Theatre, Plays & Natok in Kolkata

Kolkata has more working theatre groups than any other Indian city, and most of them perform within a few minutes of Rabindra Sadan metro station. The Academy of Fine Arts auditorium is the traditional home of Bengali group theatre, with Rabindra Sadan and Sisir Mancha next door. The state runs neighbourhood playhouses too: Girish Mancha in Bagbazar, opened in 1986, and Madhusudan Mancha in Dhakuria, opened in 1995. North Kolkata's commercial stage began at the Star Theatre in Hatibagan and the Minerva on Beadon Street, both from the nineteenth century. Hindi and English productions tend to play Kala Mandir, G.D. Birla Sabhagar and Gyan Manch. Tickets are cheap and often sold only at the hall's counter. December is festival month, when Nandikar's National Theatre Festival, started in 1984, brings in companies from other states.