Expanding creative horizon

The Aditya Birla Group’s theatre initiative ‘Aadyam’, has come up with five new plays from five reputed production houses that will be staged at Kamani Auditorium. The plays come in more than two languages and genres spanning drama, music and tiatr for the second edition.

Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman and Managing Director, Aditya Birla Group, said: “The response to the first edition of Aadyam from theatre lovers in Mumbai and Delhi has been truly overwhelming. This has encouraged us to broaden the scope of our second edition. So this year, Aadyam will launch five new productions in English and Hindi inclusive of two completely original works and musicals.”

The celebrated production houses that will showcase their work includes Cinematograph, Aarambh, Rage Theatre, Arpana Theatre and Essay PPL. All five plays present artistic diversity in content, entertainment, presentation and style. At a time when mounting and managing big scale productions is a dream for theatre makers, this project provides a tremendous boost for the development of production and staging value in theatre. All the plays are being directed by reputed theatre directors. Cinematograph’s ‘I Don’t Like It. As You Like It’ will be directed by Rajat Kapoor; Arpana Theatre’s ‘Loretta’ by Sunil Shanbag; Rage Theatre’s ‘Twelve Angry Jurors’ by Rahul Da Cunha, Rajit Kapur and Shernaz Patel; Essay PPL’s ‘Chakkar Chalaaye Ghanchakkar’ by Salim Arif and Aarambh’s ‘Ladies Sangeet’ by Purva Naresh. 

The key focus of the initiative, is to bring new audiences to the theatre, which is necessary for its growth and sustenance.

Artistic Director Divya Bhatia who has curated the theatre groups and plays for ‘Aadyam,’ talks about the thought process behind Aadyam 2016 says, “Through the plays that were staged last year and the ones that have been picked to be staged this year, we have tried to make the process of engaging with theatre more accessible and something one can relate to, while demystifying it from the notional clutches of the purely cerebral. All the five plays from last year are still running today and we’ve gone a step further in our dialogue with directors about what they’d like to showcase.”

Each play will be preceded by activities in the foyer of the venue that will be based on the themes of the plays, thus extending the ambience beyond the confines of the theatre hall.