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Forbes
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Anoushka Shankar Curates Brighton Festival 2025: A Celebration Of Indian Art And Performance With Highlights Including Aakash Odedra Songs Of The Bulbul.
BF25 Guest Director Anoushka Shankar. Photo Credit Laura Lewis. BF25 Guest Director Anoushka Shankar. Photo Credit Laura Lewis. Anoushka Shankar, the Grammy-nominated renowned sitar virtuoso and composer, has taken the helm as Guest Director for the Brighton Festival 2025, bringing a rich tapestry of Indian art and performance to the forefront of this year's program. Her curation is themed around New Dawn and the program of diverse performances and artistic collaborations illuminates notions of transformation, renewal, and the interconnectedness of cultures. Brighton Festival is England's largest annual curated multi-arts festival and the 2025 edition features an eclectic multi-arts line-up curated by Shankar as a rallying cry for a more hopeful future. We are living through an era defined by conflict and unrest around the world, yet Shankar's theme of New Dawn invites performers at the festival to send a message of hope for our collective ability to heal and recover. Shankar's New Dawn festival program features seven world premieres including Wembley, written by Nikesh Shukla (The Good Immigrant) Nikesh Patel (Starstruck) and Himesh Patel (Yesterday) in the aftermath of the 2024 riots and a riveting programme of South Asian music, dance and performance including Meera Syal, Aakash Odedra, Aditya Prakash, Aruna Sairam and Arooj Aftab. Other highlights of the festival include evim [my home]. Ceyda Tanc is a Turkish-British choreographer who has presented two world premieres at Brighton Festival this year. Starring an all-female cast, Tanc's work explores the interplay between Turkish folk dance and contemporary UK culture. Tanc collaborated with childhood friend Natasha Granger to create evim as a magical interactive dance theatre piece for 0-5 year olds and their families. EVIM Ceyda Tanc Dance & Theatre Fideri Fidera, Brighton Festival 2025. EVIM Ceyda Tanc Dance & Theatre Fideri Fidera, Brighton Festival 2025. I was fortunate enough to witness Aakash Odedra's unforgettable dance performance Songs of the Bulbul at the Festival, which completely blew me away with his phenomenal energy and spirit. Songs of the Bulbul is a perfect fit for Shankar's theme of New Dawn and at its centre is a passionate dance performance that unfolds like poetry in motion. A moving meditation on life, death, and rebirth, it is at once deeply personal and universally resonant—an ode to Odedra's late mother, tenderly expressed through the character of a Bulbul (Persian for Songbird). Nightingales, or Bulbuls, are revered in Persian culture where their song represents a spiritual seeker looking for union with the divine. Aakash Odedra collaborated with choreographer Rani Khanam and musician Rushil Ranjan on Songs of the Bulbul, which is inspired by the ancient Sufi myth of a bulbul captured and held in captivity. The performance follows the experience of a Songbird–played by Odedra–who was bound ever closer and slowly died from a broken heart, emitting one last song before expiring. Odedra's magical performance tells the tale of beauty born out of loss and the freedom that can be found only through the ultimate sacrifice. The musical, dance and poetic traditions of Sufism are at the heart of this compelling new theatrical experience created by two of the world's leading Sufi Kathak artists. Odedra's epic dance performance combines the physicality of Kathak with the spiritual journey of Sufism on a quest to seeking unity with the Divine. Songs of the Bulbul, Aakash Odedra Company. Brighton Festival 25. Photo Credit Angela Grabowska Songs of the Bulbul, Aakash Odedra Company. Brighton Festival 25. Photo Credit Angela Grabowska Odedra inhabits this songbird with astonishing physicality, his fluid, soaring movements capturing both fragility and resilience. The performance is powerful and life-affirming, filled with visceral emotion that transcends the stage and invites the audience into a dreamlike realm. Beguiling and profound, Songs of the Bulbul is a rare work of dance that not only tells a story but also touches the soul. Odedra takes the audience on a mystical journey with his utterly mesmerising dance performance which emits so many emotions without any words. In Songs of the Bulbul, Odedra delivers a profoundly evocative performance and offers the audience an immersive experience steeped in grief, love, and spiritual transcendence. This new work is a deeply personal tribute to Odedra's late mother Kay—who he describes as his 'smiling bulbul who left her cage.' Through an eloquent fusion of movement and music, Odedra explores the fragile, soaring life of a songbird, using it as a metaphor for death, liberation, and the cyclical nature of existence. There is some reference in Odedra's performance to Whirling Dervishes of the Sufi order, who are known for their unique practice of whirling as part of religious ritual Sama. Also called Sufi whirling, the dance is a form of physical meditation and a way for dervishes to connect with God. Odedra takes the spirit of the Whirling Dervish and adapts it into a thoroughly contemporary dance performance which he puts his heart and soul into. From the moment he steps onto the stage, Odedra becomes the bulbul. His body channels both the anguish and the beauty of a creature caught between worlds. Every glide, every turn of his hand, pulses with emotion. His kathak-infused movements—rooted in the classical Sufi tradition—are not mere technical displays, but living, breathing expressions of longing, resistance, and ultimate surrender. At times he seems almost weightless, caught in a dance that feels like prayer; at others, his body twists in raw anguish, echoing the pain of loss and the yearning for transcendence. The performance is notable for its absence of spoken word. Yet in that silence, a story of immense depth unfolds—one of life, death, and eventual rebirth. Odedra guides the audience through these spiritual and emotional realms with the grace of a seasoned storyteller. The music, rich with Indian classical and devotional tones, acts as a second voice—an aural current upon which Odedra's movements sail. The rhythm of the tabla, the lament of string instruments, and the undercurrent of poetic chant form a symphony of sacred mourning and quiet hope. There is a meditative stillness to Songs of the Bulbul, a quality that invites reflection. It may well draw inspiration from The Conference of the Birds, the 12th-century Sufi parable by Attar of Nishapur, where birds journey in search of the mythical Simurgh, only to discover that the divine truth lies within. The Conference of the Birds is a poem about sufism, the doctrine propounded by the mystics of Islam. In Songs of the Bulbul, Odedra's songbird seems to travel through despair toward a luminous inner peace—an embrace of death not as an end, but a beginning. Ultimately, Songs of the Bulbul is not just a performance—it is a ritual, a requiem, and a rebirth. Odedra has crafted a work that is both deeply personal and universally resonant, rooted in cultural tradition yet unbound by geography or language. It is a stirring reminder that through art, we can give voice to the unspeakable, and in movement, find meaning beyond words. Anoushka Shankar, Brighton Festival 25. Photo Credit Carly Hildebrant. Anoushka Shankar, Brighton Festival 25. Photo Credit Carly Hildebrant A highlight of the festival promises to be Anoushka Shankar's performance of Chapter III– the culmination of her recent trilogy of mini-albums: Chapter I: Forever, For Now, Chapter II: How Dark it is Before Dawnand Chapter III: We Return to Light with a visionary new live show–on Sunday 25th May at Brighton Dome.
The Guardian
12-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Toby Jones's next campaign? Misinformation, and a huge immersive theatre show
Hidden from view inside a south London warehouse, a new underground movement will be fighting the international blight of misinformation this summer. The huge immersive event – half theatrical show, half social campaign – is to involve some of Britain's leading acting talent, including Toby Jones and Meera Syal, and has been put together by a theatre company led by a woman who learned about misinformation the hard way, at the Georgian television station Imedi. Liana Patarkatsishvili, the founder of Sage & Jester productions, still recalls the moment when the independent newsroom was taken over on the orders of the government of Mikheil Saakashvili. Her experiences have influenced her work on the new show, which is due to take place over 9,000 sq metres in an empty building in Deptford. 'I still remember those days clearly,' she told the Observer. 'Before the 2007 crackdown in Georgia, independent media faced significant challenges and mounting pressure.' The debut show, called Storehouse, is due to run from 4 June until 20 September. The story will take place in a fictional storage facility, where humanity's history has been archived since 1983, the dawn of the internet. In this arena, a 'battle between truth and order' will be waged, 'as the powerful manipulate the truth to their own ends and critical thinking is the only effective weapon'. Syal, who will voice Dolly K Guha, one of the imagined radical founders of the movement, said: 'I'm thrilled to be part of Storehouse. It is an ambitious immersive production that tackles a critical issue.' The three other founders are played by Jones, whose performances as postmaster Alan Bates in the ITV drama about the Post Office scandal won widespread acclaim, the renowned actor Kathryn Hunter, recently seen in Netflix's Black Doves and in the film Poor Things, and by rising star Billy Howle from the film On Chesil Beach. They will guide visitors through the warehouse and through a cast of live actors. Sign up to The Guide Get our weekly pop culture email, free in your inbox every Friday after newsletter promotion Patarkatsishvili is keen to show that misinformation is not just the spreading of deliberate falsehoods. 'It's also about creating uncertainty and eroding trust,' she said. 'This tactic has been used globally, from casting doubt in the media to flooding the public with conflicting narratives. In today's attention economy, news has been commodified, becoming a product that needs to be 'sold'. It becomes paramount to be able to discern 'sellable information' and false narratives from facts and being properly factually informed.' The show will run in tandem with a series of public debates, or critical conversations, that are being held through the summer on the other side of London at the Pleasance theatre. The sessions, staged in collaboration with Intelligence Squared, will be compered by the journalist Sophia Smith Galer. The discussions are intended to help inform or 'inoculate' the audience against misinformation by showing them how it can work. 'We want to empower individuals by better understanding the powers at play. A key point for us is to give people a sense of agency, as this topic can make us feel apathetic and disempowered, which ultimately feeds the problem,' said Patarkatsishvili, whose late father, known as Badri, founded the Imedi radio station and television station in Georgia. Debate, she argues, might be a more conventional way to develop critical thinking skills, but theatre can be more effective. 'In its own way, this is what Storehouse aims to do; immerse audiences in a world where they decide what's true,' she said. 'The art of storytelling creates empathy and understanding in ways that facts alone cannot. When audiences step inside, they're not just watching a story – they're living it. They're forced to grapple with difficult questions about truth, power, and their own complicity in shaping narratives. Entertainment has always been a powerful tool because it humanises abstract issues and makes them personal.' Patarkatsishvili's hope is that Storehouse will be 'more than a show – it's a call to action'. 'It asks audiences to reflect on their role in today's information ecosystem, and challenges them to take responsibility for the stories they believe and share.'
BBC News
05-03-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Adrien Brody becomes Olivier Award nominee days after Oscar win
US star Adrien Brody has been nominated for the UK's most prestigious theatre awards, the Oliviers, just days after being named best actor at the appeared on the London stage in The Fear of 13 last year, just before the start of the film awards season, which saw him win a Bafta, Golden Globe and Academy Award for his role in The Brutalist. Other Olivier nominees this year include John Lithgow, who is also nominated for best actor, for playing Roald Dahl in the play Manville, Ben Whishaw, Imelda Staunton, Meera Syal, Billy Crudup, Mark Strong and Paapa Essiedu are among the other acting nominees. In The Fear of 13, Brody portrayed Nick Yarris, a man who was wrongfully convicted for murder and spent 22 years on Death plays in the running this year include Kyoto, Shifters, Giant and The Years, which have five nominations On The Roof scored the most nominations overall with 13 nods, including best musical ties the record for most Olivier nominations, after musical Hamilton also received 13 nods in Oliviers will be hosted by singer-songwriter Beverley Knight and actor and singer Billy Porter on Sunday 6 April at the Royal Albert Hall. The nominations in full Best new playThe Fear Of 13 by Lindsey FerrentinoGiant Kyoto Shifters The Years Best new musicalThe Curious Case Of Benjamin ButtonMJ The MusicalNatasha, Pierre & The Great Comet Of 1812Why Am I So Single?Best new entertainment or comedy playBallet Shoes Inside No 9 Stage/Fright Spirited Away adapted TitaniqueBest revivalThe Importance Of Being Earnest Machinal Oedipus Waiting For Godot Best musical revivalFiddler On The RoofHello, Dolly!Oliver!Starlight ExpressBest actressHeather Agyepong for Shifters Lesley Manville for Oedipus Rosie Sheehy for Machinal Meera Syal for A Tupperware Of Ashes Indira Varma for Oedipus Best actorAdrien Brody for The Fear Of 13Billy Crudup for Harry Clarke Paapa Essiedu for Death Of England: Delroy John Lithgow for Giant at Jerwood Theatre Downstairs Mark Strong for Oedipus Best actor (musical)John Dagleish for The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button Adam Dannheisser for Fiddler On The RoofMyles Frost for MJ The Musical Simon Lipkin for Oliver!Jamie Muscato for Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet Of 1812 Best actress (musical)Chumisa Dornford-May for Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet Of 1812 Lauren Drew for Titanique Clare Foster for The Curious Case Of Benjamin ButtonLara Pulver for Fiddler On The RoofImelda Staunton for Hello, Dolly! Best supporting actorJorge Bosch for KyotoTom Edden for Waiting For GodotElliot Levey for GiantBen Whishaw for Bluets at JerwoodBest supporting actressSharon D Clarke for The Importance Of Being EarnestRomola Garai for GiantRomola Garai for The YearsGina McKee for The YearsBest directorEline Arbo for The Years Jordan Fein for Fiddler On The Roof Nicholas Hytner for Giant Robert Icke for OedipusBest supporting actress (musical)Liv Andrusier for Fiddler On The Roof Amy Di Bartolomeo for The Devil Wears Prada Beverley Klein for Fiddler On The Roof Maimuna Memon for Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet Of 1812 Best supporting actor (musical)Andy Nyman for Hello, Dolly! Raphael Papo for Fiddler On The Roof Layton Williams for Titanique at Criterion TheatreTom Xander for Mean Girls at Savoy TheatreBest family showBrainiac LiveMaddie Moate's Very Curious ChristmasThe NutcrackerRough MagicBest new production in affiliate theatreAnimal FarmBoys On The Verge Of TearsEnglishNow, I See by Lanre MalaoluWhat We Talk About When We Talk About Anne FrankBest new dance productionAssembly HallFrontiers: Choreographers Of CanadaTheatre Of DreamsAn Untitled Love Best set designSpirited AwayBallet ShoesCoriolanusFiddler On The RoofBest lighting designOliver! Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet Of 1812Starlight ExpressFiddler On The RoofOutstanding achievement in danceSarah Chun for her performance in Three Short Ballets at Royal Opera HouseTom Visser for his lighting design of Angels' Atlas as part of Frontiers: Choreographers Of CanadaEva Yerbabuena for her performance in YerbagüenaBest theatre choreographerMatthew Bourne for Oliver!Julia Cheng for Fiddler On The RoofHofesh Shechter for OedipusChristopher Wheeldon for MJ The Musical Hugh Durrant for Robin Hood Sachiko Nakahara for Spirited Away Tom Scutt for Fiddler On The RoofGabriella Slade for Starlight ExpressBest sound designNick Lidster for Fiddler On The RoofChristopher Shutt for Oedipus Thijs van Vuure for The Years Koichi Yamamoto for Spirited Away Outstanding musical contributionMark Aspinall for Musical Supervision & Additional Orchestrations for Fiddler On The RoofDarren Clark for music supervision, orchestrations & arrangements and Mark Aspinall for musical direction, music supervision, orchestrations & arrangements for The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button Dave Malloy for orchestrations and Nicholas Skilbeck for musical supervision for Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet Of 1812Asaf Zohar for compositions and Gavin Sutherland for dance arrangements & orchestration for Ballet ShoesBest new opera productionDuke Bluebeard's CastleFestenL'Olimpiade The Tales Of HoffmannOutstanding achievement in operaAigul Akhmetshina for her performance in CarmenAllan Clayton for his performance in FestenJung Young-doo for his direction of Lear
