Pandvani108
global myth & epic for grown-ups
Playful, powerful, very dynamic, very exciting
BEYOND THE BORDER
Exuberant ensemble Pandvani108 deliver bold, physical, intelligent and contemporary performance of mashed-up myth, punked pop and global epic for grown-ups.
Balancing the comedic, the mythic and the irreverent with unsurpassed skill, this is storytelling as it should be – fast-paced, contemporary, accessible and accompanied by a stunning soundtrack from word-class musicians.
the winner takes it all
back by popular demand!
Tricksters, deities, strange childhoods, complicated marriages and cosmic crises collide in the hands of the Pandvani108 ensemble! World-class storytellers Ben Haggarty, Emily Hennessey and Steph Brittain summon the ancient gods and monsters of Greece, Ireland, India, Japan, Iceland and more in The Winner Takes It All. While the three fabulous storytellers mash-up myth and reshuffle epic narrative, Raoul Neumann, Sheema Mukherjee and Rao Neiyyar provide a genius improvised soundtrack that ranges from Indian classical music to punked versions of familiar pop songs.
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the storytellers
Ben Haggarty is Artistic Director of the Crick Crack Club and one of the UK’s most popular contemporary performance storytellers. Renowned for his playful, physical and often challenging performances, his repertoire spans Indo-European fairytales for grown-ups, Greek and Irish mythology, the epic of Gilgamesh and contemporary myths of Frankenstein and The Sandman, which won him a Fringe First award for best spoken word.
Emily Hennessey is a playful and dynamic performance storyteller with a great love of Hindu mythology. She has travelled over 10,000 miles across India and Nepal by train, bus, rattling rickshaw and bicycle. Emily has toured in India, Iceland and Japan and performed at venues and festivals across Europe. She spent many months at the Kattaikkuttu School in Tamil Nadu, learning from the children who perform stories from the Mahabharata through music, dance and song.
Steph Brittain’s love for storytelling developed whilst studying Kathak dance in Paris and Delhi and it continued to grow during her MA in Drama and Movement therapy. She trained in performance at Acting International in Paris and Drama Centre London and has performed at Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester, Arcola Theatre London and for the BBC. A new voice storyteller, Steph Brittain joined Pandvani108 in 2022 as part of their artist development programme.
the musicians
Sheema Mukherjee absorbed North Indian classical music and the western tradition side-by-side, studying sitar and Indian classical music under the tutelage of her uncle, the late Pandit Nikhil Banerjee and then with the late Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. Today she is an established sitar player and composer; a regular in Transglobal Underground; a key member in The Imagined Village project and a formidable collaborator with internationally renowned artists from many genres.
Raoul Neumann grew up playing in rock bands, studying classical French horn, singing in church choirs, and eventually graduated from KCL with a first class degree in music in 2013. Raoul is a member of London Contemporary Voices, Trans-Siberian March Band and Kickback function band. He has performed and recorded with a wide variety of talented international artists, and has enjoyed touring and performing all over the world.
Rav Neiyyer started playing Tabla at the age of 6, the drums soon after, and his first Dhol was a present for his 11th birthday. Throughout his teens Rav played and trained with the Dhol Foundation, which led him to perform with the likes of Fun Da Mental, Transglobal Underground and the Bollywood Brass Band. He tours internationally and, in the UK, has played stages such as Glastonbury and Womad Festivals, the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Shakespeare’s Globe.
An outstanding example of real ensemble storytelling
BEYOND THE BORDER FESTIVAL
one of the most exciting things to emerge in contemporary performance storytelling
CRANBORNE EARTHOUSE
it was such a delight to watch those stories come alive
CULTURE MANAGER – HOUNSLOW COUNCIL
Pandvani108 take their name and inspiration from an ancient Indian epic-singing tradition. This drives their wild short-form style of performance: where the
very best episodes of world mythology are extracted, adapted and performed in rotation – supported by music and song and performed in partial
conversation with another (a ‘Ragi’), who adds interjections that spur the narrative ever onwards. The result is irresistibly live, direct and energetic!