Theatrical Reading Session
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On 22nd January 2023, the Alliance Française de Pune and the Goethe-Institut Pune are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty, which laid the foundation for the French-German partnership after the Second World War. Both nations wanted to transform the conflicts of the past into a driving force for peace in Europe. The objective was to create enthusiasm among young people for each other’s language and culture.
In the spirit of foster language and inter-cultural exchange, this celebration will see Pune talents Anand Chabukswar and Angad Patwardhan perform a theatrical reading of excerpts from the correspondence between French philosopher Voltaire and Frederick II, King of Prussia, from 1736 to 1778. The entire exchange has been divided into three clear parts for the performative reading session.
Taking place at the lawns of the Goethe-Institut on Sunday, 22 January, the event will also mark the announcement of a year-long celebration of Franco-German friendship by the two language & cultural centres. The partnership takes the shape of a cultural programme scheduled to commence with the short film festival ‘International Shorts Collective’ in June, followed by concerts and workshops on the occasion of World Music Day and the European Day of Languages.
About the Performative Reading Session:
Created by - Rainbow Umbrella
Showrunners - Shrirang Godbole, Vibhawari Deshpande
Reserach and performance script - Dr. Nandita Wagle
Director- Anupam Barve
Performers - Aanand Chabukswar, Angad Patwardhan
More than forty long years of epistles: letters, missives, notes and poems, exchanged between two giants of their times. The correspondence, begun when the King was still a young prince in his twenties and Voltaire, his senior by 14 years was already an established writer-philosopher.
The first phase contains the part before the accession of the Prince to the throne. This exchange begins on extremely amicable notes, with mutual admiration eloquently expressed by both men. The friendship grows with leaps and bounds and we see multiple facets of their relationship, sometimes friendly, others times clearly more on the lines of lovers kept apart by a cruel fate and then others where they come across more as orators debating on matters of politics, ethics and metaphysics.
The second phase is a slightly darker one as the Prince accedes to the throne and is forced to look at the world through the eyes of a ruler and not a philosopher or an artist. This is also the period in which the two are actually able to spend time together. Unfortunately, the closeness does breed contempt, the relationship sours and the central years of the King’s career, his many wars and victories, his decrees, some of them strongly objectionable to Voltaire, all bring immense strain to bear on their friendship. Suspicion, accusations, recriminations all fly back and forth and for some time the differences seem irreconcilable.
The third phase covers the last phase of their lives. As the Kings warring days begin to ebb, Voltaire is caught up in debts and many financial scandals and crises. He is forced to ask the king for help and is more often than not protected and saved by the Kings intervention. The friendship begins to tilt back to an even keel and the correspondence once more, becomes more intimate. Mutual understanding and tenderness seeps back into the exchange.
These four long decades of epistolary exchange runs the gamut of emotions and ends on a beautiful eulogy to Voltaire rendered by King Frederick of Prussia at the Royal Academy of the Sciences.
The performance will take the form of a theatrical reading enhanced by music and audiovisual projection and will span the duration of an hour.
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