April 11: It?s bonanza time for theatre enthusiasts of the city.

The English department of Gauhati University has lined up a contest that will witness drama groups vying for the top slot next month. The drama contest has been organised by the department to commemorate its golden jubilee.

?Academics mostly involves a text-based approach to drama, but stress should also be laid on the performed form on stage,? said Asha Kuthari Chaudhuri, secretary, Drama Society, in the department of English, GU.

The drama society was set up in 2003 in an attempt to fill the gap with regular performances notwithstanding the time constraints of the semester system.

?And it is with the aim of complementing the generic needs of one of the important branches of literature that the department would like to hold a drama contest under the aegis of The Drama Society,? she added.

One category in the contest will be dedicated to Shakespeare, one of the most sublime figures of literature. ?Shakespeare continues to remain central to the academic canon despite the tremendous proliferation of the modern and the avante garde in theatre,? she added.

?The performances would be uninhibited by earlier interpretations and open to various kinds of theatrical re-reading and stage devices,? she added.

Participants can enact one scene of 30 minutes duration from any of these Shakespeare plays ? Macbeth, Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice or The Tempest.

The second category open to participants is one that is beginning to emerge with a vigorous identity since the Eighties ? Indian plays in English.

?English theatre in India has always remained in the shadow of vernacular theatre. The picture now seems to be changing, as a distinct and definite theatrical identity and idiom evolves,? she said.

?Indian playwrights writing in English have begun to write plays set in India, rooted in the cultural milieu of its audience who speak English as naturally as any other language ,? she added.

In this category, the participants can enact any of Mahesh Dattani?s plays ? Final Solutions, Tara or Thirty Days of September. Or they can try enacting Girish Karnad?s Nagamandala, Tughlaq or Hayavadana. In both these cases, they can enact one scene of 30 minutes? duration.

?The participants will have to bring their own equipment, sets and other paraphernalia,? she said. The stage, lights and sound will be provided by the organisers.