Theatre is always looking for new possibilities to experiment with. So when Kriyative Theatre Trust premiered a Kannada comedy play Heegadre Hege?, based on the writings of well-known humourist, T Sunandamma, they never expected it to stage 50 shows within a short span of two years. 

The 50th show of Heegadre Hege? will be performed on August 30 at Ranga Shankara. On this occasion, the group plans to bring out a brochure, organise a photo exhibition, and distribute mementoes to the artistes and technicians and sweets to the audience. “It’s a great feeling to be part of one of the most popular Kannada plays and with 50th show being staged we want to share it with our audience as well,” says Laxmi Chandrashekar, founder of Kriyative Theatre Trust and the producer of Heegadre Hege?

 Scripted by K Y Narayana Swamy, directed by Pramod Shiggaon and enacted by well-known theatre and television artistes, Sunder and Laxmi Chandrashekar, the play revolves around a few humourous episodes from the lives of the elderly, middle-class couple, Sarasamma and Malarayya. Be it when Sarusu promises to teach her english educated husband Kannada or when Malarayya worries about his wife going spiritual, the play surely has brought out a lot of laughs from the audiences, “Making someone laugh has never been easy and 50 shows in two years certainly says a lot on how well the audience has received us,” she adds.

After staging 50 shows, one would expect a few changes or added or deleted scenes, but the troupe has managed to keep up the same play as it was staged the first time, “We didn't find the need to add, delete or change anything. Everything about the play was perfect that there was no need for any improvisation at all,” says Laxmi.

Interestingly, only 43 out of the 50 shows have been staged in Bangalore, the rest have been staged in other cities in Karnataka except for the recent show that was held in Muscat. “This was a very rare and special opportunity for us. Usually, it gets very expensive to call a theatre troupe but since ours was a small team they invited us to perform. It was a houseful and the entire experience was unforgettable,” says Laxmi, who added that the play was performed in Kannada for the audience out there as well.

On the whole, Laxmi says that there is a feel of contentment among the troupe members as they first staged the play in order to let the audience have a good time and that’s exactly what they achieved.