#jatinder

[jatindersinghdurhailay]

The brothers from Leeds 2023 30x22cm Watercolour on handmade hemp paper

[mizgnomer]

Photos from the Macbeth London Press Night after party - October 2024

With thanks to Moyo Akande, Brian James O'Sullivan, Jatinder Singh Randhawa, and the rest of the Macbeth cast

[tonydaddingham]

watching this and making those sad little sigh noises that dogs make sometimes

[fanstantic]

I did. It was amazing 🔥🔥🔥

Like every actors are good, the scene with the porter is incredible. I loved each bit of the play

Is it a common experience to feel the urge to see it again ?

[thewingedwolf]

cory, jag, meme, & felicia were guessing each other’s mother’s names and then jag goes “guess my mom’s name” and cory goes “i…shouldn’t be guessing” and jag laughed, but then meme & felicia gave up immediately and he said “jatinder” and cory goes “oh i could have gotten there” in the most annoyed voice

[denimbex1986]

'*****

This is the second starry adaptation of Shakespeare’s Scottish play within the month, both boasting high concepts. Simon Godwin’s show premiered in a warehouse with Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma as the crown-usurping couple. This production is just as celebrity-driven, with David Tennant and Cush Jumbo as its leads. But where Godwin’s show flirted with immersive theatricality, half successfully, Max Webster’s concept combines immersion in sound with a fantastically creepy filmic expressionism.

We channel the sounds of the play through binaural headphones. The use of aural three-dimensionality here, designed by Gareth Fry, is incorporated with live folk music, which brings Celtic sounds while the action takes place on a central stage and glass box behind it.

As fanciful as that sounds, there is an intensely focused vision behind it. Superbly directed by Webster, it is full of wolfish imagination and alarming surprise. The action takes place at under two hours’ traffic yet it is not a classically fevered Macbeth but coolly creepy, and horrifying.

Sound, in Shakespeare’s text, has great disturbing significance. That is made manifest here. The 3D headphones magnify every creak and whimper. We hear the cold clink of metal as Lady Macbeth snatches the daggers with which Macbeth has killed Duncan (Benny Young) to return them to the crime scene.

The witches take the concept a step further and appear in sound rather than form. They are sinister in their absence, invisibly roaming in the vapour and smoke around the stage, present as a sibilant chorus of whispering voices played by the entire cast – an ingenious way to suggest that they represent the ever-present murderous voice in Macbeth’s head. They moan, giggle and flap crow-like in our ears, bringing an uncomfortable intimacy.

The headphones allow Tennant and Jumbo to talk in low conspiratorial tones. Tennant is a wiry, austere, self-righteous warrior who turns his intelligence into calculating outrage. He makes this Shakespearean role look effortless as he murmurs his soliloquies and we hang on his every word. There is steel and cunning to Jumbo’s Lady Macbeth, dressed in virginal white throughout, and a sense of purity remains around her despite her plotting.

Paradoxically, hearing the dialogue through headphones brings intimacy but one reminiscent of film with an augmented Dolby sound, as if these characters are not talking in real time...

The horror and tragedy hit all the marks too, from the killing of Lady Macduff (Rona Morison) and children, taking place in pitch darkness and capturing every sound of their last gasps, to Macduff’s (Noof Ousellam) disbelief at the news and the terrible sense of fate in the final fight scene.

The production is so focused, and so self-assured, that it seems to throw a bizarre meta-fictive curveball, straight after Duncan’s murder in which the Porter (Jatinder Singh Randhawa) breaks out in broad modern Glaswegian vernacular in what seems like his own standup routine. Yet the production has such command that it somehow pulls it off.

It’s a cool, cocky and utterly arresting production. Tennant’s Macbeth is vicious and yet he makes us feel his character’s tragedy acutely.'

[lyricsssdotin]

5911 Lyrics

Singer:Jatinder GagowalAlbum:Aman Jaluria Aye yo the kidd! Ho nit pichle pair nu bambi teYaara da tola40 takk ne hathi de sir warge niFull paisa dhela Organic chakke khuladi tonGatte aa gud de Jatt 5911 teJatt 5911 te jhota niMode na mudd deJatt 5911 te jhota niMode na mudd de Oh shaunki jatt shikara daSaada passion khetiHaan dabba de naal rehnda aePolymer 80 Saadi royal poshak aa kurta…

[fordhampr]

INTRODUCING THE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL OF AUSTRALIA

The International Film Festival of Australia aims to recognize and honor exceptional artists, directors, producers, and the commendable works of feature films, short films, and documentaries from around the globe. The IFFA reaches out across all continents, unites cultures, and celebrates the power of storytelling. So after seeing numerous Instagram and Facebook posts (you know I love anything…

[bollyhollybaba]

Jatinder Kaur Interview (65 ਸਾਲ ਤੋਂ ਹਸਾਉਣ ਵਾਲੀ ਦੀ ਕਿਵੇਂ ਬੀਤ ਰਹੀ ਜ਼ਿੰਦਗੀ 🙏...

[akultalkies]

Sargun Mehta, Ajay Sarkaria, B.N. Sharma, Prince Kanwaljeet Singh, Amar Noorie, Iftikhar Thakur, Jatinder Kaur, Prit Aggarwal, Joty Kay

[jatindersinghdurhailay]

Sidhu Moosewala 2023 Natural stone pigment heightened with gold on handmade wasli paper 34.5x24cm

[ingravinoveritas]

This past week, I traveled to London to see Macbeth. Everything I had heard and seen about David, Cush Jumbo, and the overall production convinced me that it was not to be missed, and so I took the crazy chance of purchasing a ticket months ago, and it was the first time I've ever gone to another country just for a play.

Ever since I was a kid, I have been going to Broadway shows, and the experience of live theatre has always been something incomparable and incredibly meaningful to me. Seeing something beyond Broadway, however, never felt possible until now. This opportunity arose at a moment when I was finally able to seize it, and now that I have attended the play not once, but twice (thanks to a lovely person who was able to help me obtain a £25 day ticket), I can say that Macbeth was, without question, the most amazing thing that I have ever seen on stage.

What follows is my review/thoughts on the production, and I will try my best to avoid spoilers (though fair warning that one or two may arise, so proceed with caution).

In high school, Shakespeare was something we were taught. It was an assumed part of the curriculum, labeled as a classic. Yet it seemed to exist in a time capsule--a product of its era, and of an English language barely proximate to the one we speak today. We learned Macbeth on the page, in annotations and themes and meter, rather than something pulsing, beating, living. Something that makes us feel. And for nearly two hours in a beautiful Victorian theatre in a little corner of the West End, all I did was exactly that.

I felt. And after seeing this play, I am not the same person on a molecular level that I was before.

Everything about this play--from David's mesmerizing portrayal of Macbeth to Cush Jumbo's wrenching turn as Lady Macbeth to the entire ensemble cast to the staging choices (light, sound, and so on)--is extraordinary. It is breathtakingly ruinous. It is so fully immersive that by the end you somehow feel bruised, viscerally disgusted and wrung out in equally beautiful measure.

It's almost misleading to say that we the audience are simply watching the play, because thanks to the binaural audio design (headphones), we are in Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's minds, and become accomplices to the characters' wicked deeds. When the porter (Jatinder Singh Randhawa) comes on to provide comic relief at exactly the perfect moment, it soon becomes clear that it is a distraction from our own discomfort at what has just happened. But it is a short-lived respite, as we are soon plunged back into the action and the characters' spiraling descent into madness.

In terms of David specifically, seeing him on television or on any screen profoundly pales to seeing him on the stage. In much the same way that the stage is Michael's natural habitat, it is also David's. The way he moves, the way he holds himself when he's not even speaking--which I got to see up close when he knelt directly in front of me on several occasions--is meticulous. David becomes the character he is playing, down into the pit of his soul. He disappears so thoroughly that I very quickly forgot that I was even watching him.

So many people can recite Shakespeare, but there is a marked difference between recitation and what David does. Together, David and Cush make Macbeth and Lady Macbeth feel like the Bonnie and Clyde of the Elizabethan age (only hornier). And the themes the play invokes--greed, fear, jealousy, power--are shown to be themes not of a particular era, but of humanity. David especially is so preternaturally good at making all of that unbearably real. He not only makes Shakespeare accessible to the modern world--an already difficult feat on its own--he makes it timeless.

For the last ten minutes of the play, I felt like I stopped breathing. The evil that Macbeth perpetrates, and the realization that he has not become like this, but rather that this is who he has always been, hits full force. As much as this play is very definitely an ensemble piece, David is the standout. He commands the stage, and at no point is he more powerful than when Macbeth is falling apart near the end.

(On a purely aesthetic level, this is also when David looks most beautiful--the wild hair, the form-fitting shirt heaving with the rise and fall of his greyhound lean chest, and the majestic sweep of the kilt with every frenzied movement. The complete erosion of the line between sanity and insanity, but also showing us how tenuous that line was to begin with. And he is utterly gorgeous while doing so.)

It's also at this moment in the play that we see how skillfully David has manipulated the audience. Where Michael uses a character's emotions much more overtly and aggressively--sniffing the audience out, stalking around the stage, feeling as if he's about to pull you up with him--David is far more controlled. He draws you in slowly, carefully, and it's only when we see the depths of Macbeth's depravity (notably killing Young Siward) that we realize the truth:

He got us. He made us the witnesses to Macbeth's malice, made sure we couldn't look away. And now we are complicit.

If I had to pinpoint any negatives about the play (which is extremely difficult to do), it's that there is only a brief moment where the pacing lags just slightly, and it's because David is off stage for a considerable period of time. The cast is absolutely incredible, bar none, but the energy doesn't quite maintain that high level when he is not there.

Also, from a sensory standpoint, this is very much not a sensory-friendly production. There are several instances of sudden loud noises in the headphones (which I found especially jarring), as well as the use of flashing lights, and considerable use of smoke at multiple points. All of these were more acute because I was sitting in the Stalls (second row), so I can only speak to it from that vantage, rather than from other locations in the theatre. But for anyone who is autistic (as I am) or has sensory-processing challenges, be advised that this play is definitely inaccessible in those respects.

When I left the Harold Pinter Theatre that night, I felt as though my entire central nervous system had been rearranged. There genuinely is no way to be normal about this play, because it is not a normal play. It takes apart everything you know about Macbeth and puts it back together in the most unexpected, electrifying way. It is the beauty of destruction, and no one embodies that more perfectly than David. Even days later, I can still feel the buzzing of my skin, the blood rushing through me, fingertips tingling from some heady combination of arousal and fear. (Or as Dr. Frank N. Furter once put it: "A mental mind fuck can be quite nice...")

The moment the lights went to black, every single person in that theatre was on their feet in a standing ovation. The applause was thunderous, and seemed even louder in the wake of the complete silence that preceded it.

I had sat in that silence--awestruck, captivated--and thought to myself that I could watch this production forever. And I would go back and do it all over again right now if I could. If you have the means, the opportunity, it is an experience I cannot recommend highly enough.

David is truly a master of his craft, and yet performs without a hint of ego. He gives everything he has and leaves it all on the stage. And what he and this team of people have come together to give us is something I will remember for the rest of my life.

(Pictures taken on 10/12/2024.)

[eurevision]

EUREVISION ROUND TEN (last preliminary round): BHANGRA

We got so many submissions at the last second. I'm glad we extended the solicitation time. Thank you to everyone who wrote in. If given the choice between a remix and original song, I went with the remix. If an artist was cited twice, I chose the song I personally liked more. Some songs had ambiguous artists-- there was a 'music' credit as well as a 'singing' credit. I listed the artist as whoever was named in the former, not the latter, credit.

Here are your bhangra bop choices:

"Oh Ho Ho," by Sukhbir

"Ari Ari," by Bombay Rockers

"Bolo Tara Ra Ra," by Daler Mehndi

"Chandi Di Dabbi," by Jatinder Shah

"Forever," by Tegi Pannu feat. Prem Lata

"Chandigarh," by B21

"Boliyan," by Lehmber Hussainpuri

"Botlan Sharab Diya," by Bally Sagoo

"Mundian To Bach Ke (Beware Of The Boys)," by Panjabi MC

"Bhangra Knights vs Husan," by Bhangra Knights

The elaborate dance number ends Monday night.

[thealogie]

q&a report q&a report (late but better than never) q&a report i didn't catch quiiiite everything in detail but i did my very best

we got: dt ros watt (malcolm) jatinder singh randhawa (porter) cal macaninch (banquo) casper knopf (fleance, the kid actor) alasdair macrae (musician, murderer) annie grace (gentlewoman, musician) and i think? kathleen macinnes (singer)

the last three people all shuffled in a bit apart from each other after the round of everyone introducing themselves by name and character was already over so i'm not sure i caught them all accurately. i'll refer to people by first names

during the introduction round i think casper started introducing himself and got kid applause so the audience ended up giving every single person a sped up little round of applause like a cute lil call and response rhythm between introduction - applause of very specific short length which was kind of funny. the cast joined in for each others as well and everyone made funny faces while applauding.

most questions were asked by the moderator

question: What did you think about the production when they first heard about it? cal was confused but intrigued. a lot of "not sure how it was going to work or feel like". when david and cush got on it the binaural audio wasn't yet firmly part of the concept but he was intrigued by the approach through trauma and how that affects the macbeths' relationship.

question: Wow was it for them with the binaural audio knowing the experience is different for the audience? what do they think? dt: we don't quite now how it comes together. the sounds are all cued off us actors, not the other way around. all i know is without Laura we would be fucked! (Laura = live sound mixing person) ros: we never quite know how it sounds for the audience, we were able to put on headphones and experience scenes we're not in in rehearsal, but i want to watch the whole thing! the cue speakers have some stripped down sounds and music that are relevant for the actors. but the audio choices enabled us to create intimacy jatinder: i think it makes the audience better able to relate to mental health struggles and trauma, giving what happens in the characters heads into your heads and relate it to your own experience. i think everyone here in the room has some of their own experiences with mental health and… voices in their head

question to the musicians: how does your work add to the concept and experience? kathleen (i think mostly, but the other musicians might also have weighed in): music enables us to place the text in a very Scottish place, but without getting in the way of the text. The headphones make it possible that it mixes with all the layers, balancing between music, sounds and lines is possible thanks to the technology. you can have loudly, energetically played music but then mix it at a level where it doesn't interfere with lines, when usually you would have to play quietly to let the text come through, which creates a different atmosphere. kathleen: i was advised to sing when nobody is speaking and turn that to humming when somebody is. so it was also very useful to have the glass box and always see what is happening on stage.

question about the porter scene: how did that come to pass, especially making a more modern version out of it? jatinder: decided together with max to just play it and see where it goes, starting with improvisation and then fleshing it out. there was an interest in finding a modern equivalent to the original jokes that audiences would perceive in a similar way as audiences back then would have related to the original jokes. the scene purposefully takes a bit of the intensity out - basically an emotional intermission in the middle of this really intense and dark journey. but my job was also in the end of the scene to bring the audience back into it.

question to david: What makes you come back to the big parts? dt: Well, Max had a good idea and I like Max. I liked the idea of the themes of PTSD and child loss and I like the donmar warehouse. i performed here 20 years ago, which is remarkable because i'm in my mid twenties right now! (laughs all around). there's something a bit magical about this space and doing an olympic event of a part like this one in this intimate of a space.

audience member question to Casper (kid): What is your favorite bit of the play? casper: my favorite bits are the murdering… or the attempt to murder. (laughs all around) But no, seriously. I like scenes where I'm not being killed and I'm having a conversation with someone that's not about death. different cast member (not sure who): -Is- there even a scene like that? (everyone laughs) dt, turning to Casper kind of conspiratorially: My favorite bit every night is the audience's reaction to your neck getting broken. (raised eyebrows, nodding to the audience with a wide grin) That's always something.

audience member question: Do you notice the audience being different in any way with the headphones compared to your experiences in other plays? different cast members answer in bits and pieces (sometimes i have a vague memory who it was…) ros: with the headphones sometimes people are louder, sometimes i feel like you are more connected and zoned in on us! maybe because you don't have the opportunity to talk to your neighbor maybe… somebody else: i feel like it's very quiet and there is somehow less coughing than usual. (laughs around) i don't know why that is!!

audience member question: What other productions of macbeth influenced this one: [here be the the answer part with david's ian mckellen impression, see the other post] musicians (i think annie): we came straight, literally no break, from the RSC's macbeth production so we really had to empty our brains. there was no break in between, but the music is very different and Max's vision also very different, so we really had to unlearn parts

audience member question: The physical theatre stuff, the witch swarm, how did that come about? ros: We really tried to think more of what would be a physical representation of the voices in somebody's head. Everybody in Macbeth's life is watching, taunting, staring at him. It was always more about the intention of the movement, what these voices want to do to him and less what the movement itself is.

THANK YOU for transcribing all of this. I love getting an explanation for what the swarm of witches were meant to represent! It really did feel like a dance/feeling more than a literal scene and it’s fun to know that was sort of the intent. (Also the neck snapping bit - I also loved the audience’s reaction to that every night.)

[denimbex1986]

'Max Webster’s superbly atmospheric production of Macbeth is ground-breaking in its use of binaural sound technology, but this is just one aspect of a gripping show that boasts stand-out performances from David Tennant and Cush Jumbo in the lead roles. This psychological drama is thrillingly brought to life with close attention to detail to reveal the Macbeths’ darkest, innermost thoughts and feelings, shedding fresh light on a familiar story of ambition, betrayal, mental breakdown, and civil strife.

Macbeth, with its multiple references to unearthly sounds, is particularly well suited to the creation of an immersive soundscape, which is what sound designer Gareth Fry does here (as he did with Complicité’s The Encounter in 2016). The audience wears light, comfortable headphones throughout in order to enter this world – it is possible to watch the show without headphones, though the actors speak more quietly than normal (especially in soliloquies and whispered conspiratorial exchanges) so it is difficult to hear all speech, while the rich background aural texture will be lost. This is no gimmick. We almost forget we are wearing headphones as we get caught up in the power of the haunting drama unfolding all around us...

Webster has made some judicious cuts in what is already one of Shakespeare’s shortest plays, so the straight-through running time of 100 minutes passes in breathless excitement...

Tennant makes a compelling Macbeth from start to finish, powerfully portraying him as the saviour of his country who believes he deserves to be the next king of Scotland. We first see him alone covered in blood washing himself as a victorious war hero – and we last see him lying in a spreading pool of blood as a tyrant slain by Macduff: a precipitous fall indeed. With a broodingly intense presence, Tennant suggests a battle-hardened soldier whose moral compass has gone haywire, so once he has taken the first calamitous step of murdering his king as guest in his own home, he is prepared to do anything to keep himself on the throne. Effortlessly delivering Shakespeare’s lines, Tennant vividly shows Macbeth destroying his own humanity as he dwindles from honour to nihilism.

He is well-matched by Jumbo as Lady Macbeth, who seems to have diverted her unresolved bereavement at losing a child into backing her husband’s aspirations to the hilt. An indissoluble couple who confide everything to each other at the start, they later fragment as Macbeth leaves her out of his plans – we see Jumbo’s Lady Macbeth realizing with panic at the disrupted coronation feast that she is losing him and that the killing has only just begun. Driven to distraction by grief and guilt, her sleepwalking scene is truly poignant as we see Jumbo taking her imaginary child by the hand before blowing out her candle and drifting into the darkness.

There are also strong supporting performances from Benny Young as a dignified but naïve Duncan, Cal MacAninch as a wary Banquo doting on his son Fleance, Noof Ousellam as Macduff who turns his intense pain at his family’s slaughter into implacable anger, while Rona Morison as Lady Macduff desperately defends her children. And Jatinder Singh Randhawa brilliantly provides ad-libbing comic relief as the Porter, asking us, “Did you really pay to watch a radio drama?” – well, no, we got so much more full-blooded drama than that.'