The Trojan War
The Trojan War consists of a trilogy of Greek plays by John Barton and Kenneth Cabender, and first performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1979. John Barton believed that a fresh look needed to be taken at Greek tragedy since traditional performances were heavy and boring. Together with Kenneth Cavender, the two men made short versions of ten plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, concentrating on the characters and told their stores as clearly and simply as possible.
Imphigenia in Aulus, The Trojan Women and Agamemnon are all based on different aspects of the Trojan War that was fought over 4000 years ago.
The play was translated by Mr. Mohan Maharishi, the set and costume design were by Mr.Peter Cooke and it was directed by Mr. John Clark.
The performances were staged at Muktangan, NSD lawn, Bahawalpur House, New Delhi, from the 12th to the 19th of May 2005 at 7.00 pm each evening.

Midnight’s Children
Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children is one of the most popular novels of the twentieth century. It appears to be a metaphor, spiced with satirical commentaries, on the political council of modern India and the infighting of its various social and religious factions. The most startling aspect of the novel’s narratives is it’s use of ‘magic realism’ in which fabulous elements are presented as real and even normative throughout the story. If the vision of India that emerges from Midnight’s Children is more a product of the novelist’s imagination that the historian’s search for truth, what difference should this make in articulating the novel’s relationship to our experience of the world it is represented?
The novel blurs the distinctions we often make between ‘personal’ and ‘public’ history. We expect the latter to transcend the individual perspective – a nation which in Midnight’s Children comes to seem not only impossible to maintain, but also oppressive. If Salman’s history of India raises questions about the enterprise of recording history in general, the refusal to impose a conventional shape on his own story raises questions about how we understand our own lives. Perhaps, a nation’s history is nothing more, but also nothing less, than the shared personal history of its individual citizens.
Rushdie presented his novel as the autobiography of Saleem Sinani, from his current residence at a Bombay pickle factory under the critical eye of his frequently and interruptive finance Padma.
The play was performed on the 10th , 11th , 13th , 14th and 15th of December 2005, at the Abhimanch Auditorium, Bahawalpur House, New Delhi. It was directed by Shri Abhilash Pillai

Saheb Bibi Gulam
The novel Saheb Bibi Gulam was written by Bimal Mitra. It has been translated into several Indian languages and has been made into at least two popular films, thus presenting it before a larger audience almost immortalizing it. Among its primary characters are the ‘Sahebs’ (the aristocrats), their unfortunate wives (the bibis) and their employees, (the gulams). The metaphor running through the work is that of playing cards - a metaphor that appears to be most appropriate, indicating as it does the fluctuating fortunes of individuals, as much as the instability of power-relations in human society.
The magnificent, large mansion of an old feudal family- the Chowdhurys - is a microcosm of society. The mansion houses not only aristocratic splendors, machismo and exercise, but also forbidden spaces of the ‘other’ like the zanana. All these spaces have their own secrets, their own histories, as is discovered through the observer, gulam Bhootnath’s journey. Mitra narrates the story of the fall of the Chowdhry household, the decay of the feudal order, and also the rise of a new society.
The play was performed from the 16th to the 20th of December 2005 at Bahumukh, Bahawalpur House, New Delhi. It was directed by Ms.Anuradha Kapur.

The Lower Depths
The Lower Depths is perhaps Maxim Gorky’s best-known play. It was written during the winter of 1901 and the spring of 1902. Subtitled ‘Scenes from Russian Life’, it depicted a group of lower-class Russians in a lodging house in Volga. The Lower Depths was criticized for its pessimism and ambiguous ethical message. However, in this respect, the play is generally regarded as a masterwork. The theme of harsh truth versus comforting lies pervades the play from start to finish, as most of the characters choose to deceive themselves from the bleak reality of their condition.
The play was performed from the 7th to the 12th of March 2006, at Abhimanch, Bahawalpur House, New Delhi, under the direction of Mr. V.V. Teplyakov, visiting director from Russia.

Just Justice
(Inspired by Aeschylus’s Orestia)
As the name suggests, this play deals with notions of justice.
It shows the final year students of Delhi University’s Law faculty making presentations of four different interpretations of the 2,500 year old case of Orestia, in a normal court-like proceeding.
However, in the process of the presentations they get into a fight and lots of personal issues that they are unable to resolve themselves come up. Their teacher persuades them to deal with the situation in a more court-like manner and to resolve their personal conflicts once and for all.
At the end they are able to achieve catharsis and are able to relate the 2500 year old case with present reality. Compassion wins and they are all graduated.
The translation and text were assembled by Shri Rajesh Tailang, the scenography was by Peter Cooke and the play was directed by Roysten Abel. It was performed from the 21st to 25th of April, 2006.