Indar Sabha being staged at Prinsep Ghat. Picture by Aranya SenSuhel Seth, Sunit Tandon and Vivek Mansukhani in Art

nAn English theatre festival, the first of its kind in recent years, takes the city stage next week. It is being organised by seven-month-old theatre group Night & Fog.

The two-day fare, called Constellation 2006-Act I, will be held at Gyan Manch from April 2. The participating groups are Stage-Addict, The Creative Commune, Xaverian Theatrical Society, Playmakers and Night & Fog.

The curtains go up with the host?s latest production Fire Walk With Me at 4 pm on Sunday, written and directed by group director Avisek Arora. This will be followed by Stage-Addict?s Swap, and Death of a Godot, a take-off on the Samuel Beckett play, by Playmakers from Jadavpur University.

Xaverian Theatrical Society stages Vijay Tendulkar?s Silence: The Court is in Session on Day II which ends with Creative Commune?s adaptation of Tennessee Williams?s A Streetcar Named Desire.

?We are trying to promote English theatre by bringing established and amateur theatre groups in the city to the same platform,? says Avisek of Night & Fog. The group staged two original pieces, The Cage and The Ragman, last September.

As part of the festival, a two-day workshop was conducted in March-end at Padatik Little Theatre where the participating groups trained under theatre artistes Jhuma Basak, Shantanu Basu and Arthur Carduzo.

A panel discussion was also organised, where theatre actors and experts discussed the disparity between English and regional language theatre and suggested ways to bridge the gap.

nThe gates are open for artistic events at Prinsep Ghat, an imposing site to stage colonial encounters ? and even postcolonial ones, with the gigantic Vidyasagar Setu spearing the sky directly overhead. On March 25, the Ramnagar Lane Forum of Revolution for Communities Education and Aks Kolkata presented the historic Urdu musical dance drama Indar Sabha there, an apt setting.

More people should know that Amanat Lakhnawi?s play, composed as early as 1853 and much imitated ever since, specially in Parsi theatre, serves as an exemplar of communal amity ? performed at Wajid Ali Shah?s court in Lucknow, it tells the story of fairies in Indra?s celestial court, one of whom falls in love with a human. The characters live in Vedic heaven, but pay verbal obeisance to Allah.

As one of the few directors of Urdu theatre in Calcutta, Naushad Alam needs encouragement and praise for his significant choice of text. Amitava Dutta?s choreography was good, with Tuhina Das?s kathak outstanding in the role of Nilam Pari. The acting was understandably amateur, but Rahmati Khatoon (Sabz Pari) worked hard as the heroine. Unfortunately, Meraj Asdaque as her beloved accompanied her to heaven with the greatest of reluctance. Ideally, the singing should have been live, but one appreciates a small group?s limitations.

Potential artistes may wish to heed some words of warning about the location. Mosquitoes abound, but technical gremlins are worse, because the sound system needs to be very well tested for everything to be heard everywhere.

nAlternative Living Theatre, a group that works with artistes in rural Bengal on various social issues, has been invited to stage a play at the Second Panj Pani Theatre Festival organised by Azoka theatre in Lahore, Pakistan.

Alternative Living Theatre will put up Tritiya Juddha (Third War) on April 3 and 4. The play, which has had more than 250 shows, is set in a rural milieu where villagers are ushering in the harvest season with rituals and festivities.

In the midst of all this, a stranger enters the community, wins the trust of the villagers and kidnaps one of them. He also manages to divide the residents, instigate them to fight against each other and capture the local market.

?The play is about the cultural aggression on the Third World. It is non-verbal, full of gibberish songs and colourful music,? said Probir Guha, who has conceived and directed the play. Guha also steers Alternative Living Theatre, which practises physical theatre and conducts workshops with rural artistes.

Tritiya Juddha has been staged at the Tokyo Theatre Festival in Japan. It has travelled all over India and has been a part of the National Theatre Festival, organised by NSD, Paschim Banga Natya Mela, Rangayan Theatre Festival in Mysore and the Three Nation Theatre Festival held in Kathmandu.

nA three-member cast of Sunit Tandon, Suhel Seth and Vivek Mansukhani hits town on Saturday evening with the witty act Art. The popular play by Yasmina Reza is produced by Delhi-based group Scene Stealers, and will be presented by Sanskriti Sagar and Spandan.

Art has been translated into 35 languages and even performed in West End and Broadway. It will be staged at GD Birla Sabhagar, 6.30 pm, on April 1.