Poetry blends with theatre at art festival in Amritsar

Amritsar, February 25

Poetrusic, a Mumbai-based group comprising Rachna Toshniwal, Neeti Singhi, Shivali Parkash and Shubha Shah performed at the art festival hosted by NGO Phulkari – Women of Amritsar. Combining theatre with poetry-recitation, the group presented poems such as ‘And Still I Rise’ by Maya Angelou, ‘The Patriot’ by Nissim Ezekiel and ‘The Invitation’ by Oriah Mountain Dreamer, among others. The performance was directed by Roo Jhala Mclaughlin, a noted actor and dramatist, who studied from the Oxford School of Drama.

“The poems were well-connected and touched upon themes of feminism, communalism and socialism. The event instilled among the audience love for poetry,” said Deepa Swani, organiser of the event.

The group said before coming to Amritsar, they were not sure how people would respond to such a unique blend of poetry and theatre. “Majority of the audience was beginners, as far as poetry is concerned. There is a misconception about poetry that it is complex. We wanted to make poetry easy and understandable for people,” said Rachna, one of the members of the group.