Call for T20 theatre

The theatre-goers ofu00a0Delhi are now being treated with a crisp new format of stagecraft at Short+Sweet -- the world's biggest ten minute theatre festival

It's a rush to follow the new-age mantra of Kiss, keep it short and simple. That's why cricket, movies and vacations - everything is getting shorter and shorter. Now even theater has cut short on duration. Short + Sweet which is currently running in the capital gives snappy, crisp performances to the television age viewers, that too with changing sets.

Short & Sweet route
Talking about the concept of 10-minute plays that originated in Sydney in 2002, Alex Broun, festival director says that the new module has garnered heavy appreciation across the globe, and expects a similar response in India. "Life has sped up and things aren't the same as Shakespeare's time where audiences would watch three-hour plays (often standing).

We live in an age of Facebook, Twitter, and the attempt of this festival is to give the audiences a story that jumps to the climactic knock-out punch, without the grinding build-up," says Broun. While Mark Cleary, the artistic director of the festival said Delhi was the perfect place to launch it in India and the festival would soon visit other cities.

"Our plan is to first establish regular 10-minute theatre festivals in partnership with local producers and venues in Delhi and Mumbai, and then gradually spread to other artforms." he said.

Bite-sized portions
These plays address issues from the clash of religions in modern India (Interface), to the intricacies of online gaming (Key to the Mysticals of Time).

Injecting comic relief in the festival will be Lifetime, a satire on marriage while Ten Thousand Cigarettes, directed by Robin Kumar and scripted by Alex Broun will see three sisters, all smokers in a seven-minute dialogue about "different brands of cigarettes," wherein they also touch upon the morbid fact how their father, also a compulsive smoker, died of lung cancer.

A host of Delhi's leading theatrical figures have also been roped in to try their hand at this challenging new format and present theatre works in English, Hindi and "Hinglish".

While there is, of course, a lot of new talent working in these miniature productions, veterans such as Sita Raina, Sohaila Kapur and Arvind Gaur has also joined the 10-minute party.

On till: November 19, 7.30 pm onwards
At: Epicentre, Apparel House, Sector 44, Opp. Power Grid Residential Complex, Gurgaon
Tickets: Rs 300 and Rs 500 available at the venue