The Experimental Theatre is a 300-seat theatre at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. It was inaugurated in April 1986 as a

black box theatre A black box theater is a simple performance space, typically a square room with black walls and a flat floor. The simplicity of the space allows it to be used to create a variety of configurations of stage and audience interaction. The black ...

venue with modular seating and staging units.

History

The NCPA was constructed in the 1980s. After the

Tata Theatre The Tata Theatre is a 1010-seat premier staging facility for music, dance and drama at The National Centre for the Performing Arts complex in the city of Mumbai, India. It is India’s first theatre designed and built keeping in mind the uniqu ...

was constructed, work began on the Experimental Theatre, a versatile

space which small-scale groups to perform flexible works at the centre. Tata Steel (formerly Tata Iron & Steel Company) made an initial donation to the Theatre of 5 million

rupee Rupee is the common name for the currencies of India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, ...

s. The Theatre was officially inaugurated on 25 April 1986.

Facilities

Besides the theatre itself, the Experimental Theatre includes three conference rooms, large foyer spaces and a museum. According to the

Larsen & Toubro Larsen & Toubro Ltd, commonly known as L&T, is an Indian multinational conglomerate company, with business interests in engineering, construction, manufacturing, technology, information technology and financial services, headquartered in Mumba ...

the acoustics of this theatre allow individual instruments to be appreciated without amplification.

Performances

The Experimental Theatre has hosted experimental plays, Indian epics,

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" al ...

concerts, and

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

s and

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form ...

s. Famous artists such as Romain Descharmes have performed there.

References

{{coord, 18.9252, 72.8199, region:IN-MH_type:landmark, display=title Theatres in Mumbai Theatres completed in 1986 Performing arts centres 1986 establishments in Maharashtra 20th-century architecture in India

History

Facilities

Performances

See also

References