Delhi’s theatre scene is vibrant this September with the ongoing India Habitat Centre (IHC) Theatre Festival 2025, which has returned this season featuring 14 daring productions over ten days. It focuses on productions that highlight contemporary issues such as gender, caste, social discrimination, climate change, and identity, whilst exploring personal, communal, and societal change.
“The festival focuses on contemporary Indian theatre. It showcases young, confident voices who are pushing boundaries and shattering stereotypes, fearlessly and sensitively engaging with issues of gender, caste, social discrimination, violence, unemployment, mental health, climate change, and the environment,” says Vidyun Singh, creative head of programmes, IHC.
Begun on September 19, standout performances that have taken place so far include Amitesh Grover’s Mehroon, a musical exploration of grief and love, which blurs reality and fantasy by combining song and performance. Meghna Roy Choudhury’s Kadambari revisits the life and legacy of Rabindranath Tagore’s sister-in-law and muse, and imagines her final hour, reflecting on childhood and memory. Another production, Khichik by Divya Jagdale, offers a humorous and tender portrayal of a couple’s life from a college romance to middle-aged regret. “The plays bring fresh voices to these issues—raising awareness, asking questions, and turning the spotlight on narratives that have evolved, as well as those that need to be changed,” adds Singh.
This year, the festival particularly foregrounds theatre as social intervention, specifically highlighting women's voices. Returning is the acclaimed production Nazar Ke Saamne by Freeda Collective in collaboration with Bengaluru-based Maraa Collective, which explores caste, gender, and hidden violence in upper-caste households. The play, performed in a mix of four languages including Hindi and Malwi was staged over 50 times across the country, brings together the struggles of the women of Madya Pradesh-based Freeda Collective—Lalita Wadiva, Mamta Tanwar, Sakshi Solanki, Varsha Malviya, and Vishnu Solanki—drawn from their own lives.
“The entire intention was to move away from creating a play solely based on sexual violence," says Angarika Guha of Maraa Collective. “When a woman undergoes violence, her identity often becomes limited to that experience. The performance gave the women strength to realise they are not defined by past trauma. When you have the agency to tell your own story on your own terms, a lot of healing occurs.”
Similarly, the one-woman show Lifafiya, performed by Anushi Agrawal and devised by her along with Ekta of Maraa Collective, draws on personal experiences and intergenerational conversations among women, inspired by those Agrawal has known—like her mother, grandmother, and herself. Agrawal says, “I did not want to create a victim narrative or an angry narrative. Theatre allows you to expand your perspective, to get into the shoes of other women you’ve known, and present everyone with dignity. I felt a sense of responsibility to carry these women along and ensure they felt respected throughout the process.”
A bold, experimental voice comes through in Aunty Moxie is Delulu, a solo act by Ashiqa Salvan. Playing a 60-year-old woman oscillating between forgiveness and revenge, she combines myth and realism to create a surreal, empathetic portrait. In the play, Salvan portrays Aunty Moxie as someone often subjected to the ignorance of society and her neighbors, highlighting how older people are often treated as passive or without agency. “Even those who seem delusional, walking next to you, are dealing with hardships. I want audiences to feel empathy for everyone around them, because everyone is going through a lot,” she notes.
“It is satisfying to see theatre percolating widely,” says Singh about the evolution of the festival and the impact of theatre. “Committed practitioners are empowering women to tell their own stories, such as Nazar ke Saamne, where intergenerational women from Madhya Pradesh share testimonies of caste discrimination and violence while striving to create dignity, self-representation, and change for marginalised communities.”