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7 ​January, 2015: “POWERFUL, PROFOUND, POLITICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL”. Production House Theatre NW1 presents Athena Ashton’s Topical New Play “THE MISSIONARY POSITION!!” The play will be screened in theatres in Indian cities from April 2015 onwards with the first screening in Mumbai on 5^th April 2015.

The play is directed by the young British Director Samantha Rowe and has a great cast including: Christopher Pemberton as Father Joseph; beautiful Caroline Egerton as the ravaged nun Sister Abigail;  talented Indian actress Shyamala Shankaran as murdered nun Abhaya;  accompanied by a large, brilliant British, Indian and African cast. Sets designed by Rosemary Shackleton include a tribal area in North East Area and Andhra Pradesh where villages penetrated by missionaries are brilliantly and authentically created.

Athena Ashton the writer who has studied Sanskrit and Yoga under a great Indian Scholar was appalled by the destruction of Indian heritage by missionary activity which not only negated all that was beautiful and rich about Indian Philosophy and Mythology buy usurped part of it as their own but ” belonging to Christianity”. She also saw how christian missionary activity was primarily directed at Hindus in India but used propaganda against Muslims and Hindus to divide them. In Africa it was used for political power and natural resource exploitation through conversion. The play has been highly praised for an original and illuminating exposure from a European point of view into the activities of missionaries in India, China and other Asian countries as part of Gospel 2000 following mass conversions of indigenous peoples in Africa and Latin America.

RAVE INTERNATIONAL REVIEWS:

“A powerful expose of the cancer of Christian missionaries and their conversion and sexual predatory activities that has decimated most African and Latin American cultures and is now threatening the Chinese state after contaminating India.” – Theatre Review

“The young English playwright Athena Ashton who has investigated the phenomenon of fake Christian conversions across three continents has written a deep and profound play with huge political and cultural implications for several indigenous cultures that are now vanishing under the onslaught of a religion now almost defunct in Europe”- Buddhist World

“A hilarious yet shocking, powerful and tragic exploration of the ” Missionary’s Position in the third world and of the financial muscle of a highly questionable and historically dubious faith still at the root of post -colonial exploitation for natural resources and cultural destruction of ancient civilizations ” -London Stage.

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT

Athena Ashton comes from an old aristocratic and historic English family whose great grandfather was from the family of the Earls of East Anglia.  She studied drama in the United States and travelled and lived extensively with her parents in Africa and Asia as her father was an officer in the United Nations.  After the tragic death of her husband at the age of 29 in a motor accident, she now lives with her son in a remote part of Spain close to Andalusia where she runs a yoga retreat. This is where she writes and performs her plays and poetry non commercially only to friends and her students.

The principal cast includes:

Christopher Pemberton as Father Joseph

Caroline Egerton as Sister Abigail

Anurag Sinha as Reverend Stepen Rajamanikkam

Shyamala Shankaran as Sister Abhaya

Charlotte Morrison as the investigative Journalist Samantha Morgan

Large cast of British, Indian and African extras

Orchestral and Choir Music by Penelope Richardson

Set Design by Rosemary Shackleton

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Gurgaon, July 5, 2014: Across the world, William Shakespeare is a name that commands a huge following among literature lovers. India is no different. So, when one of Shakespeare’s most loved plays made an Indian outing, in an Indian avatar, the audience loved every bit of it.

Titled ‘Saudagar’, the Indian adaptation of ‘Merchant of Venice’ was staged at Gurgaon’s Epicentre this evening, to wide acclaim. A presentation of The Films & Theatre Society, the play was adapted and directed by Atul Satya Koushik.

The merchant who signed a bond for his dear friend; the moneylender who demanded his pound of flesh; and the remarkable and intelligent heiress who turned the tables to save her lover’s friend! The gracious Antonia, the beautiful and intelligent Portia, the devoted Bassanio and the ‘wronged’ Shylock were presented in Indian avatras but retained the quintessential Shakespearean taste.

Based in the Mewar District of Rajasthan and set in the end of 19^th century, the adaptation is peculiar for recreating the true Shakespearian moods on stage but with jokes and dialogues that will have a Rajasthani flourish.

A merchant lends a sum of Rs 30,000 to his friend in order to assist him in his effort to woo the wealthy and beautiful princess of “Pratapgarh”, a princely state in British India. However, with the merchant’s own money tied up in a risky venture, he has to borrow from a moneylender whom he has previously insulted for his act of charging high rates of interest and for his religious beliefs. The moneylender does lend the money, but against a bond whereby a failure to repay the loan on the agreed date will entitle him to a pound of the Merchant’s flesh.

How successfully the merchant’s friend woos the heiress and what happens when the merchant fails to repay the sum on the agreed date is the play’s theme.

“We are very happy by the response generated by our effort. By the feedbacks we assume, the play made an impact, which is a relief as adapting a William Shakespeare play is not easy at all. Every word written by him is a responsibility on you as it demands justice. If he chose to write a word, there has to be a reason behind it. In this adaptation, my constant endeavor was to keep the Shakespeare alive in every word that I write, every song that I play, and every emotion that I arise in my audience,” says Mr. Koushik.

The play was garnished with light hearted jokes peculiar of Rajasthani life-style and hummable and rustic folk music along with a royal Rajputani feel to the entire grandeur.

The play also had a rich background score and a few Hindi songs which have been composed by Ravi Rao, the resident music director of the society. Costumes for the princess and women have been designed by famous celebrity designer Mumtaz Khan in Bhopal.

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