A festival of ten-minute performances, which started in Australia in 2002, is now held annually in seven different countries across 30 cities, including namma ooru . You’ll get to watch plays on comedy, tragedy, romance, horror, etc at the seventh edition of the fest that starts from July 4. 

Short+Sweet Theatre aims to provide a platform for actors, writers and directors to create high-quality work in a professional set-up. 

Mime artist John Pradeep, a regular participant at the theatre festival, is pumped about the show and says, “This space gives an opportunity for established practitioners to pass on their knowledge to others in the theatre arts. 

I am excited about the festival because I get to improve both script-wise and performance-wise. This is my fifth time and I’ve come up with something unique – I will be directing a play called Whistle Podu. There is a whistler’s community in the city that does interesting activities. Recently, they’ve entered the Asian Book of Records and this inspired me to create a play with the team members. 

The five characters would communicate only through mime and whistles.” Theatre actor Supriyaa Ananthanarayanan has teamed up with Balakumaran of Put Chutney for a Tamil play titled Bim-Bim . 

“The play is about how in a post-apocalyptic world, where writers are extinct, two men go in search of a last remaining source of stories...a writing machine. We are also discussing how AI is taking over the storytelling scene,” she shares. Chennaiites’ will get to watch 60 plays — a mix of Tamil, English, and movement. 

“Not only developing new audiences for theatre, the fest also encourages people to write for the theatre and thereby foster new playwrights,” says John.