UpRoute

Directed by Manjari Kaul

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Performed by Akshaya Pattnayak, Anannya Tripathi, Deepika Chuhan, Kabir Naqvi, Manjari Kaul and Rahul Yadav

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Music by Harish R

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Lights by Abhinav Khetrapal

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Dramaturgy by Trishna Senapaty

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The piece was commissioned by Instituto Cervantes in 2016 as part of a festival celebrating the work of Miguel  de Cervantes. The performance consists of three short pieces that explore the recurring themes of home and exile in Cervantes’ writing. A young woman deserted by her lover, runs away from home, masquerading as a man, to escape the shame and stigma of a broken relationship. A second is about a conman’s big city dreams, and his imagination of what life can offer away from the everyday drudgery of work and hierarchical familial relationships. He arrives in the city eager to practice his craft of deception, only to discover an elaborate, already flourishing brotherhood of thieves. The final piece contemporizes Cervantes’ preoccupation with exile to understand the dilemma of a young girl who’s torn between continuing to live in her home country in the midst of an unabating war or to undertake a dangerous journey to an unknown land.