Put on your running shoes

One is spoilt for choice this weekend and the best way to beat the winter chill is to run, sweat it out or simply trot along to the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon on Sunday morning. The usual suspects would be there - the celebs, the wannabes, the first-timers and of course the Africans (will they win again this time?). Nevertheless, put on your running shoes and participate. More details here.

Theatre

Theatre enthusiasts will have a gala time this weekend, as they're treated to plays based on well-known masterpieces by Pedro Almodovar, Enid Blyton and Pulitzer prize winner David Auburn. Seriously, if you're in Mumbai, camp yourselves outside Prithvi Theatre at Juhu.

All About My Mother
All About My Mother is about actors and acting, homosexuality, nursing, heart transplants, transvestism, the art of creation, drugs, prostitution, Barcelona, fatherhood, loss of faith, AIDS, surrogate families, Tennessee Williams, Lorca, plastic surgery, age, love, writing, and Hollywood. But the characters are wrapped around a simple story of a mother’s search for her son’s father.

Cast: Ratna Pathak Shah, Puja Sarup, Anand Tiwari and others
Based on a screenplay by: Pedro Almodovar
Director: Akash Khurana
Prithvi Theatre, Juhu
Today, 6pm and 9pm (Adults only)

Proof
Proof is a Pulitzer prize winning play by David Auburn that revolves around a brilliant but eccentric mathematician and his daughter. When the mathematician dies, his daughter is forced to confront the thin line between genius and madness. Has she inherited the professor's brilliance, or is she simply suffering the same mental degeneration? Proof delves into the world of mathematics, sibling rivalry and love, raising compelling questions about the nature of genius.

Cast: Preetika Chawla, Ali Fazal, Tahira Nath, Akash Khurana
Writer: David Auburn
Director: Kashin Shetty
Prithvi Theatre, Juhu
Saturday, 6pm and 9pm

The Mystery of the Pantomime Cat
Blimey! The safe of the Little Theatre has been broken into. Boysie, the Pantomime Cat, is on top of the list of suspects. The wicked Mr. Goon is out to arrest him. But the Five Find-Outers are not convinced. They must set their brains to work and solve this mystery before it is too late. But it turns out to be the toughest case they have ever come up against.

Cast : Adhir Bhat, Preetika Chawla, Prerna Chawla, Hussain Dalal, Dilshad Edibam, Rahil Gilani, Karan Makhija, Tahira Nath, Jagdish Rajpurohit, Lalit Sathe, Hidaayat Sami, Pavitra Sarkar, Malaika Shenoy, Kashin Shetty, Himanshu Sitlani, Aman Uppal
Pawan Uttam, Sumeet Vyas
Based on the mystery series novel by: Enid Blyton
Adapted for stage by: Akarsh Khurana and Purva Naresh
Director: Meera Khurana
Prithvi Theatre, Juhu
Sunday, 11am

All About Women
Noted English actress Sarah Miles once said There's a little bit of a hooker in every woman...a little bit of a hooker and a little bit of God, thereby confirming the fact that the journey into the female psyche can be pretty arduous, if not a confusing one. This play takes that very journey and structures its findings in an unusual way, with five storiesinterweaving. In one story, the heroines are two sisters who have been on bad terms for years, while their mother tries to reconcile them. The second story is about two friends whose relationship undergoes a crisis when a third person appears. In the third story, the heroines are secretaries, each of whom wants to advance her career, at any cost. The fourth story is about three old ladies living in a retirement home, while the heroines of the fifth story are little girls at a kindergarten.The stories range from poignant to hilarious, while the characters range from insightful to absurd, but always remain real. Through these diverse characters and their experiences with regards to love, friendship and even careers, the play pretty much tells us...All About Women.

Cast: Ratnabali Bhattacharjee, Prerna Chawla, Nimrat Kaur, Tahira Nath, Malaika Shenoy, Shivani Tanksale
Writer: Miro Gavran
Adapted by: Purva Naresh
Director: Hidaayat Sami
Prithvi Theatre, Juhu
Sunday, 6pm, 9pm

DELHI

The National School of Drama's annual theatre festival, Bharat Rang Mahotsav continues in Delhi this weekend.

Theatre groups from across the world and those from various parts of the country perform at venues across Delhi. Promises to be a treat to the senses. We bring you some picks from the fest and for a detailed schedule of fest, click here.

Equus

Equus delves into the mind of 17-year old Alan Strang, a boy with a strange fascination for horses, who blinds six of these animals in an inexplicable fit. Through a series of encounters with a psychiatrist, we come face to face with more questions than answers. What is normal? What is worship? What is passion? What is individuality? Can what is accepted as ‘normal’ behaviour in a society smother a far more spirited and passionate way of being? Consciously placing itself on the edge, the play aims to question whether such a world makes any sense; to discover why such a world has come into existence; and also to ask if it is possible to imagine any other world – one in which we believe and, therefore, create rather than the other way round.

Saturday, Abhimanch, 9.30pm
Concept and direction: Vikram Iyengar
Playwright: Peter Shaffer

Rhinoceros

Written by Ionesco in 1959, Rhinoceros falls into the genre of 'Theatre of the Absurd'. The inhabitants of a town all turn into rhinoceroses. The only human who does not succumb to this mass metamorphoses is a flustered everyman figure who is frequently criticized for his drinking and tardiness. The play explores the themes of conformity, culture, philosophy and morality. It is often read as a response to the sudden upsurge in fascism preceding World War II.

Today, 4:30pm, SRC
Director: Vinay Kumar, Playwright: Eugene Ionesco

Bhor
Bhor is the search for a new dawn set in a re-habilitation centre for drug addicts. The play explores pertinent questions about what afflicts our society. What forces young people like Somu, Bunty, G.K and Rana, as well as anti-socials like Mintu and Kader Ali to take to addiction? But Bhor is not merely about the problems of drug addicts. It is about human relations and how they are afflicted by the tensions of an oppressive society. It is after all a search for the hope that will allow these young people to transcend this claustrophobia.

Friday, Kamani, 6.30 & 9.30 pm
Playwright and director: Usha Ganguli

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Music

MUMBAI

Shkabang - Electronic, rock, pop

Shkabang is - Abhijit Nalani, Shiraz Bhattacharya, Johan Pais, Pozy Dhar and Anushka Manchanda who have played on stage many times, but mostly separately in bands like Bombay Black, Pentagram, Tough On Tobacco and Hypnotribe. They are all about big sounds, electro and rock n roll.
Tonight, Blue Frog, Lower Parel. 10:30pm - 11:30pm. Call 65251716/18.

Designer Hippies + Z Machine (South Africa/Israel) - Trance

The Designer Hippies who are a close-knit family of urban-dwelling beach-combing party-throwing trance music lovers. The Hippies have been organizing, managing and playing at undisputedly the most happening parties of the Goa season, spreading to Delhi, Calcutta, Pune, Bangalore and of course Mumbai. On the international front, they have massive events in the pipeline in Israel, Ibiza and Brazil. Thailand and Australia have already been entertained by D'Hippies DJ sets. Z-Machine exists to drive us through our crazy machine-oriented world, where the best thing to do is dance and fly high. Paul Marks has been making the psychedelic underground scene move and fly in Israel since 1997.
Tonight, Blue Frog, Lower Parel. 11:30pm - 1:30am. Call 65251716/18

DJ Darren Tate blends his recipe of trance, house and progressive house at The Blue Frog, Lower Parel

Tomorrow, Blue Frog, Lower Parel, 10:30pm to 1:30 am. Call 65251716/18

BANGALORE
Marcus Wyatt Live at the Creek
The trumpet player hails from Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape, and has been playing the horn since 1983. He has worked with an array of musicians from all over the world. From Manu Dibango, Abdullah Ibrahim and Miriam Makeba to Carlo Mombelli, Bheki Mseleku and The Stockholm Jazz Orchestra.
Tomorrow, January 16 January 16th, 9 pm
Opus in the Creek, #2 Doddanekkundi Industrial Area, Whitefield Road, Bangalore

Awek
Selected as Band of the Year at the Cognac Blues Passions Festival, Awek's music is firmly rooted in Gospel. The band has mainly played and broadcast its music in the West. For Invites, contact Alliance Francaise de Bangalore.

Sunday, January 17, 8:30pm. B-flat, 776, 100 Foot Road, Indira Nagar.