META award-winning play 'Nona' to be staged in Mumbai

"Nona", a socio-political satirical play, which is essentially a collective project with non-professional actors set against the backdrop of social stratification and pseudo-nationalism impacting Indian society today , will be staged at Tata Theatre here as an National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) Presentation.

The presentation is part of an NCPA initiative, aimed at presenting theatre of the highest international artistic and technical quality in English and other languages of India.

"Nona" is Malayalam theatre director Jino Joseph's latest play to sweep the 13th Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META 2018) for the Best Play, Best Director, Best Stage Design, and Best Light Design.

The play is scripted, designed, and directed by Jino Joseph who had also scripted, designed and directed the Malayalam play "Matthi", which won most of the awards at META 2015 along with The Kerala Sahitya Akademi award for best drama in 2015.

"My production process is often improvisational. It may take two months or more. Pseudo nationalism and fascism are prominent issues that contemporary India faces. The contemporary relevance of this predicament deserves a much reachable and reliable setting so as to have long-lasting impact on spectators. An issue of contemporary relevance was selected and then (we) decided to set it against the backdrop of a village," Joseph had earlier told IANS in an interview.

The play will be staged on July 28 at 7 p.m.

--IANS

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