The 15th META celebrates stagecraft with a virtual award ceremony and signals possibilities for theatre in an increasingly digital world

Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) and Festival concluded a three-week celebration, bringing together theatre personalities in a virtual ceremony. The festival rewards and recognises excellence across all aspects of theatre production. It is curated and produced by arts  and entertainment company, Teamwork Arts.

The 15th edition of the festival brings attention to the artiste community and performing arts space, whose livelihood have been significantly impacted due to the COVID outbreak.

Speaking at the ceremony, Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group said, “In spite of, or perhaps because of, all our current difficulties, the ceremony transcends the boundaries of an auditorium and becomes accessible to an audience of thousands, right in their homes.”

Signalling new possibilities for theatre in an increasingly digital-only world, plays were viewed online to decide the winners. The jury included playwright, stage director and filmmaker Mahesh Dattani, playwright and novelist Makarand Sathe, veteran actor and a teacher of speech and drama Sushma Seth, actor-writer Vinay Pathak who’s been actively involved in Indian cinema and theatre for over two decades, and film, television and theatre actor and director, Lillete Dubey.

Unanimously recognised as an example of modern experimental theatre, Delhi-based Black Box Okhla’s For the Record, directed by Nikhil Mehta, won the Best Play and also bagged the highest number of awards across six categories.

The Old Man (Assamese and Gibberish) from Orchid Theatre and Ghoom Nei (Bengali) from Thakurpukur Ichheymoto Theatre Group bagged four awards each, highlighting the talent in theatre being produced in the country’s East.

The winner from the South, Malayalam production, Bhaskara Pattelarum Thommiyude Jeevithavum from Backstage won for Best Stage Design by Suveeran.

Eminent names who gave away the awards included Ajit Rai, Akhila Krishnamurthy, Ashley Lobo, Deepa Punjani, Deepika Deshpande Amin, Dolly Ahluwalia, Feroz Abbas Khan, Ila Arun, Joseph Mitchell, Lillete Dubey, Makarand Sathe, Mahesh Dattani, Nandita Das, Naveen Kishore, Sharmila Tagore, Shobha Deepak Singh, Sonal Mansingh, Sumant Jayakrishnan, Sushma Seth and Vinay Pathak.

The nominated plays offered diverse theatre scenes and included plays in multiple languages such as Hindi, English, Hindustani, Bengali, Marathi, Malayalam, Assamese (blended with gibberish) and a non-verbal play too. The nominations featured five productions from Maharashtra, two from Kerala and one each from Assam, Delhi and West Bengal. From reinterpretations of mythology, the crises of ideology, explorations and exploitations of gender, and the marginalisation and politics of caste, there were thought-provoking drama that inspires change and brings relevant social issues to the forefront.

Earlier, the META Lifetime Achievement Award was conferred on director, actor, set designer, writer, teacher and Theatre Action Group’s founder director, Barry John.

The ceremony also included a Theatre Critics Conference focussing on critical discourse on theatre in the country and the launch of the first-ever published edition of a META Best Original Script (winner of 2019) giving impetus to scriptwriting in contemporary Indian theatre.