New Delhi, The three-day BRICS Theatre Festival began at the National School of Drama here on Monday, bringing together theatre practitioners, scholars, students and cultural representatives from nine BRICS member and partner countries.
The festival’s performances will be staged at venues across New Delhi, including NSD’s Abhimanch and Sammukh auditoriums, Kamani Auditorium, LTG Auditorium and Meghdoot Theatre, and tickets can be purchased through BookMyShow for ₹ 200 each. The ceremony was also attended by Union Culture Secretary Vivek Aggarwal; Secretary , Ministry of External Affairs, Sudhakar Dalela, who was India’s BRICS Sherpa for 2026; and Chittaranjan Tripathy, NSD’s director. The festival will feature performances from national theatre schools and leading theatre institutions from participating countries – India, Thailand, Indonesia, Russia, Iran, Vietnam, South Africa, Kazakhstan and Ethiopia. The inaugural day featured the play ‘Samudra Manthan’, written by Asif Ali, with design, direction and music by the director of the NSD. The play was staged at the Abhimanch Auditorium on the NSD premises. Union Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat was present at the opening ceremony as the chief guest.
Organised by the Ministry of Culture, the festival provides a platform for artistic and cultural exchange through the shared language of theatre, the culture ministry said in a statement. Ambassadors and Heads of Mission from various participating countries were also present at the inaugural ceremony, it said. The curated programme spans a wide spectrum of theatrical forms, including classical, contemporary and experimental theatre, it said, adding that the NSD, an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Culture, serves as the nodal agency for the festival.
