Edition II
Encouraged by the successful inaugural edition of The Hindu MetroPlus Theatre Fest last year, we are happy to be back in Bangalore with the second edition.
This August, the Fest — which was launched in Chennai in 2005 and held annually ever since — will run in five cities. Over the month, it will feature 20 performances in five cities — Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Coimbatore and, for the very first time, Kochi.
The Bangalore edition features three fine plays. We begin with Quaff Theatre’s The Real Inspector Hound , which takes a comic and tongue-in-cheek look at the conventions of the Tom Stoppard whodunit. Next up is Evam, which experiments with Trans-Theatre in its adaptation of David Mamet’s cult play, The Duck Variations . The curtains come down with a play all the way from Korea. Creative Group Noni, which contemporarises traditional Korean puppet theatre to propel the narrative in its play Kkod-Du .
Over the years, our engagement with theatre has grown considerably. This is reflected in the Fest travelling to more and more cities. In 2008, we instituted the annual The Hindu MetroPlus Playwright Award , which carries a prize of Rs. 1 lakh for the best playscript in English. Last year, the scripts that won the first three awards were spun out into a book published by Penguin. And as before, we have striven to have allied activities such as workshops and symposiums on theatre to enrich the experience of the Fest.
The Inaugural Edition of the Festival in Kochi
We are extremely pleased to bring The MetroPlus Theatre Fest to Kochi, a vibrant metropolis, where The Hindu has a substantial presence and to which it attaches great importance.
The inaugural edition of the Fest in Kochi features three first-rate plays over one weekend.
We begin with The Company Theatre’s The Blue Mug , a free-flowing narrative of personal memories that is performed by a star-studded cast and comes to Kochi after highly successful tours in the U.S., Europe and Singapore.
The second play is Rage Productions’ acclaimed One on One — a series of short, sharp and hilarious plays written, performed and directed by a talented bunch of people who need no introduction.
Finally, we showcase Perch’s Ms. Meena , a bold and inventive adaptation of a Swiss play that was commissioned for the 2010 Fest in Chennai as a result of an unexpected but happy collaboration between the Goethe-Institut, Pro Helvetia and ourselves.
We hope you enjoy what we have in store this year. And we hope you continue supporting the Fest as you have done since its inception.
N. Ram
Editor-in-Chief
The Hindu
For tickets in Bangalore
Tickets are priced at Rs. 400/250/100. Student passes are available at Rs.100. Season passes are available for Rs. 850 / Rs. 600.
Online Tickets for all shows can be purchased from Monday at >The Hindu's website and >www.indianstage.in . Tickets for all shows would also be available from Wednesday, July 20 2011 at Blossoms (Church Street), Bose Store (Forum mall and Prestige Emporium, M.G. Road) and The Hindu Office, Infantry Road.
For tickets in Kochi
Tickets are priced at Rs. 300/200/100. Student passes are available at Rs. 50. Season passes are available for Rs. 750/ Rs. 450.
Tickets for all shows can be purchased from Monday at >The Hindu's website and >www.indianstage.in . Tickets for all shows would be available from July 20, 2011 (Wednesday) at Coffee Beanz (Panampally Nagar and Marine Drive) and The Hindu Office (Vytilla).
