Festival Lineup and Venue Details
The October Theatre Fest is returning for a second edition in Chennai, running through October 4 at the Sir Mutha Venkatasubba Rao Concert Hall in Chetpet. The event features full-length productions alongside live music, art workshops, and pop-up stalls positioned between acts.
Shows are scheduled to take place at 5 pm and 7 pm daily. Tickets for the festival start at Rs 499.
The lineup includes Ray Cooney’s It Runs in the Family, which follows a doctor who lies his way from one mess to another, and External Affairs, a production that brings two questionable matches together just as their toxic exes return. The schedule also features Shikha Talsania’s Excess Estrogen, where six women write, direct, and perform short pieces on modern womanhood, and Kanupriya’s Dekh Behen 2, depicting a vegetarian, alcohol-free wedding overrun by orthodox in-laws.
Playwright Akarsh Khurana is presenting two plays at the festival. One, titled This Time, explores nostalgia and a college reunion. His other work, Love, Bombs and Apples, is described as a comic tale exploring perceptions, politics, and Islamophobia through the lives of three ordinary men.
Organizer Goals and Creative Perspectives
Organiser Krish Kumar stated that the festival aims to fill a void in large-format productions in Chennai. Kumar noted that while the city has smaller venues in regular use, big productions are thin on the ground. He said the event is targeting a mature audience that loves theatre in its purest form.
Kumar asserted that while streaming has its place, it cannot replicate the feel of a live performance. "Forget streaming, the stage is calling," he said, emphasizing the intent to bring drama to an in-person setting rather than relying on release calendars.
Akarsh Khurana stated he wants to tell stories about people in their 40s who look back at younger times while carrying the weight of lived experience. Regarding Love, Bombs and Apples, Khurana noted that the director needed actors with a grasp of geopolitics to make the words ring true.