Adapted from Jorge Luis Borges’ The Book of Imaginary Beings
Artists:
Tanmay Dhanania
Bornila Chatterjee
Tanaji Dasgupta
Sumeet Thakur (Live Score)
Risha Shetty (Technology and Graphics)
Directed by Soumyak Kanti DeBiswas
Produced by Tanmay Dhanania & Soumyak Kanti DeBiswas
In isolation the mind plays tricks on us.
Our fragile connection to reality is further strained and unfettered, our fancies run amok.
What imaginary beings do we then start inhabiting?
What combination of magic, loneliness, madness or intimacy do we experience?
Come find out in A Manual of Fantastical Zoology – a live exploration into the psychology of isolation devised by the company.
Please note this production will contain nudity and themes of a sexual nature
Pricing
Tickets are available as ‘Pay What You Can’ – the suggested price for this event is £5 – but there are a range of ticket prices so you can choose what you can afford from the options, including £0 as we want as many people as possible to access our Homemakers commissions.
We’ve also included a higher option for anyone who wants to take the opportunity to make a larger donation to our artists and organisations. How much you choose to pay is completely up to you, and every audience member will receive exactly the same content and experience.
All the money raised from ticket sales for this event will be split evenly with 50% going directly to the artist and 50% to RADA Festival’s response fund to allow them to continue to support future artists and commissions.
Homemakers Project Overview
Homemakers is a series of new commissions, where we invite our favourite artists and artistic partners to combine to create work at home, for an audience who are also at home.
We’re not pretending that all art can be experienced online just as satisfactorily as in person; but we want to demonstrate the innovation of artists who work all kinds of forms, by inviting them to respond to this very specific context. We want to bring contemporary new performance to audiences all over the world, in all its form-flexing, mind-expanding, surprising subversive brilliance.
About Soumyak Kanti DeBiswas
Kanti co-founded Tin Can – a theatre company based in Calcutta. His work as playwright and director has been supported by British Council, National Theatre Studio, Seagull Foundation for the Arts, National Theatre Scotland, The Yard Theatre, The Courtyard Theatre and Theatre Royal Plymouth. Awarded Best Director at Thespo X Mumbai in 2008, he acted in two feature films in India: Tasher Desh (dir: Q/2012) and Madly Bangali (dir: Anjan Dutt/2010). In 2012 Kanti graduated from the Royal College of Art London as Inlaks scholar and subsequently founded a nightclub at The Yard Theatre in Hackney Wick. The theatre was awarded the 2013 Empty Space Peter Brook/Mobius Award and the 2014 Off West End Awards. In 2016 Kanti returned to India to write and produce a first feature – Cat Sticks (MUBI), awarded Jury Honourable Mention at Slamdance Festival 2019.
About Tanmay Dhanania
Tanmay Dhanania trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He went on to appear in UK television shows such as New Tricks (BBC), Indian Summers (Channel 4) and The Durrells (ITV). He has acted in and helped produce Indian feature films such as Brahman Naman (Netflix), Garbage (Netflix) and Cat Sticks (MUBI). He has performed and taught theatre in the UK, US, Ireland, Sri Lanka and India. Tanmay was awarded the Mask and Dagger Award for Extraordinary Contributions to Theatre from University of California, Berkeley. He has been associated with Tin Can since 2008. Tanmay is from Calcutta and currently lives in Bombay, by the sea.
About RADA Festival
The RADA Festival is a vibrant annual event that nurtures artists’ development and provides a platform for emerging and established work. Usually hosted at RADA over 10 days in June and July, the Festival supports and celebrates the variety of work RADA’s graduates create as they form new collaborations, explore different creative practices and develop innovative ideas in theatre-making. We present work at the Festival that embraces multiple perspectives, encourages creative risk, is current, engaging and thoughtful.
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“Now more than ever, is the time to come together and recognise each other’s strengths by exploring creative opportunities. In the absence of a full RADA Festival this year, we are absolutely thrilled to be collaborating as a partner for the Homemakers programme. It’s been really inspiring to watch these lockdown projects develop and be able to continue to support emerging work from across the globe.” Jo Wiltshire, RADA Festival Producer.
