The Manganiyars all set to seduce Bengaluru

It has been nearly two decades since Roysten Abel’s iconic musical production, The Manganiyar Seduction, premiered. But the noted playwright and theatre director, known for a range of critically and commercially acclaimed works, such as Flowers, Othello in Black and White, A Hundred Charmers, and The Kitchen, still is not tired of the music.

“I should have had enough of it, but I just don’t. There is something very special about it. It still manages to mesmerise me,” insists Roysten, who is all set to bring The Manganiyar Seduction to Bengaluru.

This breathtaking work, which has musicians from Rajasthan’s Manganiyar community performing on an elaborate set composed of stacked, red-curtained cubicles inspired by both Jaipur’s Hawa Mahal and the red-light districts of Amsterdam, “came to me at a point when I wasn’t even interested in it,” he recalls.

He was in Segovia, Spain, directing another show, when he was “seduced” into this musical world by the two Manganiyar musicians who had accompanied him on this trip. “They would come and sing outside the room at 6 in the morning… and I could not get enough of it,” says Roysten, who went on to create a show around this music back in 2006.

Over the years, the piece has taken a life of its own, he feels. “I don’t believe that there is any work of art that is complete. It has got its life, is a living, breathing thing,” he says of The Manganiyar Seduction, which has been performed hundreds of times in iconic venues all over the world, transcending linguistic and cultural borders.

“Even when I was creating it, I did not know what each line meant,” says Roysten, who believes that the music of these singers was always bigger than the language. “That is what I wanted to share with the rest of the world,” he says, pointing out that focus was never on what was being sung, but the way it was. “It cracks people, stuns them, moves them…that is why it works so well.”

The Manganiyar Seduction is being brought to Bengaluru thanks to a collaboration between the Bhoomija Trust and the Prestige Centre for Performing Arts.

“After more than 800 shows across the world, having Roysten’s masterpiece staged in Bangalore is truly a special treat,” says Dipti Rao, DGM of Auditorium Operations, Prestige Centre for Performing Arts.

Gayathri Krishna, Founder and Managing Trustee, Bhoomija, refers to The Manganiyar Seduction as “a production that has become a cultural phenomenon across the world. Roysten Abel has created a work that is both deeply rooted in tradition and breathtakingly modern in its theatricality. It is immersive, powerful, and unlike anything else.”

The Manganiyar Seduction is being staged at the Prestige Centre for Performing Arts, Bangalore, on Friday, 29 Aug at 8 pm and on Saturday, 30 Aug at 4:30 and 7:30 pm. Tickets, priced ₹ 1200 onwards, are available at BookMyShow.