Mangala N

Mangala N is a theatre artist based in Bangalore. She had her theatre training at Rangayana, Mysore and is currently the director of Sanchari Theatre. The space she has chosen to work with is Vidyarthi Bhavan, an 80-year old landmark restaurant located on the Gandhi Bazaar main road. The establishing of Vidyarthi Bhavan in 1943 in one of Bangalore’s oldest neighbourhoods is a landmark of sorts, since it marked the advent of the ‘modern’ café, which soon became the hub for Bangalore’s cultural life. Scholars, litterateurs, actors and sportsmen along with the ‘common man’ of Bangalore, frequented Vidyarthi Bhavan for rich conversations over its famous masala dosa and coffee. The space therefore plays a very key role in the city’s cultural life.

Mangala seeks to create a performance inside Vidyarthi Bhavan. The space, with its old wooden furniture along with the smell of the dosa and coffee will turn into a performance space on a Friday evening, which is Vidyarthi Bhavan’s weekly holiday. The owners have consented to the use of their space. Inspired from stories, anecdotes, letters written by various personalities to Vidyarthi Bhavan and photographs of the space, the performance will attempt to make new meanings of the space and its history within its contemporary location in the heart of Bangalore’s IT hub.

This grant is part of Project 560, 2015, which was made possible with support from Citi India.