'Dancing with Dad' to 'Bhasabharatam': IHC Theatre Festival announces 2026 line-up

The India Habitat Centre Theatre Festival 2026 is set to return on September 18 with a diverse lineup of productions including Dancing with Dad Breast of Luck The Tragedy of Ham Maclear Cilappatikaram The Anklets Verdict and BhasabharatamThe 10day festival supported by the National School of Drama will bring together critically acclaimed and contemporary theatrical productions in Hindi English Tamil and Punjabi offering audiences a crosssection of Indias vibrant theatre landscape the organisers saidIt will open with Dancing with Dad written and directed by Maneesh Verma followed by Breast of Luck directed by Leena Yadav on September 19 and Amb Da Boota devised and performed by Anya Ghai Bhavya Rampal and others on September 20The festival will resume on September 22 with The Tragedy of Ham Maclear written and directed by Akash Khurana followed by Window Tak Aashiqui written and directed by Manurishi Chadha on September 23Cilappatikaram The Anklets Verdict directed by Sooraj Nambiar will be staged on September 24 The production aims to breathe new life into the ancient Tamil epic through the meditative vocabulary of Kutiyattam bringing together a classical literary tradition and an evocative theatrical formThe festival is not simply a collection of plays it is a celebration of the breadth vitality and continuing evolution of Indian theatre Its enduring appeal lies in this diversity and in its ability to bring artists and audiences together in a meaningful cultural dialogue India Habitat Centre IHC director Prof KG Suresh said in a statementThe final three evenings of the festival will feature Har Marz Ki Dawa directed by Saurabh Nayyar on September 25 The Queen directed by Daniel Owen DSouza on September 26 and Bhasabharatam directed by Piyal Bhattacharya on September 27Presented by the NSD Sikkim Repertory Company Bhasabharatam revisits the timeless plays of Bhasa through the vibrant oral traditions of Charan and Bhatta offering audiences an encounter between classical Sanskrit theatre and living performance traditionsThe festival will also feature additional performances under The Theatre including Maaye Ni Meri Akh Lag Gaya Home in a Suitcase and Hindi Medium TightThe curation of this years festival has been guided by the idea of presenting a programme that is varied engaging and representative of the many ways in which theatre is being imagined today said Syed Shadab Hussain headprogrammes at IHCOver the years the festival has featured eminent theatre personalities including Rajat Kapoor Neelam Mansingh Manav Kaul Faezeh Jalali Kalki Koechlin Saurabh Shukla Satish Kaushik Atul Kumar and Ashwin GidwaniIt has also showcased landmark productions including Akvarious Productions 80th show This Time as well as META Awardwinning productions Raghunath and HunkaroThe festival with tickets priced at Rs 200 Rs 350 and Rs 500 will come to a close on September 27This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever