|
Roysten was born in Kerala, South India. He did his schooling in Good Shepherd International School, Ooty and it was here that he started writing and directing plays. Little did he know then that he would continue doing this for life? He went to study commerce in college but dropped out twice after enrolling in two different colleges. Bored with commerce and business, which he had to do at his parent’s insistence some strange providence made him ask himself what he had enjoyed most in his life till then and the only thing he could think of were the plays he had done in school. Off he discarded the family business, joined drama school, and informed his parents after he had taken admission.
Roy graduated from the national school of drama in 1994 and then went to apprentice with the Royal Shakespeare Company in the same year. He came back to India in 1995, founded the Indian Shakespeare Company, and as the name suggests his initial work was lot of Straight Shakespeare. A major turning point in Roy’s life was in 1999 when he devised and directed Othello a play in black and white, which was his first original work. It went on to win the Scotsman fringe first award and since then has toured extensively around the world. This work got him national and international recognition and what followed was a spate of original works, which he conceived and directed. Some of these plays were produced in India and some in Europe.
He then started to work, with out of work street performers (Magicians, Jugglers, Impersonators, Snake charmers, Acrobats, Musicians, and Puppeteers etc.) This work got noticed in Italy and he was invited to conceive and direct a play on Fellini in Rimini, which is Fellini’s hometown in Italy . In that same winter he came down to India and created a play called the Spirit of Anne Frank, which starred the biggest female stars in the country. Soon after this he went on to do his first feature film In Othello that was his first step into cinema. He recently started to work with musicians creating theatre in music and his two productions The Manganiyar seduction with 50 Manganiyar musicians and A hundred Charmers with a hundred snake charmers is currently on world tour. Roysten just finished directing his latest production at the Historic red fort in New Delhi with 2000 folk artists. He is creating an International Center for Comtemporary Traditional Performances in Jaisalmer, which should be ready by 2015. Roysten is also working on his new production titled " The Soul Kitchen" which should open in 2013.
| |
|
THEATRE PRODUCTIONS BY ROYSTEN ABEL
|
|
Merchant of Venice
|
1993, National School of Drama, New Delhi
|
|
Moliere by Bulgakov
|
1994, National Repertory, New Delhi
|
|
Measure for Measure
|
1995, United Players Guild, New Delhi
|
|
Macbeth
|
1996, United Players Guild, New Delhi
|
|
Mahanirvan
|
1997, Sri Ram Repertory Co., New Delhi
|
|
Wesker’s One- women Plays
|
1998, British Council, New Delhi
|
|
Othello – a Play in Black and White -1999, Indian Shakespeare Company, New Delhi
WON THE SCOTSMAN FRINGE FIRST AWARD AT THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL AND PERFORMED AT THE CAIRO INTERNATIONAL THEATRE FESTIVAL
|
|
Romeo and Juliet in Technicolor
|
2000, National School of Drama, New Delhi |
|
Goodbye Desdemona
|
2000, Indian Shakespeare Company, New Delhi
London, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Netherlands
|
|
Othello – a Play in Black and White
|
2001, Harare international festival of arts.
|
|
Goodbye Desdemona
|
2001, Harare international festival of arts.
|
|
Much ado about Nautanki
|
2001, New Delhi.
|
|
At the Fringe – A Beggars Opera…
|
2001, Edinburgh Fringe, Rome, Sicily.
|
|
Love: a distant dialogue?
|
2002 India, Italy.Japan.
|
|
At the fringe a beggars opera 2
|
2002 Torino, Modena, Rimini, (Italy).
|
|
Dami al meno un raje di sole
|
2002 Italy.
(A play based on the legendary filmmaker Fellini done in Fellini’s home town Rimini, Italy.)
|
|
The Spirit of Anne Frank
|
2002 Delhi, Bangalore, Calcutta, Ahmedabad.
|
|
In Othello (Film)
|
2003.
|
|
Jiyo Indo Spanish play
|
2004 -250 performances in Barcelona (Spain).
|
|
Brain child by Farooq Dhondy
|
2005 New Delhi.
|
|
Ladki Seedhi Rahegi
|
2005 New Delhi.
|
|
Mother I did not eat the butter
|
2005 New Delhi.
|
|
Just justice
|
2006 New Delhi.
|
|
Othello In Black and white
|
2006 Germany , France.
|
|
Jiyo
|
2006 Spain.
|
|
Premiered Girish Karnad’s flowers
|
2006 Bangalore and Bombay.
|
|
The Manganiyar Seduction
|
2006 Delhi.
|
|
A Hundred Charmers
|
2006 Delhi.
|
|
The Manganiyar Seduction
|
2007 Bombay, Rome, Salzburg.
|
|
A hundred Charmers
|
2007 Naples (Italy).
|
|
Othello in Black and white
|
2008 Belgium, Netherlands.
|
|
The Manganiyar seduction
|
2008 Halle (Germany), Salzburg, Zagreb (Croatia), Vienna, Krakow (Poland).
|
| The Manganiyar seduction |
2009 Wiesbaden(Germany), Lyon (France), Amsterdam(Holland), Dublin(Ireland)
|
| The Manganiyar seduction |
2010 Sydney (Australia), London (UK), Singapore
|
| The Manganiyar seduction |
2010 BITE Festival Barbican center UK
|
| The Manganiyar seduction |
2010 Singapore Arts Festival Esplanade Therather
|
| The Manganiyar seduction |
2010 Marine Bay Sands Singapore
|
| The Manganiyar seduction |
2010 Lincoln Center White Light Festival, Rose theater- New York
|
| The Manganiyar seduction |
2011 Perth International Arts Festival- Australia
|
| The Manganiyar seduction |
2011 Auckland Arts Festival- New Zealand
|
| The Manganiyar seduction |
2011 The Kennedy Center- Washington DC
|
| The Manganiyar seduction |
2011 Womad- Abudhabi
|
| The Manganiyar seduction |
2011 Quateir De Ete- Paris
|
| The Manganiyar seduction |
2011 Alstadt Therbst Kulture Festival- Dusseldorf
|
| The Manganiyar seduction |
2011 Melbourne Festival
|
| The Manganiyar seduction |
2011 Hong Kong Arts Festival
|
| Old Town |
2012 The National Repertory- India
|
| The Manganiyar seduction |
2012 Penang International Arts Festival
|
| The Manganiyar seduction |
2012 Womad UK
|
| The Manganiyar seduction |
2012 Nh7 Weekender India
|
| The Manganiyar seduction |
2012 Royal Opera House Muscat
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|