A performance inspired from the 1920 German silent film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari directed by Robert Weine.

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ABOUT THE PLAY

Deepan Sivaraman’s The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, is a theatrical adaptation of the 1920 German Expressionist film. Set in Nazi Germany, Sivaraman’s piece is a dark thriller that succinctly portrays our contemporary political milieu. This political allegory is an avant-garde experimental piece presented by Performance Studies Collective, Delhi in collaboration with NECAB and Blue Ocean Theatre Bangalore. Noted for its striking use of scenography and material, this reinterpretation of the original classic is highly fragmentary yet holistic in its conception. With more than a passing nod to Alfred Hitchcock, the play manifests as a riveting psychological thriller multi-layered in its scope.  Read more »

Language
: ENGLISH
Duration
: 75 min
Genre
: Psychological Thriller

SYNOPSIS

The play follows the story of Francis, a young man going through a turbulent time in his life. He takes the audience through his account of the events that have wreaked havoc not only on his life but also that of people he loved and considered family. It all began the day the town clerk was found dead, hanged over his own office table. The next day, Francis’s friend Alan is found murdered under mysterious circumstances in the dead of the night after a day out in the local town fair. As the streets of Holstenwall flow red with the blood of innocent, Francis is convinced that the travelling duo of the mountebank Caligari and his ever sleeping companion, Cesare are behind the crime spree.   Read more »

DIRECTOR’S NOTE

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari offers possibility of looking into the layer of human mind, which is always floating rather than definite, and is complex in nature. In fact, the complexity of the plot allowed me the possibility to explore the story in a multilayered fashion, the way I like to tell a story. The human mind is quite complex in its ability to comprehend non linearity and fragmented information. It is the normative institutions around us that would rather regiment our minds to make sure we all walk in a straight line. What makes this play politically relevant is its critical take on fascism; a phenomenon that is increasingly becoming a reality in our society threatening all kinds of rational propositions in the country.  Read more »

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

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Deepan Sivaraman is an Associate Professor of Performance Studies at School of Culture and Creative Expressions at Ambedkar University in Delhi. Deepan graduated from School of Drama, Calicut University, undertook MA in performance practice and earned an M.Phil degree in theatre from School of Letters from Mahatma Gandhi University. He was awarded Charles Wallace India Trust Scholarship to study MA in Scenography at Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design, London and moved to Wimbledon College of Art to pursue his Doctoral Studies. Deepans PhD was on Spatial Identities and visual language exploring the possibility of an interactive visual language, alternative to word-based drama.   Read more »

CREW

Scenography & Direction   : Deepan Sivaraman
Stage Manager  : Ashish Sharma
Light Design  : Alex Sunny
Videos  : Wency Mendes
: Unni Vijayan
Video Projection  : Anindya Gupta
Sound Design  : Kaustubh Naik
: Rohan Naik
Dramaturgy  : Purav Goswam
Art  : Deepan Sivaraman
Production Controllers  : Sreehari Ajith
Scenography & Direction  : Deepan Sivaraman
Production Controllers  : Sreehari Ajith
Stage Manager  : Ashish Sharma
Production   :

Blue Ocean Theatre, Bangalore in association with NECAB, Bangalore and PS Collective Delhi

FESTIVALS

REVIEWS & QUOTES

The German Ideology by Ramavarman, Times of India

The play stands out in its use of space, as it seeks to transcend the barriers of the stage through innovative moves.

When Dr Caligari arrives again by Sakeer Hussain in Madhyamam

Deepan has succeeded in conveying the subject of the play with great impact and intensity though masterly designed scenography, music and lighting.

Sudeesh, Counter currents

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a multi-layered play that invites and even demands, active involvement from the audience.

It is impossible not to quarrel with the insane era by Madan Babu, Madhyamam

The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, like Deepan's other works including Spinal Cord, tends to transcend the realms of realism to explore the possibilities of surrealism and magical realism.

Capturing the moment of frozen memory by Renu Ramnath, Chalachithra Sameeksha.

Deepan's adaptation of The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, takes off from the film and creates a more multi-layered, non-linear and open-ended structure than that of the film and leverages the possibilities of both cinema and theater to offer more space for audience's imagination and interpretations.

The German Ideology by Ramavarman, Times of India.

The play has intense allegorical connection to the contemporary political milieu as it projects subtle images of the dominant class trying to keep the masses dormant while they go ahead with their Machiavellian schemes.

Dipanita Nath, Indian Express

Deepan Sivaraman, through his acclaimed play The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, points at fascism in our midst and the war for the mind of the people.

As the Cabinet of Caligari opens by Bipin Chandran in Malayalam Weekly

The play Cabinet of Dr Caligari can be summarized in a sentence as a theater clock of fear and anxiety which ticks for seventy five minutes on stage and thereafter in audience's minds

Blue Ocean Theatre

Blue Ocean Theatre is a Bangalore based group of theatre and film enthusiasts working together with a common vision of offering fine quality theatre to the audience, locally and around the world. As the name indicates, Blue Ocean Theatre’s aim is to explore unchartered waters to deliver fresh theatre going experience to the audience. For the production of Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Blue Ocean collaborated with Performance Studies Collective, Delhi and NECAB, Bangalore

NECAB is a Bangalore based Engineering college (NSS Engg College in Palakad) alumni organization actively involved in organising events and programs in theatre, cinema and social responsibility sphere in Bangalore for more than a decade

Performance Studies Collective is a Delhi-based performance movement, pan-Indian in scope and philosophical in character. Deepan Sivaraman and his students over last several years form the core of the PSC team.

The play was originally developed as part of a coursework in Ambedkar University, Delhi about the importance of performance space in modern day theater. Later the production was moved to Bangalore with cast and crew from both Delhi and Bangalore contributing to it.