Man with a view

Manav Kaul's latest production, Tumhare Baare Mein, is part of the IHC Theatre Festival. It is a potent, poetic take on modern-day relationships where men want to be penguins and women dream of becoming a bird who can fly. The festival features 12 plays, a book discussion, a 35mm screening of a film on Indian theatre, workshops, and interactions. Manav says Delhi has a “taste for theatre” and is anxious to get the response from the Capital’s audience. Enjoy a diverse mix of genres catering to all ages at the IHC Theatre Festival.Manav Kaul's latest production, Tumhare Baare Mein, is part of the IHC Theatre Festival. Enjoy a diverse mix of genres catering to all ages, including a double-bill of plays by Ranga Shankara's AHA!, EE Gida, AA Mara, Chippi, The Chipkali, Akarsh Khurana's The Verdict, Shikha Talsania and Prerna Chawla's Dekh Behen 2, Victor Thoudam and Bimal Subedi's The Departed Dawn, Makrand Deshpande's Siachen, Jyoti Dogra's Maas, Faezeh Jalali's Afterflies, Saurabh Nayyar's Golden Jubilee, and Jabbar Patel's classic documentary Indian Theatre. Manav is anxious to get the response from Delhi's theatre-loving audience.

“I have so much time. I don’t know what to do with it,” says Manav Kaul. The writer, actor, director who straddles mediums like a consummate trapeze artist, packs so much in life that he gives every creative soul a complex. “I am a traveller too,” he says, revealing his versatile persona.

He was in Delhi in his stage-avatar to launch the upcoming IHC Theatre Festival with his latest production Tumhare Baare Mein, a potent, poetic take on modern-day relationships where men want to be penguins and women dream of becoming a bird who can fly. It is about the cages men create for women and the centuries of patriarchy and self-denial that women struggle to break free from. Provocative and poignant with dollops of sharp humour, the story revolves around a couple sitting in a cafe interacting with their past and future versions.

Manav says Delhi has a “taste for theatre” and whenever he writes a new play, he is anxious for a response from the Capital’s audience. “More than my popularity as an actor, people come to my plays because of my books. I feel the social media fad will eventually pass and youngsters will return to literature.” Before he flies off to Himachal Pradesh for yet another two-month travel and writing stint, we catch up with him backstage to talk about his craft and concerns.

Edited excerpts:

The line-up

The festival features 12 plays, a book discussion, a 35mm screening of a film on Indian theatre, workshops, and interactions.

A double-bill of plays by Ranga Shankara’s AHA!, EE Gida, AA Mara (This plant, That plant), and Chippi, The Chipkali