CHANDIGARH: A British play "Guru Manyo Granth", based on history and Sikh tenets was recently staged in Chandigarh by the London based Punjabi Theatre Academy.

Staged in Punjabi and English, the play traced the history of the Sikh religion by incorporating quotations and power point presentations on the various Sikh religious leaders or 'Gurus'.

The purpose of the play was to spread the message of Sikhism. "This play is based on education and awareness. Some of the cast came with me from UK, and these young people are in school. The sole purpose is to show the message why we are called the modern religion in this whole world. We just picked education based some quotations which can be understood by people from every religion, every background, this is history which happened 300 years ago," said T.P. Singh Sindra, Director of the play.

For the artistes, the experience was quite overwhelming as they learnt a lot about their tradition and culture. "Through this project I've been able to give part of my western culture but on the way back I've been able to receive back my traditional culture. So, even children of my age and even younger and older, they'll be able to do that as well," said Manprit, one of the actors. Many Indian theatre troupes go and perform abroad, but this is probably for the first time that a troupe from UK performed in India.

Timesofindia