Plays

From the Vedas to Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri The texts for this performance were chosen as an attempt, in a visual form, to bring close to us the immortal knowledge they express. As golden drops of Light, tiny drops from a vast Ocean, this selection from the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Gita, creates a particular atmosphere conducive to an inner opening towards this eternal knowledge. The presence of the Sanskrit language in various moments was absolutely essential for the creation of this atmosphere. Usha, the opening lines of Sri Aurobindo’s The Life Divine, was our first source of inspiration. From there, an invocation of Dawn, with a few quotes from the Vedas, leads us to the joy of the manifestation, the Divine Presence everywhere, through the verses and two stories from the Upanishads. Lines from Savitri permeate the whole, helping us to receive Krishna. The sounds of His flute prepare us to listen to some of His teachings to Arjuna on the Battlefield of Kurukshetra. The performance concludes with the last lines of Savitri, Sri Aurobindo’s epic poem. They affirm our best hopes and aspirations, and unite the past dawns and noons of the future. Usha and the Dawns to Come was a one year project that commenced in August 2021 and will conclude with three performances in August 2022. It is the result of a combined effort by a small group of people in their sincere aspiration to make an offering to Sri Aurobindo. Video credits : Alessandra Silver

The story takes place at a time when all of human life was intertwined with the presence and actions of the gods, and the boundaries between the physical plane and the subtler realms were not yet sharply established and, depending on the circumstances, both humans and gods could cross over. This was a time when the greatest men walked on Earth. In India, they were called Rishis, exceptional teachers and knowers. They gave their knowledge a high poetic and symbolic form. The more ancient of these forms are known to us as the Vedas and Upanishads. The story of Nachiketas belongs to this time. It is to be found in the Katha Upanishad. It is about Death and Immortality, about questions and answers to that eternal question, to that eternal search. This offering was performed in Auroville, on 11.12 and 13 March 2021. The sources for the script are: Nachiketas, from the “Value-Oriented Education Series”, Kireet Joshi General Editor; Sri Aurobindo’s translation of the Katha Upanishad from his Kena and other Upanishads; Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri. Participants: Anandamayi, Aravind, Giacomo, Kushmita, Megha, Nidish, Otto, Sheetal, Srimoyi, Vivekan Concept and direction: Aryamani Sound design: Aurelio and Varun Lighting: Jean, Ashwin and other members of the team Costumes: Angela and Carla Voice preparation: Patricia General assistance: Pala For all their support, our sincere thanks go to: SAIIER, Matrimandir, Charu, Bobby, Carlos, Jasmin, Jean Christophe

"Is this enough, o Spirit" is a performance offered in Auroville, inspired from and dedicated to Sri Aurobindo's epic poem Savitri. This is a shortened, edited video with English subtitles, recorded on the 10th September 2019 A collective work by: Amir, Anandamayi, Angela, Aravinda, Aryamani, Ashwin, Aurelio, Carla, Divya, Emmanuel, Gokul, Jean, Joy, Krishna, Megha, Melody, Mita, Nidish, Otto, Pala, Patricia, Poonam, Pranith, Regina, Srimoyi, Suresh, Vartika, Varun With much support from the Matrimandir and Svaram Teams

SCENES FROM SRI AUROBINDO’S SAVITRI August 16th and 17th (Sunday and Monday) at 7 pm in the Matrimandir gardens, Auroville Many experiments in performing Savitri have taken place in Auroville through dance, recitation, music. Ours is one more, in the form of theatre. We have tried to create an atmosphere that would evoke ancient times and spaces — at that time when and where to perform was to touch the sacred. We considered the Unity Garden of the Matrimandir as the most appropriate setting to help us in our search. Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri is a sacred revelation that we try again and again to penetrate and grow close to. In this experiment, we have explored four moments of the poem: - Ashwapathi’s invocation to the Divine Mother - Meeting of the two, Savitri and Satyavan - Meeting with Narad - Dialogue with Death And we have adapted a story to weave the scenes together. Participants: Anandamayi, Angad, Charu, Elke, Emanuele, Otto, Srimoyi Voices: Joy, Mita, Nishta Music: Aurelio, Holger Lights: Jean Sound engineering: Ruben Costumes: Angela, Carla Support for language and more: Pala Chanting: Aravind, Bridget, Carla, Hemant, Isha, Jasmine, Manoj, Meera, Shakti. Heartfelt thanks to the Matrimandir executives and workshop team, and Ane, Dominique, Dorothée, Eric, Jyothi K, SAIIER, Shraddhavan, Surya. General direction: Aryamani

"The Viziers of Bassora" A Dramatic Romance by Sri Aurobindo Staged at Sri Aurobindo Auditorium in Auroville Saturday, Sunday and Monday Evening 14th, 15th and 16th of December at 7 pm This play seems to have been written by Sri Aurobindo sometime in 1905-6, during his stay in Baroda. The manuscript was seized by the police when he was arrested in 1908, and was considered lost until it was discovered in a cupboard and given to the Ashram many years later, after 1950.  The source of the plot of The Viziers of Bassora is one of the numerous stories told in The Arabian Nights entitled, "Nur al-Din Ali and the Damsel Anis al-Jalis". The dualities that govern the lives of humans are played out: love and hate, self-giving and egoism, good and evil, high religious values and base desires, ambition and hypocrisy. The action takes place mainly in Bassora and Baghdad in the second half of the 8th century, at the time of the historical Caliph, Harun al Rashid, known as Harun the Just. This was a time of great achievements in the Arabic world, and the Baghdad of Harun was considered a city of great beauty, where respect and fairness for all governed the law. Human love in its high aspects of self-giving and pure joy is shown through Nureddene and Anice-Aljalice, the young couple whose love for each other traverses many troubles and difficulties, to triumph over all adversity in the end. It is a tale, a fairy-tale, with moments of drama and suspense, as well as those of mirth, laughter and lightness. With this play we aspire to highlight some aspects of the beauty and refinement of both the life and feelings that are so deeply rooted in the history and culture of the Arabian people. The Viziers of Bassora will be performed at the Sri Aurobindo Auditorium on Saturday, Sunday and Monday: the 14th, 15th and 16th of December at 7 pm. A summary of the story may be read below or in the attached file.   A summary of the play The Viziers Of Bassora For many of us the Arabian Nights was part of the literature that most nourished the dreams and fantasies of our childhood. "The Thousand and One Nights" peopled our imaginations in its many versions and many abridgments. Sri Aurobindo, too,  was well acquainted with this fabulous collection of stories. The tale of "Nur al-Din Ali and the Damsel Anis al-Jalis", though one of the lesser known, was the tale Sri Aurobindo chose to illustrate some aspects of a higher standard of human love and sacrifice, of religiosity,  morality and ethics along side the dualities of hate and selfishness, hypocrisy and deep-rooted ambition. All this becomes a fairy tale in Sri Aurobindo's version: full of humour and joy, and well-balanced with the necessary tension and antagonism that go into building up a story. Good and evil are well represented in the two Viziers: the good Ibn Sawy, and the bad Almuene. Their sons respectively mirror their fathers in character and behaviour.

The Play "Rodogune", by Sri Aurobindo Dates: January 19th, 20th and 21st . Place: Sri Aurobindo Auditorium (Bharat Nivas) . Time: 7pm. Participants: Amarjit, Anandamayi, Anatole, Anita, Camille, Charu, Clément, Dorothee, Dyuman, Elke, Emanuele, Ganda, Gandhi, Inês, Jadava, Joy, Michael, Murugan, Ruslan, Satyavan B, Shakti, Simon, Thomas, Véronique. Music: Aurelio and Nadaprem Costumes: design by Loretta, realization by Coco.Stage. Design: group work. Support for actors: Norman, Natalie. Special participation: Grace Voice off: Norman. Lights: Jean .Support for language: Pala. General direction: Aryamani Heartfelt thanks to Anungla, Carlos, Jean P., Victor and to all backstage help. A synopsis of the play in five Acts by Sri Aurobindo The king Antiochus is dying, and queen Cleopatra, his wife, is exultant, because now she can call back her twin sons, exiled in Egipt since early childhood by order of the king Antiochus. These boys, Antiochus and Timocles, are sons of the previous king, Nicanor, Cleopatra first husband and brother of the dying monarch. One of the twins will be declared king, but no one knows who is the first born, except the queen Cleopatra and the nurse, Mentho. The upheaval provoked by the arrival of the twins excedes all expectations. The queen is deeply distressed because one of her sons, prince Antiochus, does not show outward signs of love towards her, only a respect that for her is not enough. Timocles, the other son, on the contrary, bestows on her all the love and tenderness of a child kept for so long far from his mother. As the queen wants to keep her power through the future king, she begins to think in announcing Timocles as king, and try to convince the nurse to hide the truth. Mentho refuses. The two brothers both fall in love with Rodogune, princesse of Parthia, kept in the palace as attendant and slave of the queen. This love makes the brothers enemies, and Timocles, for the first time in his life, shows how jealous he is of his brother, that all believe will be the future king. This jalousie is used by Phayllus, a counsellor to the court, and his sister Cleone, to convince prince Timocles that he can be king, and at the same time have Rodogune. During the ceremony where the new king will be announced, realising that she can not oblige Antiochus to follow her decisions, the queen decides to announce Timocles as king. The court reacts and two faccions are created. Antiochus goes to the mountains with his guards and the two princesses, Rodogune and his cousin Eunice. From there he leads a battle against the army of his brother. In the beginning he is the winner, but soon Timocles' army receives help from allies, and Antiochus' army is being beaten. Then we learn that the father of Rodogune, king Phrates, has come with his army to the rescue of the husband of his daughter. Antiochus can not accept his help, because he knows that to accept it is to surrender his country to king Phrates, and therefore to betray Syria. He then decides to go back to Antioch and offer his sword to Timocles, even after an eremite comes to tell him that Fate and doom were waiting for him if he goes back. Timocles expects his brother to give him Rodogune, certain that after this time together in the mountains Antiochus has grown weary of her. Antiochus publicly declares Rodogune as his wife, and Timocles' jealousy has now no bounds. Phayllus convinces him that Antiochus has come back as part of a plot to dethrone him. Timocles gives Phayllus the freedom to do whatever is needed to rid him of Antiochus, but he wants it to be done under the accusation of a plot, and not to be an assassination. Antiochus, conscious of his fate, awaits the moment, and is ready. He is seized and killed. He dies as nobly as he has lived. Rodogune gives herself to death at his feet. Queen Cleopatra asks Timocles to deny being the instrumento of such a crime, but he insists that it was a necessity due to Antiochus' plotting against him. At the end, realizing that he has lost Rodogune in spite of all he has done, Timocles gives the power to Nicanor, the commander of the army and member of the royal family. Lead me from non-being to true being; From the darkness to the Light; From death to Immortality. (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. Translation by Sri Aurobindo) •