The festival inaugurated by Mr.Aslak Brun, Minister Counsellor, from the Royal Norwegian Embassy on 3rd December 2009 at the kamani Auditorium, New Delhi was thronged by theater lovers.
'Metropolis', the first play at the festival, directed by Ms. Amal Allana explores the social realities that impact the lives of people in big cities. Even though these are ordinary people, circumstances make them commit extraordinary crimes. ‘Metrapolis’ embodies the struggle of three women characters-Hadda, Nora, Rukaiya-who are pushed towards taking violent actions to gain their freedom. The play depicts how Ibsen confronted conventional norms and morals of society, by questioning them and by portraying the dark side of people. This came out fiercely in his women characters and, it is this dark side that was visible in the play 'Metropolis'.
The Delhi Ibsen Festival 09, taking place 3- 14 December 2009, is the second festival, in an agreement between the Royal Norwegian Embassy and Dramatic Art & Design Academy (DADA). Ibsen performances from India, Bangladesh, Iran, China, Egypt and Netherlands constitute this year’s program, ending with a two days seminar on Inter-culturalism with the well-acknowledged Ibsen researcher Erika Fischer-Lichte from Freie Universität in Berlin. She is also involved in the Ibsen centre’s research project “Ibsen between cultures", a project investigating Ibsen’s expansion on theatre stages throughout the world.
This year’s festival focus on the changed theatre traditions in the country since after India’s independency. Ibsen has been important in Indian theatre since the 30ies, and the play Gengangere was screened in 1940 under the title ‘Jhooti sharm’. The theatre family Mitra set up ”A dollhouse” on stage in 1958, under the title ‘Bohurupee’. Another highlight is the movie Ganashatru from 1989, made by the director Satyajit Ray.
Indian universities have during many years taught about the plays by Ibsen, but often as English literature.