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Theatre Festival: Edition II

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

TASTE THE BEST A scene from Alyque Padamsee's play, `Macbeth'

The spotlight often tends to leave Chennai out, while people ooh and aah over theatre in other cities. However, over the past couple of years, Chennai has been quietly, but resolutely, developing its own 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.

The city 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 in Chennai. The festival, which was launched in 2005, and is set to becoming an important date in the theatrical calendar, was received with such enthusiasm last year that there was no doubt it had to come back: bigger and better.

Auditoriums were packed, venues buzzed and, most importantly, the city became a gracious and enthusiastic host to the biggest festival of this kind in the country.

Going international

So, this year, we go international. Escape Theatre, a professional theatre group from Singapore, will stage A Very British Affair, a revue — another 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 Chennaiites 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 Chennai.

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

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

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

Chennai's local theatre plays an important role in the MetroPlus Theatre Festival. Naturally, it will featuring The Madras Players — which at 50 is probably the country's oldest theatre 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."

Tickets are available at Landmark (Nungambakkam, Spencer Plaza and Citi Center) or log on to www.hindu.com/theatrefest or call 98402-22363. Season passes are priced at Rs. 3,000 and Rs. 1,500. Tickets are priced at Rs. 500, Rs. 250 and Rs. 100. Students can enjoy 50 per cent off on tickets, priced at Rs. 100, only at the venue on show dates. All the plays will be staged at the Music Academy from August 4-14, 7.15 p.m.

SHONALI MUTHALALY

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