An artistic delight for theatre lovers

An artistic delight that will feature famous artists like Pankaj Kapur, Sushmita Mukherjee and Sumona Chakrabarty awaits theatre lovers here with a line-up of 15 best picks of the season across genres.

The seventh edition of "Centrestage 2016 - Festival of Premiering plays", kicked off on Monday and will be on till December 4 at National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA).

It features 15 plays in English, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi and a dash of Malayalam, Sanskrit, Urdu.

"Centrestage is a celebration of theatre in its myriad forms. We are trying to present theatre lovers an array of genres through handpicked plays, which reflect the diversity of language, stories, genres and performances," NCPA Programming Head Deepa Gahlot said.

"The festival will also bring an array of artists like Tannishtha Chatterjee, Zeeshan Ayub, Neil Bhoopalam and Anuvab Pal. It is a true representative of the Mumbai spirit," Gahlot said.

The festival will have famous Bollywood/theatre actor Pankaj Kapur in the play "Dreamz-Sehar" that deals with life in a dream, reality and also imagination.

There will also be "Raat Na Aaye", based on Eugine O'Neil's "Long Day's Journey into Night" and "Facial, Pedicures and Mind Masala" starring Tannishtha Chatterjee.

The play titled, "Phir Se Shaadi" will take audiences on a humorous quest with Sheeba, who is looking to re-marry her husband after a talaaq.

Another highlight of the festival is the multi-lingual production "Dohri Zindagi", directed by Gurleen Judge. It is a love story in a homophobic society.

For Gujarati theatre lovers, there will be "Do Deewane Shaher Mein", a story about a young couple with high aspirations.

The Marathi highlight is the play titled, "Absolute", which explores the meaning of connections, disconnections, existence, search and reasons.

--IANS

mg/vm