All roads lead to Prithvi Theatre Festival

Mumbai's premier stage event, the Prithvi Theatre Festival is less than a week away and the excitement is tantamount as theatre greats such as Satish Kaushik, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, and Naseeruddin Shah will take the stage. The GUIDE tells you what to bag at the box office, now

Prithvi Theatre, the Mecca for theatre lovers in the city, will soon be buzzing with the 35th edition of its famous theatre festival. Spanning over a fortnight, you can revel in celebrating 28 performances of 15 productions, lend thought and an ear to StageTalk@Prithvi, the introductory series that will have eight feted theatre directors speaking on their craft,u00a0balanced with a healthy doseu00a0of music.

Master Madam will be concerning a soul switch between two people

This time, the schedule has curated productions that are offshoots or adaptations of renowned classical texts. The festival opens on November 5 with a Feroz Abbas Khan revival starring Satish Kaushik, Seema Biswas, Kishore Kadam and others. For those who are in the dark about Kaushik's histrionic prowess, we recommend a dekko into the life of the titular protagonist (reprised by Kaushik) who grapples his way with technology and modernity.

The other stalwart of subtlety who can evoke several emotions, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, will bring an adaptation from Mahesh Elkunchwar's 1988 play, Atmakatha. Delving on the genre of autobiography, it is the many creaks through which the writer enacted by Kharbanda spills secrets that challenges the relationships he is involved with. In the experimental mode, we are piqued with the Puducherry-based theatre group Adishakti's play, The Tenth Head. As the story goes, Ravana's ten heads are all in harmony but one, which leads to a revealing plot.

For Gujarati theatre lovers, Master Madam should be watched to re-discover the oldest comedy in Indian literature, Bhagavadajjukam. Our other recommend is a not-to-be-missed Dastangoi starring the director Mahmood Farooqui, Anusha Rizvi (of Peepli Live fame) and Danish Hussain.

For music connoisseurs, the festival is punctuated with two Sunday jams (artistes Ranjit Barot and Taufiq Qureshi are on the roster) along with Symphony Orchestra of India performances, promising something for everyone.

From November 5 to 18
At Prithvi Theatre, Janki Kutir, Juhu. CALL 26149546

Director speak
The eight interactive interviews with directors will include: Makarand Deshpande, Atul Kumar, Sunil Shanbag, Feroz Abbas Khan, Rahul da Cunha, MS Sathyu, Quasar Thakore Padamsee, Veenapani Chawla, and Naseeruddin Shah. u00a0