Vinod Mishra, General Secretary of the association, said, “ The state government is not supporting us in holding the function. We still have managed to bring together some of the best known theatre groups from across the state.” He added that the highlight of the festival will be a play on December 9, the concluding day of the fest. A theatre group has especially been invited from Mumbai for the last day.

“We are still getting applications from the theatre groups in different cities who want to stage their plays at the fest. It is ironical that although such a big event should have been organised by the state government, they prefer to ignore theatre totally. We are trying our best to present the best of contemporary Hindi theatre for the audience of Lucknow,” said Mishra.

The festival will see two shows every day. One at 4.30 pm and the other at 7 pm. The fest will open with play Lohar by Nipa Rangmandali from Lucknow. On November 28, a theatre group from Shahjahanpur will stage the play ‘Agni aur Barkha’, followed by ‘Uljhan’ by a Lucknow-based group on November 29.

On November 30, a group from Allahabad will stage ‘Makaan number 144’. “The rest of the shows are being finalised,” said Mishra.