Event

The Bangalore Little Theatre (BLT) from India will present the play “The Prophet and the Poet” at the Learning Resource Centre, UWI, on Tuesday 4^th October at 6:30 p.m. This event which marks the 142^nd Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, is facilitated by the High Commission of India and the Mahatma Gandhi Institute for Cultural Cooperation in association with the Department of Creative and Festival Arts (DCFA), UWI and the India Alumni Association of Trinidad and Tobago.

The Prophet and the Poet is based on a compilation of letters and articles exchanged between Mahatma Gandhi and Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore over 25 years, with the Indian freedom struggle as the backdrop. The letters reveal how the two personalities differed significantly on the form and content of the freedom movement, yet they maintained genuine respect for each other in spite of deep differences on ideological grounds.

The Prophet and the Poet premiered at Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram on January 30, 2009. Subsequently, the BLT was invited by both the Visva Bharati University at Santiniketan and the Rabindra Bharati University in Kolkata, to perform at their institutions. The play has also been staged at the Raj Bhavan, Bangalore, with the President of India in attendance. Since its opening, there have been over 35 performances of the Prophet and the Poet.

The BLT was created in 1960, and is one of the oldest and highly respected theatre societies in Bangalore. It is a membership-based organization, with a highly participatory form of management. The theatre celebrated its Golden Jubilee in 2010. BLT has maintained a strict non-profit status since inception. However, the society is managed in a highly professional manner – reflected in the group’s track record of over 200 plays produced in its history.

Besides performances in Trinidad, the play will be performed in the UK, Ireland and USA in 2011, the 150^th birth anniversary year of Rabindranath Tagore. The Department of Creative and Festival Arts is delighted to have the BLT perform here during the Department’s twenty-fifth anniversary year.

Admission to the performance is free, however invitations are strongly recommended due to limited seating. For invitations, please email the Department of Creative and Festival Arts (DCFA), at Yvette.Barrimond@sta.uwi.edu.