The Collegiate Theatre segment of the Old World Theatre Festival 2009, organised by Old World Culture, was held between the 5th and 11th December. 12 plays were chosen from this year’s performances by DU colleges to perform at the Amphitheatre at the India Habitat Centre. The first play in the festival was The Problem, performed by St Stephen’s College. After this ‘witty comedy’ was Sri Venkateswara with Melange, a collection of plays including ‘Variations on the Death of Trotsky’ and ‘Sure Thing’. Following this light-hearted opening, the second day’s plays were on a more serious note, with Kamala Nehru College performing Bravely Fought the Queen followed by SRCC’s Khoj. On the third day, Miranda House performed Kindertransport, based on experiences of Jewish children evacuated from WWII Germany. This was followed by Indraprastha College’s Interviews with Loneliness. Next on the schedule were two plays that dealt with questions of identities and society – On a Muggy Night in Mumbai performed by Ramjas College and Bombshells performed by Gargi College. The penultimate day of the festival had plays dealing with contrasting themes. While LSR’s Saraab took the audience back in time to the Lucknow of the nawab and the tawaif, Maitreyi College’s In the Name of Honour was based on the stories of caste-based deaths from places around the capital. The last day featured plays from Kirori Mal College. The first was Shaklnama, an adaptation on Dario Fo’s About Face. The next, and last play was Nirdeshak ki Talash Mein, a merger of Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author and Mahesh Elkunchwar’s Holi.
The performances were followed by a feedback session with Amitesh Grover, and a workshop on direction with Feroz Abbas Khan as well as one on acting with Rajesh Gopie, one-man cast of Out of Bounds.