Aadyam in the spotlight

Jazz, crime noir, gangster grime—theatre director Atul Kumar incorporates all this, and an ensemble cast that plays multiple roles, in Detective Nau-Doh-Gyarah.

The new play opens this year’s Aadyam Theatre Festival 2018, an Aditya Birla Group initiative to make theatre more accessible, while developing and supporting diverse groups. In this, the festival’s fourth year, four productions will launch between June-November.

Kumar says his production is inspired by a love for “graphic novels, gangster films, Bollywood of the black and white era, and the films of Alfred Hitchcock and Charlie Chaplin”.

Aadyam’s artistic director and curator Shernaz Patel, a seasoned theatre actor, says there is a lot of music in this year’s line-up.

Patel and her team get scripts in early development and Aadyam sees the production through till it launches on stage. She says Aadyam allows playwrights and directors—new as well as reputed names and in different languages—to think big. “In spite of so much incredible talent, theatre has always had to struggle with very limited funding support. Aadyam has, therefore, been a huge shot in the arm for theatre—both for the theatre community and for audiences,” she says

This year, they have introduced the Aadyam Spotlight, which will offer audiences a chance to know more about stage production through a workshop, Front Row, with the cast and crew of plays. Registered members get to go back-stage, dine with the cast, and block bookings.

Detective Nau-Doh-Garah will be staged on 30 June and 1 July, 7.30pm, at St Andrews’ Auditorium, Bandra (West), Mumbai. Tickets, starting from ₹ 300, available on Bookmyshow.com.