The theatre group, Aftab, performed The Caucasian Chalk Circle at the Sri Ram Centre on Sunday as part of the National School of Drama’s (NSD) Theatre Festival.

India as a choice for their first international performance was more circumstantial than intentional, they say. They got the invitation after an NSD member visited Afghanistan last year and saw the troupe perform.

The 22-member troupe is one of the few groups in that country involved in theatre.

These 20-year-olds are among the few trying to revive Afghani theatre as an art form after what they call “the devastation caused by the US in 2001”. The troupe is therefore called ‘Aftab’, which means the rising sun.

“Afghanistan has had a long history of theatre but all that was completely lost during the war. I am proud of the fact that we are in the process of regaining the lost glory,” says Omid Rawendah, one of the actors. Like Omid, all actors in the troupe are students of a drama institute in Kabul.

Omid says the Afghani theatre was rekindled in 2004 due to the efforts of Madame Ariane Mnouchkine, a European theatre personality. “She organised a workshop in Kabul in which 130 actors participated. The best 21 were chosen to form Aftab.”

Written by Bertolt Brecht, The Caucasian Chalk Circle has been directed by Abolghassem Absalan. He says his play is based on the present day Afghanistan and the country in the aftermath of war. Talking about his group of young actors who are still in college, he says: “Working with a young group gave me the opportunity to use a workshop-like environment and I could experiment with my own theory of quantum theatre.”

“We are happy to be in India where theatre is unbridled and it is a great opportunity for all of us,” says Shaakaibo, one of the two girls in the group and a Bollywood enthusiast. “I adore Esha Deol and love the way she grooves.”