GUWAHATI, Nov 9 (PTI): A three-day theatre festival will be held in Guwahati from Friday, organisers said.
The post-World War II era in Germany, the Covid-induced lockdown and functioning of the modern nuclear family are the themes of the three plays that would be showcased during the event.
“The fifth edition of the Guwahati Theatre Festival will be a three-day affair. It will have a diverse collection of contemporary plays exploring guilt, innocence, human and family relationships,” Sidharth Bedi Varma, chief executive officer of an English weekly that has been organising the festival since 2016, said.
Theatre stalwarts such as Shabana Azmi, Amol Palekar, Rajat Kapoor, Vinay Pathak, Saurabh Shukla, Kalki Koelchin and Rajit Kapoor, among others, have enthralled the audience in the previous editions.
Varma said the opening play will be ‘Taking Sides’, directed by Atul Kumar. Written by playwright Ronald Harwood, the courtroom drama explores the grey area of morality and the role of art and artist under a totalitarian regime in post-World War II Germany during the period of ‘denazification’.
Versatile actress and theatre director Lillete Dubey will present ‘Vodka & No Tonic’ from Shobhaa De’s book ‘Lockdown Liaisons’ on the second day of the festival, depicting the Covid lockdown woes with a dash of humour.
The festival will conclude with the enactment of ‘Rusty Screws’, written and directed by Meherzad Patel. The play is a peek into the life of a nuclear family.
Varma said Atul Kumar will also conduct a master class in acting for youngsters.
A new component was added to the festival this year in the form of an all-Assam theatre competition with prize money for theatre groups from across the state. The event was held on Sunday.
Varma added that the winners in the two categories, in which the competition was held, will be formally announced and feted on the opening day of the theatre festival.
