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23 plays from abroad for theatre festival

NEW DELHI: The 13th edition of the fortnight-long “Bharat Rang Mahotsav” of the National School of Drama opens in the Capital on January 7 with legendary theatre director Habib Tanvir's much acclaimed play Charandas Chor.

In keeping with its tradition of presenting engrossing theatre that allows for meaningful engagement, this year's national and international theatre extravaganza presents a rich fare of 81 theatrical productions.

Twenty-three plays are from abroad with Chile, Bolivia, Argentina, Serbia and Ukraine being the first-time participants. The rest are in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Kashmiri and other Indian languages.

“Every year we present plays from around 60 theatrical productions. What is encouraging is that the plays are contemporary and an increasing number of high-quality plays are being produced. Theatre groups are preparing their plays well in advance by sending their video recordings on time. Bharat Rang Mahotsav provides a platform to Indian theatre groups to showcase their talent on a big scale. It also exposes our theatrical productions to foreign theatre groups and there is healthy interaction among artistes,” said NSD chairperson Amal Allana here on Tuesday.

“Budding theatre actors and directors come from different cities to attend the festival. This year they will witness more than 80 productions, selected out of 450 proposals received. This festival is not a glamorous event in which big stars or guests of honour make fleeting appearances. On the contrary, it acts as an instrument to develop theatre movements and in this endeavour we need wholehearted support of the media fraternity,” said the chairperson.

According to NSD director Anuradha Kapoor, the 13th edition will take forward the “Young Experimenters” component of past year and include productions by NSD graduates that will be an amalgamation of experience, energy and vibrancy.

“NSD students who graduated last July will also be staging plays. So we will get to understand how they perceive things plaguing our society. Another highlight will be the process of theatre-making which will be interactive and show behind-the-scenes works in theatre,” added Dr. Kapoor.

The upcoming festival will pay tributes to the celebrated theatre personality of 1970s, Shyamanand Jalan. An evening titled Homage will be devoted to him in which scenes from some of his most spectacular productions will be staged.

In Delhi, there will be seven venues – Kamani Auditorium, Shri Ram Centre, Little Theatre Group and four venues of NSD. A part of the repertoire – 19 productions of BRM 13 -- will travel to Chennai in which plays will be staged at Sir Mutha Venkatasubba Rao Concert Hall and Museum Theatre.

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