IHC theatre festival to stage 12 plays from September 20

New Delhi: As many as 12 stage productions are set to enthral theatre goers at the upcoming India Habitat Centre Theatre Festival here in the national capital, starting September 20.

The 10-day annual theatre festival will open with "A Life in Poetry", a solo performance written, directed and performed by poet-novelist Jerry Pinto.

A celebration of creative energies that blur boundaries between writer, actor, director, performer, poetry, prose, creator and creations, the past and the present; the IHC Theatre Festival will see plays by theatre veterans, including Manav Kaul, Akarsh Khurana, Naveen Kishore, and Maneesh Verma.

While Naveen Kishore turns his written word into performance art with "Mother Muse Quintet", Akarsh Khurana's Akvarious Productions will mark their theatre journey with their 80th production "This Time", exploring themes like the passage of time, the pros and cons of nostalgia, and the onset of mid-life crisis.

Marathi musical play "Kalgitura", written by Datta Patil and directed Sachin Shinde, will bring alive the folk tradition and atmosphere of rural Maharashtra, while Maneesh Verma's black comedy "Jump" will attempt to lay bare urban isolation and loneliness of life in a crowded city.

Manav Kaul's "Traasadi" gives a moving insight into the grief and regret of a mother’s death and Nimmy Raphael explores new terrain with "Urmila", using an ancient story to delve into complex ethical and gender-related issues of contemporary relevance.

"We are proud of our annual Theatre Festival that brings an interesting blend of theatre in India spanning genres and languages. Our vision to create a national platform for pan Indian theatre practitioners is bearing fruit and creating new audiences and awareness. This year's line-up spans an eclectic range of narratives," Vidyun Singh, creative head programmes, Habitat World, India Habitat Centre said in a statement.

Vikram Kapadia and Daniel Dsouza's "Red" looks at the relationship between an artist and his creations through the life of celebrated painter Mark Rothko.

"Waiting for Naseer", written by Sapan Saran and directed by Srinivas Beesetty, is a celebration of theatre, acting, passion and life itself, looking at the challenges and insecurities that are faced while pursuing the dream.

Bidyut Kumar Nath's crowd-funded "Raghunath" will tell the story of a grieving villager in Assam who loses his daughter in a flood due to inadequate infrastructure and how he struggles with the questions of morality to bring prosperity to his community.

The theatre festival will also screen a stylised film adaption of Vijay Tendulkar's famous play "Ghashiram Kotwal" on September 20.

The IHC theatre festival will come to an end on September 29 with Victor Thoudam's "Aboriginal Cry" -- a non-verbal exploration through sound and the body of the indigene's relations with land, rituals, and cultures.