Play On

After their tentative debut last year, the Atelier Youth Theatre Week comes into its own this month with a schedule that offers the best of campus histrionics. This year there will be 12 college plays, four more than the eight that was put up last year. While St Stephen8217;s College adapts Victor Hugo8217;s Les Miserables as Aadhi Raat ke Baad, Miranda House will take on Spanish play Iron by Rona Munro, a psychological drama about an encounter between a woman visiting her mother in prison. Shri Ram College of Commerce on the other hand, tackles existentialism in an original play called Sifar.

8220;It8217;s significant that a number of entries deal with the notions of freedom and the nationalism,8221; says Kuljeet Singh, festival director. Sri Venkateswara College, for instance, presents Jean Paul Sartre8217;s Men without Shadows in which five men are questioned on charges of conspiring against the state by burning down a village. Kirori Mal College8217;s original script deals with harsh interrogations of terror suspects; in this case, a lecturer from the University of Iraq see left is being interrogated for having incited students to protest against the government. On the other hand, Khalsa College brings the action closer home, to Kashmir in their reworking of Albert Camus8217; Just Assassins.

The festival also includes guest performances by Chhaon and The Actor Factor Company.

The Atelier Youth Theatre Week will be held from November 24 to 28 at various colleges in Delhi.

For more details, see atelierexpressions.com. Contact: 9891092386