'Solo Fest' charms audiences with an anthology of powerful performances

Delhi based theatre group Articoll, the creative wing of All India Centre for Urban & Rural Development, organized a unique festival on 20th May, 2022 where four solo performances were showcased. Many of Delhi's theatre lovers gathered at the Muktadhara Auditorium to witness the event, resulting in a packed hall. The Chief Guests were felicitated by Deba Prasad Ray, Patron, AICURD. They were, renowned theatre personality and cinema actor Nadira Zaheer Babbar of 'Ekjute Theatre Group' and Torit Mitra, Founder of the avant-garde theatre group 'Sansaptak', respectively.

Solo play 'Dayashankar ki diary' directed by Janani Ray, Festival Director and Founder, Articoll, was the first to be staged. It is a highly popular play written by Nadira Zaheer Babbar who keenly watched the entire play and complimented the director Janani and actor Amit Bansal after the show. The hall kept buzzing with applause frequently while the play was going on. The play throws light on grim realities of the have-nots.

Another one of Janani's presentations was 'For Pina' – A dance performance inspired by Pina Bausch, choreographed and performed by dancer Umesh Bisht. It narrated the anguish of people while the pandemic period was at its peak. A play on based on gender roles 'The god of few inches' was performed by actor Shuddho Bannerjee. Rabindranath Tagore's 'Dusshomoy' - a motivational piece was performed by Kalasandhani society's Madhumita Sen, her group had also presented the welcome performance 'Truth & Conscience' for the evening.

The audiences were all praises for the variety of performances, many also complimented the anchor Minora Ray for keeping up the energy of the otherwise longish event. Janani Ray closed the event by thanking her entire team that included Rohit Rauthan, Tarun, Sudip Biswas, Hritika Biswas, Ranjan Basu, Suzain Amin, Moin Sultan, Mitul Mittal, Tarak Sarkar, Habibur Rehman, Dheeraj Jawaharia and Prakash Chhinwal.