CREATIVE PURSUIT

Aimed at producing quality performances, Aadyam aims to become India’s gateway to theatre

For the past two years, Indian theatre has been getting a much-needed financial boost with Aadyam’s theatre series. Audiences know they are in for an experience as soon as they reach the venue—from being welcomed with a performance of jal tarang and dholak (Mere Piya Gaye Rangoon) to enjoying chorizo pao and coconut water (Loretta) in the food court. Now in its third season, Aadyam aims for a balancing act with work that highlights how theatre can be small and wondrous too. Of the seven new plays, two are part of the new ‘Black Box’ format—staged at G5A, a smaller venue, with the walls painted black—Hoshruba Repertory’s Guards at the Taj and Aasakta’s Gajab Kahani. However, as artistic director Divya Bhatia says, “The intent is not small. The quality of staging is still paramount. The idea is still to encourage innovation in staging and storytelling, free from a poverty of the imagination. And build new audiences for theatre with new, fresh and quality experiences.”

As in the past two years, the programme features new productions —65 shows in all, running from April to November. Purva Naresh’s

Bandish 20–20,000Hz revisits the glorious past of a nautanki singer and a baithak (classical) singer. Akash Khurana adapts Srikanta, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s novel about a nomad in Under the

Gypsy Moon. Quasar Thakore Padamsee presents “a biting satire” in Mother Courage and her Children and Nadir Khan of Rage Group directs Vivaan Shah in Anand Express, a play that celebrates friendship. Making its Aadyam debut is the popular Motley group, which will have Vivaan’s older brother and musician-actor Imaad Shah direct

Three Penny Opera, based on the legendary 1920s musical by Bertolt Brecht with music by Kurt Weil.

The programme features new productions—65 shows in all, running from April to November