{"id":1453,"date":"2014-06-03T00:09:39","date_gmt":"2014-06-03T00:09:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kalagora.com\/?p=1453"},"modified":"2025-06-27T15:37:04","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T14:37:04","slug":"kalagora","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kalagora.com\/?p=1453","title":{"rendered":"Kalagora"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Siddhartha Bose, Kalagora- road to Edinburgh\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6hWqAuJpkGs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Siddhartha Bose- Kalagora at Decibel Showcase HD\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UsLX13hWQPw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>&#8216;Kalagora&#8217; comprises of two independent works: a book of poetry developed over the course of eight years and a one-man play that was written and developed since autumn 2010. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>The Play<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>From the street surrealism of Mumbai, \u2018city of motion\u2019, to London\u2019s East End via Manhattan on Millennium night. Kalagora, the global wanderer, collides with a midget tobacconist, paranoid immigration officers and cross-dressing hedonists, observing the uncanny and grotesque at the start of the 21<sup>st<\/sup> century.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cWe\u2019ve overstayed our welcome. We\u2019re illegal. We\u2019ve worked s**t jobs, <\/strong><strong>invented social security numbers, scammed Homeland Security mercilessly.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Fresh from an acclaimed run at Edinburgh Fringe 2011, <em>Kalagora<\/em> is an explosive coming-of-age journey across three continents, splicing theatre, poetry, and video. Written and performed by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kalagora.com\/?page_id=2\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">Siddhartha Bose<\/a>, directed by Russell Bender (Ecole Jacques Lecoq, Bristol Old Vic, National Theatre), and featuring music by Bollywood composer Pankaj Awasthi, <em>Kalagora <\/em>exposes the shock of the megacity.<\/p>\n<h1>Reviews<\/h1>\n<p>\u201can extraordinary odyssey\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kalagora.com\/?p=504\">Julian Sands, BBC Radio 4<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cStunning in its simplicity and endeavour. A beautifully-worded monologue about the clash of civilisations, the changing sands of time and one man\u2019s place in it all. Kalagora is a thoroughly original, ingenious one-man production embodying the art forms and human diversity of the contemporary age [&#8230;] It remains the most mesmerising play I have had the pleasure of seeing\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605 Broadway Baby<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cA surreal one-man show [&#8230;] like a mash-up of Allen Ginsberg and Salvador Dali\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605 Three Weeks<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cA one-man tour\u2013de-force. Siddharta Bose takes us on a journey over time between the great cities of Mumbai, London and New York. Many situations and characters are brought to life by this very dynamic performer [&#8230;] a very intense and energising hour, and the way it teemed with energy and images made me think of Salman Rushdie\u2019s work&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>Scots Gay<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cKalagora is a hymn to cities, to their richness, their colour, their noise, sprawl and energy, and to the process of cultural merging, mixing and melting that categorises the urban experience [&#8230;] Bose\u2019s show captures that heady urban experience, the taxi drivers and the rough sleepers, the shifting skies and the glitter of glass. [&#8230;] His voice is resonant and versatile, switching between accents with ease; he\u2019s also an engaging performer, confident and capable of conveying subtle shifts in emotion.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>Natasha Tripney, Exeunt<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;One of the stand-out spoken word shows of last year&#8217;s Edinburgh Fringe&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>Bel Cameron, Exuent<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Performed with great energy and attack [&#8230;] this global language is Bose\u2019s gift to the stage. Just as Shakespeare coined new words borrowed from other languages and made the stage a Pentecostal Tower of Babel so Bose has Kalagora speak a language at once as English as any Oxford Don\u2019s, and as foreign as Bengali or Hindi might be to the same Oxford Don\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>John O&#8217; Donoghue, Decibel Performing Arts Showcase Review<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8221; [&#8230;] the writing is superb, yet the play\u2019s true skill lies in Bose\u2019s deliverance of this script. As a performer, Bose incorporates an array of voices and physical movements to depict the multiple personas he meets upon his journey [&#8230;] While this is a one-man performance, his ability to transform into a range of characters truly heightens the authentic and multi-dimensional nature of this play.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>Isabelle Koy-Dibly, Plays to See<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Ingenious and unforgettable&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>Rashbre Central&#8211;blog <\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is perhaps too easy to compare elements of Kalagora to Dante\u2019s <em>Divine Comedy<\/em> or William Blake\u2019s infernal London, or even Joyce\u2019s <em>Ulysses<\/em>, but those are the works that this brought to my mind. <em>Kalagora<\/em> would be a decent show if it just stuck to that, so what made this dazzling performance shine was Bose\u2019s energy \u2013 from melancholy to rage; hope to despair \u2013 Bose and his riotous trip across the globe brought all the power of a full-cast, 3 hour play and bundled it into a one hour, one-man (and one director) package that resonated far beyond the confines of its explosive performance.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>Jake Campbell, Outline to a Complicated Dream, blog<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Siddhartha Bose&#8217;s] acrobatic presence on stage complements the gutteral and cacophonic tones of his poetry suggesting a muscular relationship with his urban environs [&#8230;] Kalagora is a fascinating defiance against dehumanisation and eradication of community and individuality in the globalisation of urban space [&#8230;] Siddartha Bose&#8217;s performance is bold and perpetually charged, captivating the audience throughout&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>Emma Hayward, Blogger\u2013 Urban Material<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Teesside scene is inspired and buzzing after Siddhartha Bose\u2019s awesome performance [&#8230;] truly electrifying. If you get a chance to see his show Kalagora take it \u2013 this is a contemporary voice that will resonate down the years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Andy Willoughby, The Electric Kool Aid Cabaret \/ Senior Lecturer, Teeside University<\/em><\/p>\n<h1>Credits<\/h1>\n<p>Writer: Siddhartha Bose<br \/>\nPerformer: Siddhartha Bose<br \/>\nDirector: Russell Bender<br \/>\nMusic: Pankaj Awasthi<br \/>\nFilm: Maria Tzika &amp; Siddhartha Bose<br \/>\nVideo design: Maria Tzika<br \/>\nAssociate Director: Joy Mills<br \/>\nLighting design: McDeath<br \/>\nSound design: Ed Lewis<br \/>\nCostume design: Mila Sanders<br \/>\nProducer: Penned in the Margins<\/p>\n<h1>Partners<\/h1>\n<p>Rich Mix<br \/>\nFunded by Arts Council England<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.kalagora.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/ace_logo.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-2516\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kalagora.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/ace_logo-150x111.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"111\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h1>Tour Dates (2010-12)<\/h1>\n<p>Oct 2010 Rich Mix London<br \/>\nOct 2010 Durham Book Festival<br \/>\nNov 2010 Berlin Poetry Hearings<br \/>\nNov 2010 Salisbury Arts Centre<br \/>\nJan 2011 Warwick Arts Centre<br \/>\nJan 2011 Liverpool Bluecoat<br \/>\nAug 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe (25 shows)<br \/>\nSep 2011 Manchester, Decibel Performing Arts Showcase<br \/>\nNov 2011 London, Rosemary Branch Theatre<br \/>\nDec 2011 Queen Mary University of London<br \/>\nMarch 2012 Queen Mary University of London<br \/>\nMarch 2012, London Camden Peoples\u2019 Theatre<br \/>\nMay Gateshead Festival of Belonging<br \/>\nJune 2012 Nottingham Playhouse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;Kalagora&#8217; comprises of two independent works: a book of poetry developed over the course of eight years and a one-man play that was written and developed since autumn 2010. The Play From the street surrealism of Mumbai, \u2018city of motion\u2019, to London\u2019s East End via Manhattan on Millennium night. Kalagora, the global wanderer, collides with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-performance-works"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kalagora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kalagora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kalagora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kalagora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kalagora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1453"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.kalagora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2623,"href":"https:\/\/www.kalagora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1453\/revisions\/2623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kalagora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kalagora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kalagora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}