This year, the Kannada theatre circuit witnessed Vedike 40, C R Simha 80, a year-long theatre festival to commemorate the 80th birth anniversary of the late stalwart of Kannada theatre Channapatna Ramaswami Simha (C.R. Simha) and the 40th year of his troupe, Vedike Foundation.
Vedike Foundation’s core team of more than 50 actors and several technicians staged around 10 different productions, and about 40 shows throughout the year at two venues in Bengaluru. Every second Saturday there was a show at K.H Kala Soudha in Hanumanthanagar and every fourth Saturday and Sunday, the troupe performed at Vyoma Art Space, J.P Nagar, along with more performances across the city.
“We performed 10 plays throughout the year written by some of the greatest Kannada playwrights like Masti Venkatesha Iyengar, T.P Kailasam, Girish Karnad, P Lankesh, Parvathavani and Chandrashekhara Kambar. Out of the 10 plays, three were new plays, and seven were revived. We performed Tughlaq, Kakanakote, Bhairavi, Haavu Eni, all directed by my father C.R Simha, and Bahaddur Ganda, Policer Iddare Echarikke, Aasphota, directed by myself and my wife Jasleen Simha. We also performed 12 one-act plays directed by a variety of theatre makers,“ said Ritwik Simha, a theatreperson, creative director of Vedike Foundation, and the son of C.R Simha.
