Bhand and The Death of Galileo.He worked with the Azim Premji Foundation as a teacher educator for twelve years, and designed its Arts Education Internship. He has also received a new performance grant from the India Foundation for the Arts (2009-10), and the Ministry of Culture’s Junior Research Fellowship 2014.Ramratan GugaliaRamratan Gugulia has been engaged in theatre for the past 10 years as an actor, lyricist and director. He began his journey with Eklavya, directed by Rajkumar Rajak, where he played Dronacharya and also wrote the lyrics. He has since performed a range of roles in Bade Bhai Sahab, Jyoti, Nirantar Eklavya, Tonk Junction, Visarjan and Dakghar, and he has taken part in leading theatre festivals such as Jairangam and Bharat Rang Mahotsav. As a director, he has adapted and staged Rabindranath Tagore’s story Tota. Every summer vacation, he volunteers as a facilitator in children’s theatre workshops run by Community Theatre Tonk. He believes that theatre is a space where ideas can be reflected on and practised until they become part of everyday life, rather than remaining as talk of what “should be done”. A government school teacher by profession, he teaches language to children. In The Death of Galileo, he plays the central role of Galileo Galilei.Karan KumarKaran Kumar, from Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, is an art teacher, trainer and theatre artist who has been learning and growing as an actor for five years. In The Death of Galileo, he plays Dhyan, a 22-year-old youth. The play has given him a sharper historical lens. It shows how human society has repeatedly silenced truth and how religious authority has always placed itself above everything else.Chitranjan NamaChitranjan Nama trained in painting and has worked actively in theatre for ten years. He has been a founding member, actor and director of Community Theatre Tonk since it began in 2016, and he now serves as its President. Throughout this journey, his experiments with live music in theatre have helped give the art form a living presence in Tonk. In The Death of Galileo, he plays Balbir, a young man who dreams of destroying a museum and, with it, the memory of human civilisation. He also plays a Roman Monk who challenges Galileo’s discoveries to protect the religious order and its boundaries. For him, the play raises a key question. When power or ideology stands against knowledge, science and the freedom to question, what should an artist and a human being do?Photo Credits: Arvind JodhaAbout the FestivalPLAYINTERPLAY is a theatre festival with a difference. It celebrates 50 years of the Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation, bringing together its theatre awardees and scholars to show their work, share their experiences, skills and learnings, and converse on matters of common interest.PLAYINTERPLAY presents plays that are new to Bengaluru. What is different, however, is that it looks back as well as forward, featuring a work of theatre that has been specially revived for the festival and readings of plays that are still to become the finished article.PLAYINTERPLAY does more: it forges connections between its constituent parts — performances, workshops, conversations and experience sharing — emphasising the interplay between thought, learning and practice.See the plays! Apply for the workshops! Join the conversations! Soak in the magic of theatre.About the Artistic DirectorAnmol Vellani is the founder and former executive director of India Foundation for the Arts, the first independent philanthropic organisation in India devoted exclusively to supporting the arts. He is also the co-founder of Toto Funds the Arts, which nurtures, encourages and rewards new voices and emerging talent in the arts.Anmol did not, however, aspire to become a professional in the field of philanthropy. His early fascination was with the arts, especially theatre and music, and also philosophy, which he studied at the Universities of Poona, Oxford and Cambridge. He taught ethics, logic and the history of philosophy at Elphinstone College, Mumbai, in the 1970s.His writing and talks — on arts entrepreneurship, the creative economy, cultural policy, the role of grant-making foundations, culture and development, arts collaboration and the performing arts, for example — have reflected on the insights he has gleaned from his long engagement with the arts and philanthropy.Anmol has been associated with nearly 50 plays as a director, designer or actor. He has directed theatre productions in different languages and cities. His last two plays — Innocence (2024) and Apne Ghar Jaisa (2022) — have been lauded for their sharp and critical look at contemporary social and political realities in India.