The Hindu : Metro Plus Bangalore / Theatre : The Festival: Edition II

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Monday, Jul 24, 2006

Metro Plus Bangalore

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The Festival: Edition II

SHONALI MUTHALALY

The MetroPlus Theatre Festival is back in Chennai with even more variety and a bigger line-up

NINE DAYS OF PURE THEATRE This year's fest is bigger and better with a greater variety of themes and presentations

Theatre buffs will be advised to look eastwards: Chennai to be precise. Over the past couple of years, this city has been quietly, but resolutely, developing its English theatre traditions. New groups are formed every couple of months, plays are staged reassuringly often and passionate students throng theatre companies for roles, even if it's just to play trees in Act II or powder the lead actor's nose.

Chennai now sees English theatre as a living, breathing art, rather than stuffy performances for intellectuals. Indian theatre in English is making itself comfortable on stages, masala chai, desi accent and all, while even British and American works are being adapted and Indianised by enterprising young directors.

It couldn't be a better time to stage The Hindu MetroPlus Theatre Festival. The festival, launched last year, is set to becoming an important date in the theatrical calendar and goes international this year.

Escape Theatre, a professional theatre group from Singapore will stage A Very British Affair, a revue — a first for the festival. The production promises to bring together everything from Andrew Lloyd Webber to Kylie Minogue in one hilarious, musical, extravagant sweep.

We have also scouted the country to bring an interesting selection of contemporary Indian theatre, resulting in a line-up that includes theatre groups from five Indian cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and, of course, Chennai.

The result is an impressively eclectic mix, which ranges from giggle-fests such as Q Theatre Productions' Beyond Therapy to thought-provoking entries like the moving Valley Song by Athol Fugard, South Africa's leading playwright, interspersed with simple hymns.

Of course, there's Shakespeare, slickly reinvented. The thoughtful and award-inning Othello,A Play In Black and White translates and adapts the Bard's work into contemporary theatre, while adman Alyque Padamsee brings an extravagant Macbeth, one that draws parallels between Tantric rituals and European witchcraft.

Appropriately, the fest features the work of an Indian playwright. And though Asif Currimbhoy's Goa, with its political overtones, is set in 1961, it addresses issues still relevant to the socio-political climate of present-day India.

Local theatre plays an important role in the MetroPlus Theatre Festival. Naturally, we will be featuring The Madras Players — which at 50 is probably the country's oldest group promoting theatre in English — staging The Shadow Box. The Boardwalkers, which consistently picks and promotes young talent from the city colleges, will be putting up Amadeus.

And finally, Theatre Nisha, a promising new entrant to the festival, has chosen to feature the Sri Lankan play Thicker Than Blood."

The festival is presented by Bose. Associate sponsors are Airtel and HSBC Bank. Lifestyle Associate: Royal Challenge Golf Accessories. Travel partner: Jet Airways. Hospitality partner: The Park, Chennai.

Festival Schedule

August 4

A Very British Affair — Escape Theatre, Singapore
Directed by Mark Waite and Samantha Scott-Blackhall

August 5

The Shadow Box — Madras Players, Chennai
Directed by Mithran Devanesan

August 6

Othello: A Play in Black and White — Can and Abel Theatres, New Delhi
Directed by Roysten Abel

August 9

Valley Song — Artistes' Repertory Theatre, Bangalore
Directed by Arundhati Raja

August 10

Macbeth — ACE Productions, Mumbai
Directed by Alyque Padamsee

August 11