Delhi Theatre Festival Returns: A Star-Studded Celebration of Stage

Good news for Theatre lovers, the fifth edition of the ‘Delhi Theatre Festival’ returns on September 20.

The festival boasts of a top notch line-up of plays featuring theatre and cinema veterans such as Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah, Shabana Azmi and Lillete Dubey

The three-day festival organised by Alchemist Livewill will stage a total of seven plays at the Siri Fort Auditorium, Kamani Auditorium, OP Jindal Auditorium in Delhi, and Orana Conventions in Gurugram.

• On September 20-21, Ratna Pathak and Naseeruddin Shah’s “Old World” will be staged at the Siri Fort Auditorium. The play will move to Orana Conventions on September 22.

The drama involving the actor couple revolves around the friendship that develops between an eccentric woman and a reserved doctor after a chance encounter at a health resort.

• Twinkle Khanna’s celebrated play “Salaam Noni Appa”, featuring Lillete Dubey, Yateen Karyekar and Jayati Bhatia will open at Kamani Auditorium on September 21.

“Salaam Noni Appa” explores the dynamics between two widow sisters, as one of them finds love in a younger man.

• Mandira Bedi and Samir Soni’s “Anything but Love” will be staged at Kamani Auditorium on September 20.

A comedy for adults, “Anything but Love” is a story of two people, recently divorced but maybe still very much in love.

-“ Broken Images” by Shabana Azmi will be staged at Orana Conventions on September 21.

The show features Azmi playing two sisters living under the same roof – one an intellectually brilliant paraplegic, the other a plodding writer – but the arrangement is fraught, because as they respond to life together, and separately, they continually modify the image they have of each other and the world around.

• “One on One Dhamaal” by Rajit Kapur, Vrajesh Hirjee, Sumeet Vyas, Sohrab Ardeshir, Anu Menon, and Shikha Talsania will be staged on September 21 at OP Jindal Auditorium.

The unique theatrical production brings together nine of Mumbai’s finest actors to deliver monologues and duologues in English and Hindi to address subjects as varied as marriage, Bollywood, inedible airline food, the politics of road naming ceremonies, and the experience of living in a big city.

• “Jaya – A Rock Musical of the Mahabharata”, featuring Megan Murray, 2Blue, Vikrant Chaturvedi, and Asif Ali Beg will go live at Siri Fort Auditorium on September 22.

“Jaya presents the key events of the Mahabharata in a dramatic montage style through the eyes of Yudhishthira. It examines and contrasts his experiments with truth with two divergent beliefs and viewpoints: those of Duryodhana and his faith in victory and power at any cost, and those of Karna’s fatalism and belief in an unchangeable destiny.

• Vinay Pathak and Rajat Kapoor’s “What’s Done is Done” will be staged at OP Jindal Auditorium on September 22.

Julio and Pedro draws you into the world of Macbeth or Macky B & Lady Macbeth, an adaptation of Macbeth and his lady.

Prabhu Tony, COO and co-founder of Alchemist LIVE, said that they are trying to introduce new formats within the realm of theatre every year.