Play Productions ►

Swarnamadhya Presents,

Aas Paas

A Play based on the  literature of Anton Chekhov.

Cast

• Cyrus / Vagabond : Nikhil Hazare
• Narrator/Father : Chinmay Mandlekar
• Nanda /Bank  Manager : Sanjeev Tiwari
• Nandini / Girl : Atteet Bhandari
• Woman : Manjushree Kulkarni
• Compounder / Tunnu : Krishna Chaudhary / Ishtiyaque Khan
• Pandit : Rajiv Giri
• Hawaldar / Pagare : Harish Yadav

Crew

• Theatrical Adaptation : Niel Simon
• Hindi Translation : Yogesh Thakur
• Light Design : Sheetal Talpade
• Choreography : Hetal Shah
• Backstage : Abhay, Bisharad, Harish
• Directed by : Sanjeev Tiwari

Synopsis:

Anton Checkov is one of the most prominent literary figures, whose excellence and ethos has transcended the bounds of time and space. Therefore even after two centuries his short stories are fresh, fragrant and fullfillingly contemporary.

Aas- Paas is a dramatic compilation of five short stories by Chekhov. And though they are just a pint from a huge ocean, they represent a world in themselves. The brief introduction of these stories is as follows:

Seduction:
It is story of a man who boasts of an almost god like gift in seducing beautiful married woman. He has his own methods, his own technique, of reaching out to women, not directly, but through their husbands. And on one such seductive mission he is for first time confronted with something called “love”.

The Surgery:
Here, an unfortunate rural pundit comes to a dentist to eradicate his throbbing painful tooth only find the dentist out, and a more than willing Compounder, doing all sorts of experiment on him, as he claims to be the “Doctor of the future”.

Defenseless Creature:
It is the story of a diligent bank manager who comes to the office one day in spite of his painful leg, and is confronted with a monster of a woman who has come to demand some petty amount as a compensation for her husband. The story is a classic example of how a woman can exploit, as the manager finally becomes mad.

The Birthday Gift:
A modern and progressive father wants his son to turn into a ‘real man’ at the age of nineteen. He brings him to a brothel to personally supervise his son’s “training”, and sees the innocence of his son fading into premature manhood.

The Drowned Man:
Hailed as one of the Checkhov’s best this story is about a vagabond who performs “shows” on the dock. Shows of getting drowned in the sea only to be rescued at the last moment by his partner. The show holds special excitement for the viewer, as the drowning man does not know how to swim.