The sign of three

The curtains go up on the much-awaited fifth edition of The Hindu MetroPlus Theatre Fest (MPTF) in Bangalore this month. Since its inception in 2005 in Chennai, MPTF is considered one of India’s most important theatre festivals, with plays from across India and abroad being performed in different cities, including Bangalore, Kochi, Hyderabad and Coimbatore.

This year three stunning productions with wide-ranging themes will be performed in Bangalore. The Festival will starts with

Beyond Binary , an Indo-Korean theatre collaboration, performed in Korean, English and Tamil.

>Book tickets for the Bangalore plays here.

The play, which developed from four years of intensive research and in-depth interviews in India and Korea, explores issues of sexual orientation and identity, drawing from Indian mythology.

August 15: Beyond Binary August 16: Colour Blind August 17: Macbeth

Directed by Yosup Bae, Beyond Binary combines dance and theatrical movement performed to live Korean and Indian traditional music. Beyond Binary, produced by InKo Centre and AsiaNow Productions, is supported by Korea Foundation, commissioned by Arts Council Korea, Gangwon Cultural Foundation and co-produced by the Namsan Arts Center.

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Colour Blind , presented by aRANYA theatre group, Mumbai is the next play to be performed.

Written by Manav Kaul, Kalki Koechlin and Dwijottam Bhattacharjee, in Hindi and English and directed by Manav Kaul, Colour Blind beads in a few misshapen pearls from Rabindranath Tagore’s life, from his lonely childhood to the autumn of his life, while also exploring his relationship with Argentine writer Victoria Ocampo. The play brings to the fore Tagore the writer, and above all, the human being.

The festival will conclude with Shakespeare’s Ratan Thiyam-directed Manipuri play Macbeth , presented by Chorus Repertory Theatre, Imphal. In the play, Macbeth is the name of a disease, an epidemic.

Its symptoms are unlimited desire, greed and violence. The disease has evolved through a hidden agenda that is dangerous and corrupt and when it finally erupts, the violence destroys mankind.

The eradication measures through literature, arts, science and religion have failed to reach inside the mind, where the disease takes root.

>Tickets for all shows can be purchased online here

Tickets will also be available at The Hindu Office , Infantry Road and Blossoms Book House, Church Street.

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Title Sponsor: Bose

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Hospitality Sponsor: The Park, Chennai

Event Manager: LIVE From EVAM

>See the full MPTF 2014 schedule here

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