At India Habitat Centre, a festival where life, memory and loss take centre stage

At India Habitat Centre, a festival where life, memory and loss take centre stage Prof Dr K G Suresh, Director of IHC, calls this year's festival "more humane than ever".

Key points

• 4 min read New Delhi Sep 9, 2026 06: 02 AM IST.
• Further, the festival will feature three other performances – 'Maaye Ni Meri Akh Lag Gaya', 'Home in a Suitcase' and 'Hindi Medium Tight'.
• 'Cilappatikaram/The Anklet's Verdict', directed by Sooraj Nambiar, brings Ilango Adigal's ancient Tamil epic into the meditative vocabulary of Kutiyattam.
• For 10 days this September, the Stein Auditorium at India Habitat Centre (IHC) will become a space for such encounters.
• On September 23, the festival will witness 'The Tragedy of Ham MacLear', a play written and directed by Akash Khurana.

In practice, the India Habitat Theatre Festival 2026 returns from September 18 to 27, bringing nine mainstage productions and three extra contemporary theatrical productions in Hindi, English, Tamil and Punjabi to the Capital.

On a theatre stage, a single father and his neurodivergent son try to find their way through a world that does not quite understand them. Elsewhere, a Shakespearean actor loses his grip on memory, gradually surrendering to dementia.

For 10 days this September, the Stein Auditorium at India Habitat Centre (IHC) will become a space for such encounters. The India Habitat Theatre Festival 2026 returns from September 18 to 27, bringing nine mainstage productions and three extra contemporary theatrical productions in Hindi, English, Tamil and Punjabi to the Capital.

When he was studying acting at the National School of Drama, Delhi, for Verma, the story began years ago. "One of my seniors, Itzik Weingarten, an Israeli actor, had performed a play, where a 40-year-old neurodivergent man recalls his relationship with his father. I was moved to tears. Since then the idea to work on something similar has been on my mind, " he notes.

Verma has now returned to that memory, rewriting the idea as an interdisciplinary production combining theatre, live music and dance – all blending together, to tell a story. "The whole attempt is to really try and make the audience feel what the world of a neurodivergent feels like, " he notes.

On September 23, the festival will witness 'The Tragedy of Ham MacLear', a play written and directed by Akash Khurana. Ham, a passionate Shakespeare veteran, is struggling with dementia. His long-time companions, Busker and Chorus, must find a way to honour the actor and his legacy while ensuring his well-being.

"This play is not merely about the person who goes through dementia but also the people around him who actually have a bigger challenge in terms of being his caregivers, " notes Khurana.

'Cilappatikaram/The Anklet's Verdict', directed by Sooraj Nambiar, brings Ilango Adigal's ancient Tamil epic into the meditative vocabulary of Kutiyattam. 'Bhasabharatam', directed by Piyal Bhattacharya, revisits the timeless plays of Bhasa through the oral traditions of Charan and Bhatta. The programme additionally includes 'Breast of Luck', 'Amb Da Boota' and 'The Queen'.

"The curation of this year's festival has been guided by the idea of presenting a programme that is varied, engaging and representative of the plenty of ways in which theatre is being imagined today. We have looked at the diversity of stories, languages, theatrical forms and perspectives while putting the programme together, " notes Syed Shadab Hussain, Head of Programmes, IHC. © The Indian Express Pvt Ltd.

In short, at India Habitat Centre, a festival where life, memory and loss take is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.