This year’s The Hindu MetroPlus Theatre Fest is a significant departure from the conventional. The eight plays we have over seven days include adaptations, re-imaginings, monologues, duologues, experimentation, and even dynamic non-verbal presentation.
The sixth edition of what is fast becoming a major cultural event in the country promises to tease out many smiles, trigger plenty of laughs, arrest the eye, and engage the mind.
Each of the plays — three of them from abroad — has a distinct identity and together they represent the diversity and eclecticism that the Fest has come to represent. From Korea, we have an award-winning dance comedy that has captivated audiences worldwide. The celebrated American monologist, Mike Daisey, described by the New York Times as “one of the finest solo performers of his generation,” entertains us with a darkly humorous tale about technology and control. And from Singapore, HuM Theatre brings us ‘Rafta Rafta’, a play script that won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy in 2008.
By staging ‘Taramandal’, which won the MetroPlus Playwright Award 2010 for the best unpublished and unperformed play in English, we have created a synergy between the award and the Fest for the second successive year. The Chennai production, ‘Ms. Meena’, a bold and inventive adaption of a Swiss play, became possible as a result of an unexpected but happy collaboration between the Goethe-Institut, Pro Helvetia, and ourselves.
From Thrissur, Kerala, we have ‘Quick Death’, which takes liberties with space, time, cause, and effect in a daring experiment that stands conventional theatre on its head. Finally, we have two plays from Mumbai — the first a monologue about identity and belonging that has been extremely well received, and the second a string of eight short plays by a talented group of actors and directors who need no introduction.
I take this opportunity to thank the audience. You have welcomed and supported our Fest from its inception in 2005. We hope you will enjoy what we have in store for you.
N. Ram
Editor-in-Chief
The Hindu
