Curtains rise on stage 42 fest

After a successful first edition, the Stage 42 festival is back — and it promises to be bigger and better than before. In addition to Mumbai, this time around, the fest is being staged at Pune, Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi, Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Vadodara as well, with the last of the performances expected to go on till March 6.

In Mumbai, the fest kicked off on January 26, with satirist Sanjay Rajoura, writer Varun Grover and musician Rahul Ram taking on current issues in a light vein in a piece titled “Aisi Taisi Democracy”. Up next is “Use Your Instant Noodle” with SnG Comedy, Utsav Chakraborty, Improv Comedy Mumbai, Naveen Polishetty, Sapan Verma and Sahil Shah, “Mostly Harmless”, which features Anirban Dasgupta, Aditya Desai, Kautuk Srivastava and Kenny Sebastian, and “One Man Breaking Bad” that has L.A.-based Miles Allen present a hilarious version of all the seasons of Breaking Bad.

Talking to us about what the audience can expect from his show at Stage 42, Karan Talwar said, “I’m a bald guy so that is a big part of my performance. Also relationship stuff and my constant amusement about the stupid things men do! I tend to laugh at my own jokes. The audience will laugh with me hopefully!”

The Improv Comedy team said that they were excited to be part of such a diverse line-up: “The line-up is eclectic and amazing, showcasing some of the pioneers of comedy in India like AIB, Anuvab Pal, East India Comedy etc. We are excited to witness them as well as Miles Allen and the new generation like Rahul Subramanium and Kaneez Surkha.”

Ajay Nair, the COO of Only Much Louder which is organising Stage 42, told us that the focus this year was on curated shows, and introducing new venues. “The idea is to programme a festival with some of the best artists in the country while also providing a platform for new artists and voices who we think hold a lot of talent,” Nair added.

For show information and ticket details, log on to http://stage42.in/mumbai