nutkhut is currently touring and developing a diverse range of exciting projects, from a large scale Bollywood dance spectacular to a film/performance installation and a number of stilt walking characters.
nutkhut is looking to build strong partnerships to create innovative projects and highly accessible performances. Wherever possible nutkhut likes to work with communities to develop audiences and involve local people in the work when it is presented.
Current Projects available for UK and International bookings:
Future Projects:
Co-commissioned by The Liverpool Culture Company Limited as part of the 2008 European Capital of Culture programme. Supported by the Royal National Theatre and Winchester Hat Fair
nutkhut pays homage to the little known filmmaking dynasty of Shanta Rao Dutt and his family in Movieplex. The family’s long-lost movie heritage dates back to the end of the nineteenth century when the Lumiere Brothers first visited Mumbai.
Movieplex is a film and performance installation, featuring original memorabilia from the life and films of the resourceful Dutt family’s filmmaking highlights of the past 100 years.
The public first enter a specially designed venue to view the Dutt family exhibition, guided by ‘Dutters,’ as the Dutt film enthusiasts are known. At the sound of the gong, twenty-five expectant viewers are ushered into a plush velvet screening room. As they take their seats, the lights go down and the magic of the silver screen begins.
The recently rediscovered and restored nine-minute films created by moviemaking pioneer Shanta Rao Dutt take the viewer on a world cinema journey from silent movie to technicolour Horror. Movieplex is produced for nutkhut by independent producer, Bill Gee.
For further information on Shanta Rao Dutt, please visit WEBSITE
Originally co-commissioned by Greenwich and Docklands International Festival and the Mayor of London.
Bollywood Steps is a unique British Bollywood outdoor dance spectacle, created and directed by Simmy Gupta, Artistic Director of nutkhut.
Inspired by Bollywood films, the 40 minute show features exciting dance numbers fusing folk, classical, Bhangra, hip hop, jazz, salsa and contemporary dance with all the glamour of Bollywood plus an array of outrageous props, spectacular pyrotechnics and gigantic water effects.
Bollywood Steps is devised with the performers, and was originally created and toured with the participation of local dancers from Liverpool in 2006, and Stockton in 2007. Bollywood Steps is produced for nutkhut by Remarkable Productions in partnership with Central School of Speech and Drama.
Now in its third year of touring, Bollywood Steps kicks off the season at Big in Falkirk, against the stunning backdrop of Callendar House, on Saturday 3rd May, 3.45pm & 9.45pm, and Sunday 4th May, 3.45pm & 9.15pm.
Maharajahs
Meet the larger than life man of mystery, the Maharajah himself and a glamorous Princess dripping in jewels and silk. With true Punjabi panache they claim to be visiting royalty and add a touch of glamour. Also available with dhol drumming courtiers. Maharajahs is the UK's first Asian stilt-walking walkabout act.
The DJs
The DJs are pure urban hipsters where Hip Hop meets Bhangra. The DJs come with their own portable sound system and keep it real inside, outside and on top of da house.
Captain Mumbai
The tallest policeman from the world’s fastest growing nation on a very special assignment. Instantly recognizable and a great alternative to the British Bobby, Captain Mumbai presents old skool ‘Dixon of Dock Green’ style with a twist.
The Maharajah and The Mayor
A local mayor greets a visiting Maharajah in an entertaining walkabout around a town twinning ceremony
“It is also a tribute to the often lonesome, glamorous sari-clad mannequin looking out on a cold, grey high street. It is a reminiscence of my childhood – of me as a British Asian woman growing up, surrounded by two cultures and how I am the product of this amalgamation.”
Mannequins is inspired by the Indian sari shop window dummies first introduced to this country in 1970s. The original model was the iconic actress Hema Malini, with her bouffant hair, slim waist and voluptuous breasts – the top female star in Bollywood, and one of the reigning divas of the Indian film industry.
Imported from Mumbai, once purchased the mannequins were rarely replaced. They would sit in shop windows for years, gradually deteriorating, exposing bits of flesh, a broken finger, a chipped nose, taking on the allure of a Greek goddess such as Venus de Milo housed in the Louvre in France.
Mannequins will celebrate Bollywood heroines in particular roles and in famous scenes. It is a commentary on the perception of beauty and femininity in both the East and West, and will look at memory and social history through fashion.
Mannequins is currently conceived as an interactive installation and exhibition, with location-specific community performance elements, animatronix and projections to be presented both indoors and out.
Main photo: Bollywood Steps
Photo credits: Tim Smith, Hayley Madden, Ray Petit
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