IHC Theatre Festival Comes to India This Month

The eagerly awaited annual India Habitat Centre Theatre Festival is back with amazing productions from across the country. Set to enthral theatre lovers once again with a curated selection of excellent plays. This edition of the festival is scheduled from 20th September to 29th September 2024.

The annual IHC Theatre Festival brings a breathtaking ten days with a ‘Play A Day’, giving you a bird’s eye view of some of the innovative and socially pertinent explorations in contemporary theatre across India. This edition is a delightful celebration of creative energies that blur boundaries between writer, actor, director, performer, poetry, prose, creator and creations, the past and the present.

Authors and poets Jerry Pinto and Naveen Kishore turn their written word into performance art with A Life in Poetry and Mother Muse Quintet. Akvarious Productions marks 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. Kalgitura brings alive the folk tradition and atmosphere of rural Maharashtra while Maneesh Verma’s black comedy Jump lays 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 Adishakti from Pondicherry once again explores new terrain with Urmila, using an ancient story to delve into complex ethical and gender-related issues of contemporary relevance.

Ms. Vidyun Singh, Creative Head Programmes, Habitat World, India Habitat Centre said, “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”.

Vikram Kapadia and Daniel Dsouza take a look at the relationship between an artist and his creations in Red. Based on the life of celebrated painter Mark Rothko, it queries the relevance of art and its purpose. Victor Thoudam from Manipur returns with Aboriginal Cry, a non-verbal exploration through sound and the body of the indigene’s relations between land, rituals, and cultures. Waiting for Naseer is a celebration of theatre, acting, passion and life itself, looking at the challenges and insecurities that are faced while pursuing the dream. Embodying this passion and bringing it to fruition is Bidyut Kr. Nath from Nagaon village in Assam. He pursued his passion, crowd-funding through Facebook to mount his play Raghunath and stunned all by sweeping six awards at the META awards earlier this year.

A screening of Ghashiram Kotwal, a stylized film adaptation of Vijay Tendulkar’s famous play is an added attraction for theatre lovers.

The IHC Theatre Festival 2024 brings us:

- “A Life in Poetry” directed by Jerry Pinto

- "Ghashiram Kotwal" directed by Yukt Film Cooperative Society

- “Traasadi” directed by Manav Kaul

-  “Mother Muse Quintet” by Naveen Kishore and Jivraj Singh

- “Kalgitura" directed by Sachin Shinde

- "Waiting for Naseer " directed by Srinivas Beesetty

- "Raghunath " directed by Bidyut Kr Nath

- "Jump" directed by Maneesh Verma

- "This Time" directed by Akarsh Khurana

- "Urmila" directed by Nimmy Raphel

- "Red" directed by Daniel Owen Dsouza

- "Aboriginal Cry" directed by Victor Thoudam

Tickets are available on bookmyshow.com and at the programmes desk at India habitat Centre, Lodhi Road.

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