The curtains came down to the 15th edition of Old World Theatre Festival affirming to its vision with a spectacular assemblage of some of the finest theatre in India today. This year brought together ambitious productions pushing the limits of contemporary theatre practice.
This year the theatre enthusiasts witnessed classic, contemporary, translations, adaptations, devised scripts, original scripts, proscenium and alternative non-proscenium theatre. These plays entertained, provoked, reinforced convictions, questioned and explored a gamut of issues from relationships, freedom, gender stereotypes, religion, faith and eroding ecosystems.
The festival began with the performance ‘Ramayana’ by Jalabala Vaidya and the Akshara repertory in tribute to Gopal Sharman who passed away earlier this year. The Collegiate Theatre Festival, an integral part of the theatre festival has now developed into a full-fledged standalone festival held in February. Pushing the bar on the stage at the amphitheatre, IHC, this year saw three wonderful original plays – Arghya Lahiri’s directorial debut ‘Wild Track’, ‘Tees’ by the Tadpole Repertory and Anish Victor’s ‘Koogu’.
The timeless Ibsen classic ‘Doll’s House’ directed by Pushan Kripalani, Purva Naresh’s hugely successful ‘Ladies Sangeet’, actor-writer-director Saurabh Shukla’s gripping thriller ‘Barff’, Sheena Khalid’s ‘The Gentlemen’s Club’ AKA Tape, a provocative tale of women and their celebration of masculinity, Kaizad Kotwal’s widely applauded ‘Agnes of God’ and Nassim Soleimanpour’s internationally acclaimed ‘White Rabbit Red Rabbit’ performed by Rajit Kapoor made up a robust line up for this year’s festival.
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